Promotional Staff Birmingham - Europe’s largest Vaping Exhibition and more …

Exhibition Staff Birmingham – Europe’s largest Vaping Exhibition and more …

Event Hosts are a premier supplier of promotional and exhibition staff Birmingham.

This month we are excited to once again be helping to host The Vaper Expo at Birmingham’s NEC. This will be the fourth installment of the show since it first began in 2015 and it is always one of our favourite events of the year.

Event Hosts very own promotional staff will be on hand throughout the show, handing out flyers, attracting visitors to the booths and giving out E-liquid samples.

For more information on the expo and to view all the exhibitor lists visit their web page here.

This is the second major vape exhibition we have assisted at this year following the Vape Jam at the London Excel, where some of the biggest names in the industry were on hand to show off their latest creations including “The Milkman” and “Premium Labs”.

exhibition staff Birmingham at Truly Vape

Exhibition Staff Birmingham – Beauty UK …

This month we will also be helping out at Beauty UK, when the national beauty trade show returns to Birmingham’s NEC on Sunday the 21st May.

This years’ show features over 600 leading brands along with a whole range of new product & treatment innovations. The show will also be running in conjunction with the Hair UK show where you can find 1,000s of exclusive deals on offer and many principal hairdressing & barbering training providers.

Event Hosts excellent sales assistants have a passion for hair and beauty and will be helping to promote product awareness throughout the event, whist our lively ambassadors will be supporting a whole range of skin care products, cosmetic and hair brands.

exhibition staff Birmingham at Automechanika

The Automechanika…

Event Hosts exhibition staff will also be back at the NEC in June, when they will be helping out at the Automechanika from the 6th – 8th.

Automechanika is currently the UK’s leading exhibition for automotive supplies, bringing together over 750 of the very best suppliers. Event Hosts will be supplying exhibitors with outgoing, enthusiastic promotional models wearing branded outfits as well as experienced lead generators and sales assistants to help companies meet and even exceed their targets.

If you are looking for promotional staff for an event in Birmingham please do not hesitate to Contact Us today.

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promotional staffing at Ice Gaming event 2017

Why you need to use a Promotional Staffing Agency in 2017 …

There’s no denying it modern technology has allowed many businesses to flourish more quickly than they could have without it, but this doesn’t mean that traditional tried-and-tested methods aren’t still relevant in today’s business arena.

Putting your business directly in front of a relevant audience is still a proven way of getting relevant exposure and building your brand in a positive light.

promotional staffing from Event Hosts

Promotional staffing – a case in point.

Hundreds of businesses from a wide variety of different niches promote their services/products to the general public at events across the UK and abroad and still see this as a key area in their yearly marketing calendar.

However, for your business to truly succeed in this arena, it is crucial that you ensure your promotional staffing is both professional and knowledgeable and sourced from a reputable and proven agency.  

Although there are many promotional staffing companies available, not all of them offer true value in the service and staff they provide.

Many of these agencies talk a good job but lack the industry experience and know-how to back it up with the quality of staff they provide.

At Event Hosts we saw a genuine gap in the market for a truly tailored and professional premium event staffing agency that takes the stress out of finding the right people to promote your event, leaving you to focus on the finer details.

And since we formed we have built a strong reputation in the event staffing industry for the quality of our staff and excellence in customer service.

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And so far 2017 is proving to be the busiest year yet for our promotional staffing activities …

The Furniture Show in January was the first outing in 2017 for Event Hosts, and saw us providing clients existing and new with a series of promotional staff, including sales assistants and hostesses.

Then the Lamma Show is an annual event catering for the farm services industry, and unveils a number of new inventive products to the industry every year. Again, Event Hosts were proud to be part of the event by supplying a number of reliable and professional event staff to help a variety of businesses connect with their customers in an effective and direct manner.

And we pride ourselves on the diverse range of events and clients in our yearly portfolio.

The notorious ICE Total Gaming event, was a great success for us this year and we even secured bookings for the event being held in 2018.

The London fashion show Pure saw us flourish again, with a series of existing and new clients taking full advantage of our promotional staffing services,  including a number of promotional models demonstrating the latest fashions.

