An Experts Top Tips: How To Deliver a Successful Exhibition

So, you’re looking to deliver an exhibition event? An experts top tips: How do you deliver a successful exhibition...

13 Million of us in the UK attend an exhibition each year. They are a great way to showcase your business as market leaders, you can demonstrate your vast range of experiences to an array of existing and potential customers in an open networking environment. However, how do you keep everyone happy? What will be the ROI to guarantee they attend? How do I fund it? And that is all before the Health and Safety officer arrives to ensure you comply with HSSE. Exhibition events can be a minefield if not done correctly.

Beckie Hyson, Director of The Events Raccoon shares with us her expert view of where to begin in a maze of extension leads, bowl food and the inevitable last-minute requirement for a half tonne product to be exhibited!

Start at the end

• What do you want people to take away from the day?
• How much is the budget for the event and are there sponsorship opportunities?
• How will you share the leads with the exhibitors?
• What made this exhibition stand out from others in your sector?
• Is the H&S officer still smiling?

‘Know your tech” and “make sure all your attendees benefit”

It can be very easy to make the mistake of focusing the exhibition solely on those visiting the exhibition but if you want to have a successful event and one that creates the foundations for bigger and better things it is essential that your exhibitors also gain from the event. Make sure you know in advance what their expectations are, a pre-event survey will let you know if there is a key area of interest you might not currently be intending to include on the agenda.

There are so many fun and easy to use ways of interacting with people these days and the use of technology doesn’t have to be scary or even complicated. Implementing it is easy when you speak to the right suppliers. But why is tech so important? With so many of us attending conferences and events each year, customers’ expectations concerning technology are forever increasing. Everyone wants real time results, and engaging presentations. The best way to accomplish this is with tech, it adds creativity to an event and keeping up to date with tech makes your event relevant - future proof your event, and attendees will remember it.

Stay safe

On a recent exhibition we managed, we had a combination of power requirements as standard mixed with suppliers who were displaying moving products with water, heavy plant moving around and the added extra of local school children filming throughout the day. Health and Safety is key on any event but with all of these elements introduced into a potentially confined space it is more key than ever.

When plotting the exhibitors on your plan you must not only ensure you allow the minimum distance between each stand avoiding all fire escapes, you must know exactly what each exhibitor is bringing and the power requirements. Positioning too much power on the same circuit will result in the mains tripping out and a power cut is the last thing you need during your live event and what about that last-minute exhibitor who didn’t tell you they were bringing a half tonne product to be displayed when you have them exhibiting on the first floor? Never assume because you have adhered to all HSSE and completed the event Risk Assessment that someone won’t do something unsafe, health and safety briefings for all the team and exhibitors is a must and always have clear and detailed roles and responsibilities!

Go with the flow

Attendee flow is key during a busy event for several reasons, you don’t want a bottle neck of people in one area while other exhibitors are left with no one stopping by. The positioning of catering stations is key to making sure everyone is fed and watered but will also work very well at manoeuvring people in a particular direction that works for you and the event. Think about yourself as every member of the event and walk the route in their shoes, is it key to have all the same services in one area or should this be mixed across the event? Is it clearly displayed how to find each stand to avoid confusion and hold ups while getting about? Have you placed two competing exhibitors next to each other in a forum where sensitive data is discussed?

You might also want to consider if you have key partners exhibiting or a new product or service being launched as this will affect where they are positioned. Key locations at exhibitions are often charged at a premium rate or sponsorship packages can be introduced offering staggered enhancements dependant on the package taken.

Ask for help

At The Events Raccoon, we make a living from supporting on events such as this and we’d love to help! With global event experience over the last 8 years we’ve seen a lot and we’d love to help you deliver an event to remember.