May 22, 2000
How To

8 Steps for Throwing a Successful Trade-Show Party

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Many new business Web sites and Net market-makers are in for a nasty shock when they try to buy booth space at trade shows. Most events’ exhibit space will be sold out months in advance, and the most popular events can sell out a year in advance! If you can’t get a booth – or the only booth you can get is so tiny and ill-placed that you won’t get much traffic -- consider throwing a party instead.

Step #1. Check with the show organizers before making party announcements. There may be some times when they don’t want “unauthorized” parties to conflict with their own, and you could jeopardize your chances of getting a booth next year.

Step #2. Pick an activity or theme that fits your audience instead of just drinks and appetizers. At a show with mostly female executives offer “chocolate heaven”, at a show with a huge convention hall run a “foot-rub clinic”, at a show for an industry that loves to network, hire a superstar guest for them to meet and mingle with.

Step #3: Rent the show’s list to send an invitation mailing a week beforehand. If that’s impossible, get out invitations guerrilla-style. Have temps hand them out at the show entrance and arm your staff with extras to give to people they meet.

Step #4: Provide transportation if your party is more than a block away from the event. Have a fleet of limos decorated with your logo waiting outside the hall, people who hadn’t even planned on attending will be delighted to hop in, “just for 15 minutes.”

Step #5: Most business parties fail miserably in terms of signage. Have you ever noticed when attending show parties yourself that once in the door you often forget who’s the host? So have signs made up in a wide variety of sizes to hang on walls, prop on tables next to food, etc. Bring Velcro tape so you can affix them everywhere. If your party is in a big hotel, bring several easels so you can put signs in hallways and outside elevator banks pointing the way. And don’t forget the bathrooms! (Some events are even selling bathroom sponsorship these days.)

Step #6: Train your staff beforehand with a “practice party.” The rules: wear your name badge on the right so people can read it easily when they shake your hand. Carry two pens (one to keep, one to lend) so you can jot notes on people’s cards to remember later. Maximize your chances of mingling with each guest by working the party as individuals, never couples or groups! (This is the most important and most often broken rule.) And, practice opening lines--such as “What were you hoping to get out of this show?”, “What’s the most useful thing you’ve learned so far at the show?”, “What Web sites do you visit now?”--that enable you to pick out the best prospects quickly and start conversations without getting tongue-tied.

Step #7: Station an employee at the exit to give party leavers a “goody bag” with a small promotional gift and your literature as they depart. (If you give it to people as they come in, they are more likely to put it down and forget to take it.)

Step #8: Follow-up. Only about 10% of show party-givers ever bother to send a low-pressure “Thank you” email to everyone who attended their party. This should be a quick note sent 2 days after the trade show is over (giving attendees time to get home and plow through their excess email) saying nothing more than “thanks for coming to our party” and containing one short paragraph about what you can do for them. No, a sales call is not the same thing! Who wants to be repaid for coming to a party by being hit with a pitch? Low key is the way to go here--remember that you’re trying to make long-term relationships in the industry.

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