And not forgetting The Spring Fair where, once again, a number of clients benefited from the quality and reliability of our promotional staff.

If you’re currently considering using promotional staffing at your next event, then why not contact Event Hosts today to discuss your requirements in more detail.

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hostesses-amazon-web-services

Event Hostesses make waves at prestigious London conference & International trade show …

Event Hosts have been extremely busy over the last couple of months, supplying promotional staff, promo girls and event hostesses to big events all over the county.

event hostesses at the World Travel market Event London Excel

First up was the Amazon Web Services conference at the Rosewood Hotel in London.

The event was hosted by Silicon Valley venture capitalist giants; Andreessen Horowitz and featured some of the biggest names in their field including Okta and GitHub who were in attendance to discuss the next generation of online software.

Two of our top registration hostesses were hired to assist with meet and greet duties at the conference, which included setting up and managing the registration desk as well as helping stage several question and answer sessions.

Read more about Amazon web services here.

Going international with our hostesses at the World Travel Market …

sales assistants at WTM event

Our next major event was the World Travel Market (WTM) at the renowned Excel in London.

This three day event brings together leading professionals in the travel industry each year from all over the world.

It is one of the industry’s biggest networking events generating more than $2.5 billion worth of contracts.

You can see some of the highlights from day 3 here.

This year’s event was their most successful ever with a record 51,500 Participants attending.

And, of course, our team were on hand to ensure things ran smoothly.

We supplied a number of multilingual hostesses, bar staff, hospitality staff, sales assistants, promo girls and lead generators representing countries from all over the world including France, Spain, UK, UAE, Italy, Israel, Egypt and India.

Some of the more well known companies represented at the event included designer retail outlet The Mall, which houses more than 30 major fashion brands, as well as the famous Loro Parque in Tenerife; A zoo/wildlife park located on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz and one of the biggest attractions in the Canary Islands, attracting over 40 million visitors each year.

And judging by the feedback we received, our clients thought our staff were a hit as well …

“I wish to write to you and say thank you! Gemma was really great! Clever, efficient, fully committed, friendly! It was a great pleasure to work with her. You will definitely hear from me in the future!”

our hostesses make waves at prestigious events recently

If you require the highest quality event staff anywhere in the UK or overseas then please do not hesitate to contact us for an Instant Quote today.

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Promotional Staffing Agency

Why use a Promotional Staffing Agency?

We get asked these sort of questions a lot.

Why do I need a promotional staffing agency? How will they benefit my business? Surely it’s cheaper to recruit the staff myself?

All very valid questions, of course.

No business owner is going to spend money any kind of third party service without first being able to see the benefit/s of doing so.

And admittedly, you do hear some horror stories about promotional staffing agencies being unreliable or supplying staff who are just not suited to the job in hand.

However, if you choose wisely and do your homework there is no doubt that a reputable promotional staffing agency will add huge weight to your brand marketing efforts and, very often, we can become a key part of your event marketing strategy throughout the year.

The three key benefits of using a Promotional Staffing Agency explained …

Great staff from our Promotional Staffing Agency

Flexibility:

This, for many clients, is the number one perceived benefit they get from their promotional staffing agency. You can, literally, pick up the phone today and have a member of staff working for you at your event tomorrow no matter what the location in the UK or further afield.

This kind of flexible staffing ability is something that the majority of businesses quite simply don’t have the resources in-house to achieve.

Piece of mind:

We are experts in our field, meaning you are in safe hands.

We supply staff to many different business sectors at a huge array of event locations across the UK and Europe which puts in a position to make highly informed decisions about the perfect candidate for your specifications whether that be Hostesses for Corporate Hospitality or Lead Generators with the skills to influence your potential customers we know our staff and can match their skills to relevant jobs with 100% accuracy every single time.

In fact, at Event Hosts we take that experience one step further as our Director, Sarah, has been involved with the event staffing industry for over two decades meaning that what she doesn’t know about it really isn’t worth knowing.

promo girl

Professionalism:

As a promotional staffing agency we pride ourselves on being professional at all times and with everyone we deal with.

