Posted in Articles, Before the Show, During the Show on 09. Sep, 2010
In the wonderful world of exhibiting, and as the trade show season starts up again don’t you yearn for that magic wand to give a quick magical fix to your trade show trials and tribulations. Wouldn’t it be nice to have attendees motivated to flock to our booths because they wanted to and not because they had to? The question is, “what magic can you perform on the trade show floor, to help captivate and charm your prospects’ with your products/services?” The following thirteen (auspicious for some), (six this week and seven next week in Part 2) will give you some irresistible ideas to get those creative juices flowing:
1. Use boundless imagination Without a shadow of a doubt, imagination and creativity need to permeate from every pore of your exhibit marketing program. How can you tap into the creativity and imagination that exists in your organization to cast prizewinning spells to enhance your exhibiting program?
2. Stop being an adult – be childlike At the core of every attendee is a little child yearning to escape. What can you do to help them do that? What can you do that incorporates what we all loved as children – fairy tales, story-telling and make-believe games? Disney managed it very successfully, and so did J.K. Rowling. What would a five-year old do to sprinkle some magical pixie dust on to your exhibit marketing program?
3. Break and bend the rules To get what you want, you often have to break and bend the rules, especially when it suits your purpose. Most advances in science, medicine, music, art and design came as a result of someone being prepared to challenge the norm and try a different approach. What scary rules could you secretly break?
4. Do what you know Take something you know and do well and add a little something else to it, and then add something else. Very soon you will take on the mark of a wizard and transform what you have into something new. What creative things can you do with what you know, and what resources and solutions are right in front of you?
5. Integrate the weird and wonderful It’s easy to only look at exhibiting from one perspective especially when you exhibit within one particular industry. Often, the best ideas come from cutting across different boundaries, for example, how could you integrate weird and wonderful potions, charms, giants, dragons, cauldrons, crystal balls and the like into your offering? Make a point of looking outside your particular situation for enchanting ideas. Tape into a kid’s brain power.
6. Plot out what you want to do before you begin What’s your exhibiting objective, what are you trying to achieve, and what planning do you need to do? Draw a picture and make a map of where you need to go and the things you need to do. Using pictures instead of words can add bewitching power and put a very different perspective on your planning process. It also helps make it fun!