September 2001

Profitable Trade Show

25 tips to help your show make or save money

These days, you can’t turn on the television, pick up a newspaper or browse the Internet without seeing a story about the economy. Every new earnings report released causes ripples in the stock market. And almost every day we see new stories about how the show industry is faring in the face of so much economic uncertainty. Fewer organizers are launching shows, attendance is down at even the most well-established shows, hotels are feeling the pinch in both revenue and occupancy rates, and exhibitors are carefully analyzing what shows they attend.

We’re all feeling the pinch of a declining economy. So now might be the perfect time to read The Profitable Trade Show, a 190-page handbook by Michael R. Hough that is designed to help show organizers maximize the profits on each show and the overall operation. The book is based on 20 years of industry experience. Hough started A/E/C SYSTEMS, a technology show for the construction industry, in 1980, and sold it to Penton in 1997. “For 17 years, I was involved in every aspect of the show,” he says. “In order to have a show done the way I wanted it, I did everything first.”

From strategic planning and financial management to attendance promotion and using the Internet, this book covers a broad range of topics for a broad range of readers — show managers, sales representatives and marketing personnel. These 25 tips from the book are designed to help shows make or save money.

Strategic Planning
1. Articulate a unique rationale for your show. This is the specific need your show fills that no other event does.
2. Be the total celebration of the “community of interest” you serve. Your show must be your industry.

Organizing the Enterprise
3. Assign one person to be show manager. This person oversees all aspects of the show and has profit-and-loss responsibility.
4. Outsource tasks as appropriate, but keep the core functions 
in-house.

Financial Management
5. Carefully identify which expenses are “gilding the lily” and thus aren’t needed to produce a high-quality show.
6. Emphasize the timely collection of booth fees, such as tying each payment to something the exhibitor wants (receiving pre-show publicity, for example).

The Sales Process
7. Hire good salespeople, and teach them your industry, rather than hiring people who know the industry but have never sold.
8. Be an exhibitor-friendly show by helping them improve their ROI. You can do this by reducing their costs or increasing the quality of leads they get.
9. Control your floor plan by redlining the front 75 percent of the hall and not selling behind this line until the front is virtually sold out.
10. Craft a sales compensation plan that rewards growing the show, rather than simply maintaining the status quo.
11. In most cases, the best person to 
sell sponsorships isn’t the booth salesperson. It’s someone dedicated to this 
specialized sale.

Attendance Promotion
12. A successful show brings the right number of qualified attendees to the show floor. If you work on all three elements, you'll have a very profitable show.
13. Focus your public relations on those magazines (and associations) that actually influence your industry.
14. Open the show to all associations and publications in the industry, not just the sponsor.
15. Direct mail remains the preferred medium. But use it effectively by concentrating on the 20 percent of the universe that generates 80 percent of your 
attendance.
16. E-marketing is gaining as the preferred medium. But be sure you understand “permission marketing” and especially what true “opt-in” means.
17. Telemarketers can work, but make “warm” (rather than cold) calls to past attendees and inquirers.
18. No-shows (those who pre-register but don’t show up) are very costly. Design a separate promotion plan to convince them to attend.

Conference
19. Professional content in your conference program will attract more paid registrants. Don’t let exhibitors make sales pitches during the paid conference program.
20. Craft session titles and descriptions that sell. The marketing department should do this.
21. Pay a lump sum and not actual expenses for speakers, and don’t make travel arrangements for them.

Operations
22. Using an expert to negotiate your contracts, either in-house or an outside consultant, will save you a lot of money.
23. When selecting a general service contractor (GSC), consider more than the bottom line. Is the GSC familiar with the venue? What other events is the company handling during your show? How is the chemistry with the GSC staff that will produce the show?

Using the Internet
24. For your Web site, avoid complex graphics and other “flash” elements that tend to increase the download time.
25. Use the Internet for extremely cost-effective communication with your various communities: registered attendees, exhibitors, outside suppliers, etc.

For more information on The Profitable Trade Show, visit www.profitabletradeshow.com.