And this is a quality we expect from our staff as well meaning you are guaranteed to get staff who represent your brand in the best possible light in exactly the same way as you’d expect from one of your own employees.

By consistently offering the above three benefits we are able to prove time after time that promotional staffing agencies are a highly valuable resource to any business, large or small, and this is why our clients use our services time after time.

Why not take a look at Our Staff and see the quality we have on offer for yourself? Or take a look at our About Page and read about the very high standards we operate to.

Still not convinced?

OK – well don’t just take our word for it – have a read what our clients say about us below …

Shirley – Acqvalue.

“Thank you for providing excellent staff for me as an exhibitor at the TIE 2015. I will say again that I can’t praise Rosie enough, who turned out to be an extremely valuable asset. She just knew what to do, showed initiative and worked very hard. Danielle was great and picked things up very quickly.”

Mr Lally – ERIKI London.

“Finding premium event staff has always been an issue so it was great to come across Event Hosts this year. We do a number of VIP dining events and needed smart, well spoken hostesses to assist our guests throughout the evening. Not only did Event Hosts provide us with a competitive quote but they sourced us with 4 exceptional ladies to assist on 3 events this year. We cannot recommend Event Hosts highly enough and look forward to booking with them for some of our high end functions this summer.”

Maged – Travel Booking Experts.

“We used Event Hosts whilst exhibiting at WTM 2015. Sarah was very helpful in all ways, following up all through the way, she provided hard-working, bright staff that were able to get the requested job done, I would definitely use their services again in the future and recommend them to other partners and friends to use.”

Trevor – Prima Business.

“Danubia was superb, a real professional and credit to your company, we would not hesitate to work with you and your staff in the future.”

Paul – Imex Promotions.

“It was a pleasure to have Kate during The Spring Fair on my stand – She is highly recommendable in all ways. I would quote her and Events Hosts service 5 ***** “

As a promotional staffing agency getting comments like the above makes all our hard work worthwhile.

promotional model at the boat show

So, if you’re considering hiring promotional staff look no further than Event Hosts and Contact Us today to discuss your requirements in more detail.

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Promotional Staff Birmingham NEC

Promotional Staff, Birmingham NEC …

We’ve supplied hundreds of promotional staff to the Birmingham NEC for a huge range of disciplines and to companies across many different industry sectors.

As a venue the NEC has to be one of our favourites. It’s location in Birmingham places it centrally in the UK making it accessible to those based both in the north and south of the country as well as the midlands, obviously.

This combined with the fact that it is located on major travel routes means it never seems to fail to pull the crowds and have a packed house.

This creates a real buzz around any event there and we always get great feedback from our promotional staff at the the NEC around what a great time they had working at the venue, etc.

Quality Promotional Staff Birmingham

Quality Promotional Staff Birmingham …

Promotional Staff, Birmingham NEC – some of our favourite events in the spotlight …

To give a flavour as to the huge variety of events that use promotional staff at the NEC we thought we’d do a quick round-up from some of our most recent favourites.

All the events below were a huge success both for the NEC as a venue and the companies exhibiting at the events themselves.

The Spring Fair:

Held at the NEC in February this is the UK’s Number 1 Gift & Home Trade Event. Hundreds of exhibitors attend the event to showcase their product ranges from Christmas Gifts to Fashion & Jewellery and it down to our promotional staff to provide sales support, product demonstrations and generally portray our clients brands in a positive light.

The January Furniture Show:

This stylish event sees all the UK’s major upholstery, cabinet and bed suppliers descend on the NEC and is also attended by top brands for accessories, flooring, fabric and lighting.

Brands from Italy, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, France and the Far East also attend the event creating a huge demand for promotional staff in Birmingham.

Automechanika Birmingham:

Sounds impressive and it is.

Messe Frankfurt are world renowned for their hugely successful Trade Fairs and Automechanika Birmingham is no exception. With approximately 1000 domestic and international exhibitors the shows audience can meet all the very best automative suppliers and discover all the latest technology and innovation in their various sectors.

