We’ve all been taught from the earliest age that working together as a team is critical to the success of the groups that we’re a part of. Whether we’re talking about our Little League baseball teams or our marketing team – in charge of our trade show efforts, collaboration with our team members makes us stronger as a whole.

This is now true of our trade show marketing teams as well. Both your internal team that is charged with each year’s trade show programs and your external partners must work strongly as separate teams and as a single unit.

Certainly, when your marketing team is looking for a trade show partner – it’s important to know that the company you are engaging has the ability to work together to plan, design and execute your trade show exhibit and services in a way that creates the best experience not just for you – but your prospects as well!

There are a number of key elements that successful teams possess. Here’s a run down of those and how they come together to ensure your trade show efforts rock!

Your Trade Show Team Needs Leadership

It goes without saying, every team needs a strong leader. Whether that leader is the coach of your Little League team, a strong trade show account executive or your internal marketing director – at the end of the day, a decisive leader at the helm is a must.

The team leader will work to see that the overall vision, goals and purposes are met. This of course includes maintaining a finger on the pulse of overall team morale, engagement with one another and creating an environment where the rest of the team and the project itself can thrive.

A Trade Show Event Vision that is Shared by the Entire Team

From the trade show creative brief, to the custom trade show exhibit design, execution and servicing – the entire trade show team must have a shared vision for overall trade show strategy and how that strategy will be fulfilled.

A vision shared by both the Client and the custom trade show company includes not only the strategy and goals you’re looking to achieve through your trade show program, but also a healthy sense of pride in what is being built to serve your strategies. Pride pulls teams together like no other emotion!

Hiring a Trade Show Company with the Right Attitude is Key

Simply said, the trade show company you are going to work with must have the right attitude towards the project at hand or the team and the project as a whole cannot succeed.

This attitude can be identified early in the process, during your interviews with potential trade show partners. What is the sales person’s demeanor? Are they knowledgeable? What do the company’s past projects say about them? How accessible is the rest of the team?

Confidence in the attitude your trade show partner exhibits during the sales and procurement process, speaks volumes to how the rest of the project will be managed. Gut feelings during this stage can’t be ignored.

There is No Team Without Trust

Attitude and trust actually go hand-in-hand. Not only do you have to feel like the members of your trade show partner trust one another, but your own team must be able to put your faith in their team. Many decisions will be made during the design, production and execution of your trade show program and you will have to be able to entrust your trade show partners to do the right thing on your behalf.

In any relationship, trust is purely at the very heart of the matter. Whether it’s trusting your Little League coach to rest your pitcher at the right time or your trade show partner to deliver on time and on budget – trust is everything.

Teams Collaborate – They Just Do

The very essence of your trade show design team should speak to collaboration. From your account executive to the design team to the artisans building your exhibit to the services team responsible for setup and take-down – collaboration has to exist.

This goes for collaboration between your trade show partner and your internal marketing team as well. Brainstorming, fact-finding, design, execution – you will be working very much hand-in-hand with your trade show team. Collaboration is at the forefront of the relationship’s success.

Team DesignShop* Walks the Walk

It’s no coincidence that we are often referred to as “Team DesignShop”. Heck, it’s in our web address, www.TeamDesignShop.com, our Twitter handle @TeamDesignShop and our Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/TeamDesignShop.

This custom trade show exhibit company embraced the idea of “Team” long ago and everything we do from our annual sales meetings to “Super Tuesdays” to the execution of our Clients’ exhibits includes a healthy dose of Team.

*DesignShop is now ColorCraft.

ROO vs. ROI

(Or, How to measure up by measuring objectives)

So, you alone have been given the monumental task of managing a successful trade show program for your organization. Stress – growing. Budget – shrinking. It falls to you to facilitate the entire process and at the end… You will be judged.

By what, you ask? Well, the most tried and true measurement is ROI. I mean, certainly an analysis of the return on investment would determine if the budget you have been in charge of was used effectively… Right?

Well, for the trade show industry – not really. How do you establish a direct and demonstrable link between one of your target prospects visiting your booth six months ago, and the large deal one of your inside sales reps just closed? Don’t know? No worries, neither does anyone else.

It has been established for quite some time that exposure at the right industry trade show is an extremely effective form of marketing. What has been lacking is a way to quantify any type of return on a specific show or the overall program.

