Exhibitors, Tech and Engagement
I was privileged to attend the panel discussion on Barriers to Exhibiting with the Exhibition Think Tank and the conversation was incredibly interesting.
One thing that become increasingly clear was that event companies, predominately technology focused ones, have suffered the challenge of exhibitor take up. The event directors and managers were all ‘up for it’ whatever ‘it’ is, but the when it came to cascading the use of the technology, that was where a significant barrier lay.
This is a common thread throughout my conversations and research into Exhibition Mastery over the last couple of years - more so in the last twelve months.
The problem is in the silo nature of how exhibitions and events happen.
The event company is focused on delivering the exhibition.
What that means in reality is that they are focused on selling stands, getting speakers, the logistics and infrastructure of the event and making sure that when the doors open, the delegates have a show that they can wander round. Sometimes with purpose, sometimes not.
As part of the infrastructure of the event, the event teams focus is making sure that there is tech available to do the things that they need it to do. e.g. Data collection, badge collection and in this post covid world we are approaching, a digital name tag that allows for brochures, information and other digital assets to be sent directly to the delegate.
If the event is there, people are registered, all the tech, gadgets and marketing support set up - then, quite rightly in their mind, they have done their job. Successful exhibition!
Not necessarily.
If we flip to the mind of the exhibitor, the exhibitor is focused solely on ‘doing an exhibition’. Most of the time, they don’t ‘do’ exhibitions that often so every time is almost like the first. Some organisation may have a specific team in marketing that looks after expo’s but rarely - very very rarely - do companies invest in their exhibition management or expertise.
Quite unsurprisingly, they end up being ‘ ignorant’ of what they could, should and probably would do. They ‘do’ the exhibition and often, they don’t benchmark that accurately so they can’t really give an accurate metric on how well the exhibition did.
One of those coulda, shoulda, woulda things is working with the event company to help improve their own exhibition experience for their stand visitors. Event companies have lots of tech and cool ‘stuff’ available to them like bespoke event apps but don’t get the full benefit from it because it does not generally equate to more immediate revenue - and also, if last years show was deemed a success without the app, why risk the change on format? I know exhibitions that have thrived on this premise for many years.
Covid and the pandemic has changed that. The biggest driver of that change is and will be visitor behaviour. Will there be handshaking, close(ish) conversations, stand hands and /or visitors with no appreciation of personal space? If contactless detail exchange and digital goodie bags are the norm from the (so called) virtual events we have attended and experienced over the last year, then adopt it we must.
If the exhibitor has absolutely no idea that these functions are available or how it works, then we end up stuck in some kind of time loop. Exhibitors need to take responsibility for ensuring they are the best prepared they can be, but they are ignorant.
They just don’t know.
It is up to event companies and directors to educate them about all the additional options that are available to them. By this, I mean proper time investment and onboarding. Facilitating the conversations between the tech companies and exhibitors, what the benefits are and even providing 'how to' articles and/or videos. This type of investment may seem a lot - but consider that if your exhibitors engaged just 5% more and did 5% more of what you - as event directors - would want them to do, what would that do to the whole show?
The unspoken truth is that the relationship between event director and exhibitor is more symbiotic than either party realises. If both parties do just a bit more together for the good of the show AND the exhibitor, the result are exponentially greater.
by Steve Lloyd
Founder and Managing Director of Exhibition Mastery.
Founder Member of the Exhibition Think Tank