BodyPower Expo:

Fitness, fitness and more fitness …

Since 2009 the BodyPower Expo has graced the Birmingham NEC with its presence and is now the most celebrated and comprehensive fitness event in the UK.

More than 90,000 health and fitness enthusiasts attend the event which offers something for any fitness enthusiast.

Our Birmingham promotional staff help the show exhibitors provide a premier visitor experience and are key in making interactive feature areas and national competitions as successful as possible.

MACH:

With the tagline ‘Manufacturing in Motion,’ MACH is the UK’s premier manufacturing and technology event and plays host to exhibitors from a broad range of sectors from Power Generation and Medical to Autosport and Space Technologies.

Organised by the Manufacturing Technologies Association the event sees over 600 companies exhibiting each year and is responsible for generating hundreds of millions of pounds worth of business for those involved.

Hire stunning Promotional Staff for Events at the NEC in Birmingham

Hire stunning Promotional Staff for Events at the NEC in Birmingham …

Do you need promotional staff in Birmingham either at the NEC or a different venue? If so then contact us for an Instant Quote and 10% Off your first booking today.

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promotional girls at the Cereals Arable Event

Promotional Girls a Hit with AgriBuy …

Our premium promotional girls have recently worked at two major agricultural events in the UK for AgriBuy who are the go to company for financing, buying or selling all types of farm machinery.

Their revolutionary business model allows people in the agricultural sector to simply and quickly either buy farm machinery or sell it online.

promotional girl does the splits in front of tractor

As a part of their brand promotion they exhibit at major agricultural events throughout the UK and commissioned us, in the first instance, to source promotional girls to help get their brand noticed more effectively at the Cereals Arabal Event, in Cambridge.

“ …we want all farmers to get all the benefits of the world wide web and see a huge range of kit and get better deals on buying it. It’s as simple as that.”

Alistair Bett – Founder of Agribuy.

They had a very specific specification with the skills they required from our promotional girls for this event and our team did us extremely proud.

In fact, Agribuy were that impressed with the team we supplied that they booked further staff for The Lincoln Show at Grange-de-Lings Showground.

What was our Promotional Girls brief at the shows?

promotional girls display the news feed

AgriBuy were specifically looking for our promotional girls to give their brand that added wow factor with the general public at the shows and raise awareness around their business model, website and associated app download.

We specifically chose girls from our extensive portfolio who had the skills to learn quickly and provide first class customer interaction.

This meant they were able to quickly understand the AgriBuy philosophy and consequently promote this in a knowledgeable and professional way to anyone who showed an interest.

Two other key areas of the promotional girls role was to encourage and help customers download the AgriBuy app on their mobile phones and to take eye catching photos for distribution across various social media channels.

Both these events were an immense success and we’re proud to have been able to do our bit for our clients brand.

promotional girl at the Cereals Arabal Event

Our contact at Agribuy said …

“The promotional girls you have provided are fantastic as always, thanks!”

They are also planning on using Event Hosts premium promotional girls at other agricultural events in the future.

If you are looking for increased exposure for your brand at an upcoming event either in the UK or overseas please do not hesitate to contact us for an Instant Quote.

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promotional girls at information security events

Promotional Girls get set for Information Security Events …

When it comes to information security IFSEC International and Infosecurity Europe have to be the go to events throughout the year and with many high profile organisations and industry leading speakers in attendance, the promotional girls we supply have to be of the highest calibre.

The vetting procedures and background checks for the promotional girls we supply to events like this have to be faultless as well.

Promotional girls on a high profile, global stage …

Both the above events are just around the corner now, meaning thousands of brands and individuals from across the globe will be showcasing their expertise and innovation and it is key that our promotional girls promote our clients brand in the most professional light so they stand out from the crowd.

A few facts and figures for you …

Infosecurity Europe – 7-9 June @ Olympia, London:

Promotional Girls at Infosecurity Europe

The first of these events took place way back in 1995 meaning that Infosecurity Europe is now in its 21st year.

Last year they saw over 12,000 visitors from 80 different countries and the organisers are expecting a higher attendance this year.

A key focus of the event is 160+ hours of free education delivered by 260+ expert speakers. This takes place in a number of different arenas from Security Workshops and Technical Showcase Theatres to Keynote Theatres and Dedicated Training Courses.