You say figures – They hear excuses

Many Trade Show Coordinators, when asked if their most recent show went well, will usually respond with some variation of, “Yeah, the aisles were full…” or “We had a lot of traffic in our booth” or “We handed out all of our brochures this year…”.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t exactly endear you to the folks in the corner offices. In the current economic environment, pressure is being exerted from the top down to find ways to do more with less. This means the executive urge to apply ROI to a trade show program is almost unshakable.

What is needed is a different concept. Something called RETURN ON OBJECTIVES. What is that, you ask? I’m glad you asked. ROO is the ammunition you need to provide measurable results for those who crave measurement, plain and simple.

Okay, prepare yourself for the cringe-inducing question that will follow… Ready? Here goes. “We just purchased a new trade show booth for $120,000. Then we shipped it from show to show all across the country. We spent $72,000 on our last show alone…”

“What have we gained?”

Still here? Okay, good – only the strong survive. So, go ahead and try to answer this question using the ROI construct, and prepare for an underwhelming reception. However, when you change the paradigm (the corner office likes terms like paradigm) and apply the ROO construct instead, your answer might sound a bit like this…

“What have we gained? I’m so glad you asked! We performed a demo of our newest product to 130 highly qualified show attendees. Our VP of Sales had 13 one-on-one meetings with the C-level contacts of our top prospects. We took the high level contacts of 7 of our best current clients to dinner. We gathered intelligence on 2 of our largest competitor’s products. There was a 20% increase since the last show in attendees registering to see our guest speaker. Our new product launch was featured on 5 trade publication websites. And, and, and…”

Well, you get the picture. Suddenly, you are a measurement machine. Set realistic and measurable marketing and sales related goals to achieve, track, and report on during your show.

Do this, and you can become a terminator of ROI expectations, and a black belt master of ROO enlightenment.

In a number of articles we’ve written – we’ve talked up the benefits to trade show rental programs. And all of the pros we’ve discussed are certainly attractive and rental programs can be a fantastic alternative to purchasing your trade show booth for many reasons.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to do your homework and ask the right questions of your trade show rental provider. In fact, asking the appropriate questions ahead of time and completely understanding your contract are paramount to the success of your trade show marketing program.

In this article, we’ll talk a bit about trade show services and how they can affect your rental program.

Transporting Your Rental Trade Show Booth

Chances are, your trade show event(s) are going to require that your rental trade show booth be shipped/transported to and from the exhibit location. And it may seem like an obvious detail, but you must be clear up-front on how your rental property will make it to the event by setup day.

Be sure to ask your rental provider if shipping to and from the show are covered as part of the rental agreement and what the associated costs will be.

Some factors that may come into play would be how much time you have before your first show, but here are a few things to consider:

• Based on delivery date, is there time to use van lines?
• Will air freight need to be utilized due to time constraints or location?
• What about the “official carrier” of the show? Are they a viable option??
• What insurance is available and who is responsible for this?

This should get you thinking in the right direction and begin to arm you with some important questions to ask of your trade show provider regarding transport.

What About Installation and Dismantle of Your Trade Show Rental Booth?

The majority of trade show rental exhibits you’ll encounter are going to require someone other than your own team to set-up and dismantle the booth. In-fact, based on your contract – you might be obligated to your rental firm’s laborers or other firms with which they have experience providing setup and dismantle services of your rental property.

• Depending on your contract, of course, here are some setup/dismantle details to get you thinking:
• Your rental exhibit provider may insist that only they are their trusted partners install/dismantle your rental booth
• How is responsibility for damage, which may be incurred during setup/dismantle handled?
• What additional services will be required for your booth (electrical, internet, audio/visual, furnishings etc)? And who will coordinate these services??

How Does Program and Account Management Come Into Play?

Your chosen trade show rental provider should be able to provide you with a dedicated account manager and have adequate resources to provide the proper support staff your program requires.

That being said, knowing what services your trade show rental account team should be able to provide is important. Here are a few to consider:

• Custom rental trade show design & fabrication
• Total rental trade show services and event coordination
• On-site supervision
• Project management
• Installation and dismantle labor for your rental booth
• Auxiliary vendor selection

Hopefully, the information in the article will help get you thinking about how show services may impact your trade show rental program. However, if you have questions or would like our team of professionals to help you on your way to trade show rental bliss – give us a shout. We’d be more than happy to assist!