The Big Event

Posted by Brian | Thursday, November 05, 2009

I have been fortunate enough to attend two very different but equally large scale events in the past month. The first was Internet Retail in Hammersmith and most recently Destination Growth at Duxford.

Both events were well worth the ticket value and also were benefitted by a very high quality line up of speakers.

Internet Retail, as the title may indicate, is a leading event in Europe aimed at the online market space populated by those of us who are engaged in the sale of products and services. As would be expected the speakers were industry leaders and from companies very heavily involved in this area.

Speakers during the day were key representatives from  Zappos,  John Lewis, Google, Omniture, Reebok, Harvey Nichols, Asda, Waitrose, Argos and lastminute.com. A pretty impressive line up I am sure you would agree. Testament also to the event that if you are going to learn from people then choose those who have something to teach.

At Destination Growth the event was organised by EEDA and was an opportunity for business leaders from the Eastern region to meet, network and chat while being educated by another very high quality line up of speakers. The headliners were Lord Sugar, Greg Dyke and Michelle Mone.

As if these individuals were not enough, and for my part the show stopper was Michelle Mone a truly amazing character, they were ably assisted by a number of other leading entrepreneurs from businesses locally and nationally. Again this was an extremely high quality line up of people top learn from.

So events then.  Should you go and if so to which ones and do you attend or do you exhibit. I think there are a number of things to consider when assessing the merits of any event. The obvious starting point is of course to centre on the key events in your industry or market space. There is always one, or many, and they can be found relatively easily from Google (or other similar brands.......) or trade publications and so on.

Once you have found the event or exhibition that is of interest, then you can decide whether you are a delegate or an exhibitor. There are of course a few points to assist you with this

• What is the cost of exhibiting and can you afford it? (There is not only the actual cost of the floor space but also whatever you display, travel, hotels, meals and so on)
• Who will be going as delegates? It may be that exhibiting is a requirement in your industry to be seen, but it is also vital to grab some contacts or new business as well as filling your clients with wine and cheese.
• Who do you staff the stand with? Personally I would always go with those who do this for a living so that would be the sales team and then maybe marketing. Technical representation is useful for deeper conversations but do not load a stand with techies who cannot talk. Better staff with talkers who cannot tech. I have been to many shows and walked past stands to be ignored by the people on it. This is why you are there - to talk.
• What do you look like? Larger companies will have teams of people who manage this for them. You may not. If you do exhibit ensure you look good. Your stand must be attractive, easy to understand and welcoming. If people do not want to come and chat you may as well have stayed at home. Also the staff on the space must also be well presented, approachable and for your sake confident. They are there to sell the company and will be little use if they cannot.
• If you attend as a delegate what is the point? Why are you going to go? If it’s a day out of the way of your boss then fine. But if your requirement is more directed then it may be useful to consider what you what you want to achieve. It is possible to attend events and meet new contacts and get business. You can do this by visiting in event networking or simply paying attention to the name badges or simply saying hello and what do you do then?
• Speakers. I have attended events just for the speakers as they are very interesting and you can go and learn from those who know what you do not. It is also likely that a good speaker will attract a good audience so you have more opportunity as a result
• The competition. Events can also be a great chance to go see what others are doing in your market place.  I have never done this of course, but you could go covertly and be sold to by your main competitors to gauge their approach and service. It is also the opportunity to see what is new in your space. All companies want to show off the sexy stuff when they spend some cash on going somewhere to be surrounded by potential buyers.

Whilst it is imperative to consider the advantages and disadvantages of attending events and exhibitions I would always recommend going to them. They are good ways to cover a large number of opportunities in a small time scale and space and hopefully get some serious advice and guidance from those who teach and inspire. It is also worth looking at location websites for the main venues as these will list all events and you can choose the ones that may work for you.

Happy exhibiting or attending!