In terms of the exhibitors there will be over 315 industry leading Vendors and Service Suppliers across a wide spectrum of niches from Encryption and Anti-Malware to Identity Access Management and Secure Transactions.

Our promotional girls and sales staff are promoting the following sectors

  • Leading Code Analysis.
  • Cloud-Delivered Next-Generation Endpoint Protection.
  • Penetration Testing.
  • Threat Intelligence.

IFSEC International – 21-23 June @ Excel, London:

Promotional Girls at IFSEC International

Being Europe’s largest security exhibition, IFSEC International sees over 27,000 security professionals from across the globe in attendance at ExCeL in London.

The event bears witness to the latest technological innovations and hosts seminars from industry leading speakers from the information security sector – all under one roof, over three days.

The event involves virtually every sector within the security buying chain from manufacturers and distributors to integrators, consultants and end users.

This ensures that visitors to the event have the opportunity to find the perfect security solutions and discover the latest products for the protection of their property, people and assets.

Our promotional girls are promoting the following sectors

  • Specialist Cables.
  • Security, Surveillance & Infrastructure Requirements.
  • Health, Safety & Environmental.

Some pretty impressive figures there.

But of course, we don’t just supply promotional girls in the info security sector so if you have an upcoming event and really want to get your brand noticed whatever the sector why not ask us for an Instant Quote today?

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Hire Event Staff for Excel in London

Event Staff for Hire – in all Disciplines and in all Locations …

Back in 2013 Event Hosts Ltd started offering event staff for hire largely in the London in line with their base in Covent Garden.

Today, after nurturing a reputation for quality and reliability of service and staff we offer event staff for hire across the length and breadth of the UK and Europe.

Whether you’re looking to hire one member of staff for one day or 20 for the whole duration of any given event then look no further because you’re in the right place.

Just head on over to Our Staff Portfolio to see just a few of the many quality candidates we have to offer and then follow the links to get an Instant Quote today.

Event Staff for Hire at Rai in Amsterdam

Event Staff for Hire – whatever your requirements …

Our Director, Sarah, has over two decades of experience in the events staffing sector and has built up a team at Event Hosts that mirrors her passion for excellence and industry knowledge.

We stringently vet and reference all candidates who apply to work for us ensuring that we offer you only the very best staff when you hire through us.

This means that your brand will stand out from the crowd and be remembered amongst those busy event environments especially at the larger venues like the NEC and Excel in the UK or Fira and Rai in Europe.

Broadly we offer event staff for hire in the following disciplines although our vast network of connections means we can recruit and cater for any brands event staffing requirements,

  • Hospitality Hostesses.
  • Promotional Models.
  • Brand Ambassadors.
  • Promo Girls & General Promotional Staff.
  • Lead Generators.
  • Leaflet Distributors.
  • Sales Assistants.
  • Data Capture Staff.
  • Hosts for Events and Private Functions.
  • Multilingual Event Staff.
  • On-Location Models for Video Shoots.

And your location simply is not a problem for us …

Hire staff for Events at Ffira in Barcelaona

Whether you’re based in Scotland or London, Barcelona or Amsterdam we will always have quality event staff for hire in your area. Below are just a few of the more recent sectors that we have supplied staff to …

  • Vaping Events.
  • Totally ICE Gaming.
  • Corporate Conferences.
  • Hospitality Events.
  • IFSEC.
  • Infosecurity.
  • Store Launches.
  • Product Sampling.

So, whatever and wherever your need we have the perfect members of staff to get your brand noticed and make sure your event is a huge success – simply contact us today and discuss your requirements.

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Event Staff at the Vaping Shows

Event Staff look Smoking Hot at The Vaping Shows – NEC and Excel, London …

We recently supplied a large team of event staff to the two largest and most prestigious Vaping Events in the UK and we’re proud to say that all staff did an amazing job.

The staff were working for two clients – Buckshot Vapours and Cuttwood – and the feedback we received about the two teams was full of praise.

