MOBILE MARKETING
 I’ve been managing trade show exhibits for more than a decade, but next year my company will launch its first mobile-marketing campaign. Since I’m a mobile-marketing virgin, I’m completely clueless about the unique challenges related to staffing a road show. Can I rely on the employees I use to staff my company’s booths, or should I consider outsourcing the task to seasoned road warriors?
 It takes a unique personality — not to mention someone who is at a certain point in his or her life — to happily remain on the road for weeks or months at a time. In our case, we found that asking employees who are used to working in an office environment to leave the workplace and become full-time road warriors for several months wasn’t the right solution.
So instead of looking in-house, we hire independent contractors for our Olympus On-Site tour, which travels the country for approximately 40 weeks each year. We invest heavily in finding the right people to man the campaign and training them thoroughly. When doing so, we follow the exact same hiring and screening procedures that we follow when we hire a full-time employee. Our event company looks for people who have previous mobile-marketing experience, enjoy life on the road, and are reliable, trustworthy, and responsible. Candidates also need to have great personalities and be able to hold sophisticated, high-level conversations with our sales team as well as our customers. Finally, they need to be comfortable with technology and capable of learning quickly.
Each year, we hire four full-time staffers to man the campaign — two of whom handle tour logistics (e.g., driving, hydraulics, etc.), and two of whom serve as our brand ambassadors. Once we find the right people for the job, we bring them in-house for several weeks to conduct comprehensive company and product training.
Whether you choose to employ contractors or decide to staff your tour with your own employees, don’t forget what a tough job these people have and take pains to show your appreciation for what they do. For example, we gave tour staff Olympus digital cameras as thank-you gifts and as a means to record their on-the-road experiences. We take them out for a farewell dinner at the end of each year’s tour. And we regularly invite them to our headquarters to meet with our staff. In short, we show our appreciation for what they do in any way that we can, and as often as possible.
— David Willard, director, marketing and community services, Olympus America Inc., Center Valley, PA
COST CUTTING
My show-services bill is always a shock. How can I cut costs without negatively affecting my program?
While many show-services costs are unavoidable, such as those for Internet connections or in-bound drayage fees, you still hold the reins on several rental-related charges. So one easy way to cut costs without lacerating your program is to buy rather than rent.
Compare the price of renting vs. buying everything from chairs and tables to audiovisual and computer equipment. On-site rental charges add up quickly, and buying and shipping typical rental items to the show can save you money in the long run. Granted, you’ll still incur the expenses and responsibilities of ownership, but at worst, a bit of comparison shopping can help you make a well-informed decision — and at best, you may save your company a wad of cash.
Similarly, rather than buying or renting small items on site — including everything from extension cords and power strips to trash cans and packing tape — bring your own.
Finally, consider purchasing a mini-vacuum so you can clean your own booth. According to Tradeshow Week’s 2007 Survey of U.S. and Canadian Labor Rates, daily vacuuming rates are $.33 per square foot. For a 400-square-foot booth at a three-day show, you’re paying an average of $396 per show. If you don’t want to tote a vacuum, consider ordering booth cleaning for every other day, as opposed to every day, of the show.
— EXHIBITOR Staff
POST-SHOW REPORTS
Travel costs prevent me from personally attending most of our small regional trade shows. So when I attempt to evaluate the quality of each show, I have to rely on post-show reports from my regional sales staff. However, their idea of feedback is “The show was well attended.” How can I get my salespeople to provide more detailed feedback?
Want better information? Ask better questions. Prior to the show, provide your salespeople with detailed questions — such as those below — and explain that you expect lengthy answers in their show reports. This way, staffers will not only understand the precise information you’re after, but they can be on the lookout for this information during the show, rather than trying to extrapolate it from their memory banks after the fact.
Here are some key questions you should ask salespeople to answer:
 What topics (or products, or competitors) did attendees mention with regularity? What did they say about these things specifically and generally?
What products in our booth got the most attention/interest? Why? What were people saying about them, or how did they interact with them?
What type of attendees seemed most interested in our products (by job title or responsibility)?
What else did you learn during typical conversations with attendees? For example, what did you learn about product interest, competitive influences, the variety of customers/prospects drawn to the exhibit, etc.
To obtain even more detailed and immediate feedback, also consider requiring staffers to complete a shorter, but daily, show report after each staffing shift and to submit it
to you via e-mail.
Regardless of whether you decide to request daily or post-show reports, be specific both in terms of the questions you want answered and the amount of detail you expect. Without detailed, specific questions, you’ll get broad, general answers.
— Doug MacLean, president, MacLean Marketing, Blythewood, SC
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