I am constantly amazed at how people and organizations interact or more importantly, don’t interact.
Whether presenting products or services, pitching ideas, helping people, making money, or making connections there is so much we do well; but there is so much more we could do if only we could see what we don’t see or strive to constantly evolve by applying feedback and lessons from our experience and that of others.
Many people and organizations do amazing work, often far from the spotlight; however, many are challenged to make people and other organizations aware of the work they do. Whether “for-profit” or “not-for-profit,” one of the most common vehicles for attracting notice are trade shows, job fairs, and/or networking events.
The challenge, especially for organizations facing barriers, stigma, or lack of public awareness, is how to connect effectively at these types of events.
Don’t fall into the trap of not planning. When I hear organizational leaders saying they just want casual, low-pressure connections; that does not mean that planning isn’t important. Setting goals, planning, and practicing are things those people who appear casual often do for every event they attend.
Do take define what success would look like for the event. Have a goal; trade shows or exhibits are expensive in terms of time and resources. During your planning, create specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-specific (SMART) goals to ensure your resources are used effectively.
Don’t forget effective networking is not about you or what you want. People attend these types of events to solve their problems, to meet people who can help them in their situations, and to satisfy their wants and needs. Build your success by being genuinely interested in listening and helping the people you engage.
Do plan on ways to “break the ice” with people. How often at trade shows or events do you see people failing to connect or often even speaking to different exhibitors. Hours and days slip by with little or no engagement and each one is a lost opportunity.
Don’t forget to work with your people on overcoming their feelings of awkwardness. Meeting and engaging with strangers can be very difficult for some people. Coaching and role-playing before the event can help and watching and encouraging your people as they interact with people can make a huge difference to their ability and confidence. This is especially important for new people.
Do “show your flag.” Networking events, trade shows, and job fairs are great opportunities to make people aware of you and what you do but do so in a way that is welcoming and non-intimidating.
Don’t sit down. Don’t sit behind a desk or table when the people you want to engage with are standing. If you are going to provide places to sit, use pub-height tables and chairs. Don’t form barriers for people to engage. So often in these events, tables keep participants separated, to truly connect you should physically interact with attendees.
Do provide swag. Swag doesn’t have to be expensive, for example, in trade shows that are open for children to attend, one of the most effective tools is helium balloons with your logo. These events are not about your swag, they are about building relationships; however, having logoed gifts is an effective tool for that process.
Don’t “cheap out” on your swag. Giving people useful items such as tasteful ceramic mugs, well-functioning pens, etc. can serve as useful reminders of how effective and useful you and your organization can be. Distributing inferior and poor-quality swag will send the opposite reminder to people. If you are going to provide items to clients and prospective clients, do it well, or don’t do it at all.
Do be memorable. Engaging, breaking the ice, making people feel at ease, appreciating the awkwardness inherent in first meetings, and doing so sincerely; all will make a positive impression. Being interested in a person’s story, their needs, and what their issues are will make you memorable.
Don’t sell. As mentioned, trade shows and other networking events are about “showing your flag,” they are about building rapport and starting relationships. You and your people may even begin the qualification and education processes of further building connections. These events are not about selling specific items, products, or services; in my experience, that process comes later, if at all.
Do follow-up. When you have successfully engaged with a person, you have begun a journey that must be nurtured and developed if it is to thrive. Too often, people and organizations let initial connections whither and fade away. After engaging with someone, take a few minutes and make notes, be sure to ask permission, acquire their contact information, thank them, and then follow up within a reasonable period.
Don’t forget to always provide value. If you want to build a relationship with someone, provide value intrinsically for that person or organization. Someone should be theoretically able to ask them “So what?” after speaking with you and they should be able to provide at least several examples of how you can make their situation better.
Do remember the importance of standing out. You and your organization are competing for attention, know this, appreciate this, and consciously know that you are there to make a difference for each person you speak to. This can be done casually and conversationally; however, everything should be on purpose; this is not manipulative, you must be sincere and genuine.
Don’t forget you are on stage. To engage, you cannot be on your phone, you cannot be “chatting” with your coworkers; you are working and you must be focused. If you are sitting in your booth waiting for customers to approach you, you might as well have stayed home because you are wasting your time.
Do smile. Such an easy item, but to break the ice, to engage, to make people feel welcome, smile and say thank you.
Don’t overload people. These events are about introductions, building rapport with education, and maybe some demonstrations. Often simple is more effective than trying to do too much.
Do keep track of who you meet. Earlier we suggested defining what success would look like for your organization. Keeping a tally combined with pertinent information is an important performance indicator to measure the value of attending an event.
Don’t forget to bring lots of business cards. These events are about leads and first steps, running out of business cards during a busy event can undermine everything you have done well.
Do have a draw for a prize. This is a great way to engage people and have everyone fill in a ballot. Add a survey on the ballot and request permission to follow up with each person. Make it easy to enter, be generous with the prize, and make sure when the winner collects the prize that you make a big deal about it in social media and other media forms as well.
Don’t underestimate the value of setting up early. Being one of the first exhibitors to set up is always better than being one of the last, if there are issues, you have time to get things right, the show tradespeople are fresher and more helpful, and then it is done.
Do have name tags and make your staff easy to identify and find. If the event is running for more than a few hours, stagger your people so they are fresh; to meet and greet dozens of people in a short time can be exhausting no matter how energetic they are initially.
Don’t skip the exhibitor’s dinner and/or meetings. Make a point of attending any supporting meetings for the events attended. Take advantage of learning and watching what other exhibitors do well and learn from them. Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas.
Do provide meals and/or snacks for your staff. Anticipate your people will require breaks and energy especially since events seldom allow normal breaks and meals, so make sure you take care of your people.
Don’t discount the effectiveness of providing tasty bite-size treats for your visitors. There are lots of ideas, and chocolate is always popular, look online, there are many choices, but something local with signing will score points.
Do involve as many of your people as possible in “idea-storming” before the event. Begin planning a minimum of three months before any event your organization is planning on attending.
Don’t forget to have a “Lessons Learned” session. Discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what they think you should do differently next time. Make the discussion a “safe space” and encourage your people to make critical assessments without fear of retribution or defensiveness.
Do have an evolving checklist. After completing the “lessons learned” meeting take the time to update your initial checklist and begin planning for the next time.
I am passionate about trade shows, networking, job fairs, and any other event where people are trying to make a difference and build relationships. We can all think of times we have seen very effective examples of how to do this and more examples of where this did not happen. To make a difference for ourselves and our people, we need to open our eyes to what we could be doing and be open to doing more each time.
Good luck
Paul.