“The team did a fantastic job, we are extremely happy with all of your hard work and we will be in touch shortly with future show dates and to book more event staff.”

Stunning Event Staff at the Vape Jam UK

Event Staff at The Vaper Expo, (NEC Birmingham), and The Vape Jam Expo, (Excel, London) …

We received the initial enquiry – for event staff at the NEC – through our Business Network on Twitter and this then led onto opportunities at Excel in London.

The Vapor Expo 2016 …

With the show featuring over 200 of the world’s leading brands and offering a plethora of devices and juices to buy and sample it really was one of the places to be seen in the vaping world this year.

There was also plenty of entertainment around the arena to be enjoyed by both the show-goers and the event staff when they weren’t busy working and showcasing our clients brand.

Two of the more notable entertainers were the world renowned Street Magician Infiniti who was wandering around the event entertaining the crowds with his amazing tricks and illusions. And then there was Ibot The Vapor Expo’s very own vaping robot who was available for those all important photo opportunities.

The Vape Jam Expo 2016 …

The ultra trendy VAPE JAM UK was back for its second outing in London in April 2016.

The 3 day event took place at ExCel London and included one full B2B day and two consumer days. The event tripled in size this year and hosted around 300 exhibitors.

Both our clients and event staff attended all three days and made the absolute most of the vaping opportunities that presented themselves.

Event Staff working for Buckshot

And the clients?

Both Buckshot Vapours and Cuttwood are two major players in the vaping world with a reputation for pushing the boundaries and offering a large selection of vaping devices and juices.

Greg and Alena at Buckshot Vapours make their tasty e-juices themselves and offer superior juices that can be ‘vaped all day.’ They have recently introduced their brand new line Time Bomb Juices and these have been extremely well received.

Cuttwood pride themselves on offering the highest quality products through thorough research & development, testing and innovation. And their lines of e-juice have some truly weird and wonderful names like Mega Melons, Bird Brains and Mr Fritter!

They also own Cuttwood TV and Cuttwood Racing.

Overall the two events were a huge success and we’re hoping to be able to offer more of the same in 2017.

Are you looking for Event Staff? Why not contact us for an Instant Quote today?

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Event Planners - we ask the experts ...

Event Planners – we ask the experts …

Event Planers have one of the most high pressure jobs out there.

Each and every year companies throughout the world spend hundreds of thousands of pounds showing off their products, services or brand to prospective clients and customers.

And it is the Event Planners job to make sure they get what they pay for from the opening day of the event to closing day.

As an Event Staffing Agency we can play a big part in a companies event success so we sent an email to a number of Event Planners throughout the UK and were lucky enough to be able to secure some very insightful answers from to high profile event planning businesses for you.

What questions did we ask the Event Planners?

Basically, we kept it simple.

They are busy people so we didn’t want to waste their time with a long list of questions that none of them would have answered anyway.

The questions we put to the event planners were …

  • In your opinion, what are the three main factors that contribute to a successful exhibition stand?
  • In your opinion what would you choose as the most engaging promotional giveaway at an event?

Some very intriguing answers …

James Barr @ TN4 Hospitality …

TN4 Hospitality Event Planners

Exhibition stands are one of the most complex marketing tools of all, a great platform for communication and acquiring new customers but getting the balance between an impressive looking stand and a coherent one can be tough.

So in answer to your first question:

  1.       The layout of the stand is very important, too much advertising, too many interactive tools and too many stand staff can scare potential custom away but too little can also have the same effect. The stand should always reflect the company’s corporate identity and visitors should know at a glance the areas in which the company operates.
  2.       Employing the best staff on the stand, not so much the case with smaller companies as the people on the stand have probably prepared the company’s presence at the exhibition but with larger companies who have employed external staff, each stand member should receive a written briefing well in advance so they know the identity of the company and the goals for the exhibition, they should also receive a face to face briefing before the exhibition starts.
  3.       Call me old fashioned but smile and have fun while being professional, with potential customers spending on average between 30 seconds and 3 minutes on a stand, you could talk to over 100 people in a day, make sure you show the same energy and enthusiasm to the first person you spoke to, to the last person you speak to as that last person could be your next big client!

Second question: I used to be a fan of the USB stick with presentations on, I have plenty in my bag still but now people store documents in the cloud. So for me I think the best give away is the mobile device charger, we all spend a lot of the day on our phones and if you’re busy at an exhibition your phone battery will be on 50% by lunch. So a thoughtful and practical gift that can be used again and again exposing your logo every time it’s used to them and others around them.

 

Cindy-Michelle Waterfield – iwantaspeaker.com …

iwantaspeaker.com

Great questions and happy to help.

Question 1:

i) If you are lucky enough to have a speaking slot, co-ordinate your efforts and make sure the presentation is all about giving information that is useful to your audience and relevant to your business –NOT a sales pitch or is given by a bad speaker.  Conference organisers are quick to sell the benefit of having a speaking slot, but many company’s abuse this and it’s often an offput.  One client I worked with said their CEO always spoke and he was the worst speaker she’d ever heard so preferred not to have their stand associated with him!!  However, when you use this opportunity wisely, and the audience like what you are saying and you finish your presentation at the end with a ‘if you want to know more info, come to our stand’, they will come.  Another client who did recognise this said that whenever they had their CEO speak, they always picked up at least 1 client from every exhibition he spoke at, so got him to speak more and started using their exhibition Stand at every opportunity where their CEO spoke as it became the focal point for people to go to  after hearing his presentation.

ii) Your pre conference advertising/infomercials.  Letting clients and potential clients know that you will be at a conference with a stand is a brilliant way of letting them know that there is an opportunity for them to approach you and have a chat.  This means that clients and potential clients who don’t want the hard sell, or don’t want you to come to their office, or don’t won’t to come to your office, or have a few questions but want to ask anonymously or think that they could be wasting your ‘call out time for a few questions’ or think that they can consolidate time by seeing 3 or 4 other suppliers at the same time now can feel that they have a way to reach out, connect and interact in a more subtle way.  We have been far more successful when we ask people to come and see us and then following up from the exhibition, than trying to call and get individual appointments.  By using the exhibition stand as the subtle ‘port of entry’ means you are making the lead time and associated costs a whole load smaller.

iii) Make your stand ‘comfortable’ to those you invite to stay for a while.  Dressing your stand with loads of info and leaflets is great for passers-by, but what about those who do want to come and chat?  By having a relaxed seating area and simple hospitality of a bottled water and cup option while they talk to you and you LISTEN shows that you care enough to take time for them.  Remember – exhibitions are a two way thing – just as much as you are there to obtain a full order book and a feeling of achieving something for being there – the attendees are also there to achieve something – moan, buy, info gather.  Exhibitions are hard enough with loads of info being thrown at you and pitches left right and centre, so finding somewhere to escape, be heard and have acknowledgement gives a sense of achievement too.  The only thing here though is to spot the time wasters: those who want to use your facility to take the weight off their feet and drink your water….  But even then, they have a use when managed well – they make your stand look busy which is always good for when that potential client pops by.

Question 2:

In your opinion what would you choose as the most engaging promotional giveaway at an event?  What a great question.  So simple and yet so hard to answer.  I’ve seen many over the years and forgotten more.  The day of the mouse mats and cup coasters has been and gone, the retro sweets are here in force, together with the metal travel cup while the little foam squeeze ball/toy seems to be a constant followed by the ‘always useful’ pens and pads. For me, it’s always been dependant on what I need at the time and the industry I work in.  For example, working in the Speaking industry where dates are important, a simple calendar in the shape of a pen pot sent at Christmas one year was by far the most useful giveaway I received as I kept it on my desk for the whole of the year. But a packet of retro sweets (or 3) that I was given at the last exhibition, while nice, out of mind the moment I finished eating them.  Something that is useful for your potential clients and relevant to them that is also relevant to you is always best.  We are still looking for something for ourselves but I do hold a good collection of pens in handbags, desk, draws and the car – so maybe, the humble pen – while it is the most simple and often used give away, still remains the top of the give-away chart.  The difference between those that are kept and those that are lost into hangbags, draws and cars and not on my desk is: the quality of the pen.

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