Trade Show Emporium

As people worldwide are celebrating the Earth Day, Trade Show Emporium provides you with a brief list of how to make your existing and future trade show displays environmentally friendly.

Purchasing a green trade show display is the first and biggest step one takes to become environmentally friendly with their booth. Environmentally friendly trade show displays are made from socially responsible materials such as bamboo, recycled plastics and aluminum, water-based inks, carpet, fabrics and LED lights.

At the show there are several options to make your display greener. Reduce literature by printing less or printing on recycled paper. After your show is over you can recycle materials through a local agency, or at designated places in the convention center. When you are finished with your display unplug as many electronics items as you can. Items, such as lights, monitors, DVD players and many more still consume electricity even when turned off. Overtime all items added up will save a great deal of energy consumption.

Instead of sending back unused materials, recycle them locally. It will eliminate the need to ship, and reduce carbon eliminate waste. Also employing local talent reduces the carbon footprint created by traveling with your own sales team.

After your display is finished use a trade show display recycling service that will ensure the process of your display and supply you with a detailed report of materials processed.

For more information on how to make your environmentally friendly visit Trade Show Emporium at www.tradeshowemporium.com or call 1-866-764-2968.

You don’t start a road-trip without a map, likewise, you can’t improve your trade show presence unless you know where you started out. Try these innovative ways to measure your trade show booth effectiveness. Effectiveness translates into RETURN ON INVESTMENT.

Calculate the percentage increase in booth activity from previous shows

Determining if attending a show has been beneficial from previous years is crucial. If you are not getting increased traffic each year, then your cost per lead increases and attending the show might not be beneficial anymore. Use this formula to determine the return on your investment: Divide the actual number of visitors from this year’s show by the number of visitors from last year’s show X 100. For example, if 157 visitors stopped at your booth this year and 123 stopped at your booth last year, then 157/123= 1.276 X 100 = 127 or a 27 percent increase. This formula can be used to calculate direct sales, qualified leads, attendance at in-booth activities or inquiries.

If your last show cost $10,000 and you obtained 100 qualified leads, then your cost per lead is $100. If you spend $10,000 again the next year, you can expect to have similar results. Try to improve your numbers for the next year using economies of scale. Say, for example, that your goal to get 200 visitors. By increasing your budget to $15,000, you will have lowered your cost per lead to $75. Calculate these statistics after every show and use the data to increase your reach in future shows.

Tracking the number of visitors that come to your booth

Track both new and current visitors that come to your booth. Make sure you are only counting the “qualified” visitors, not the “plus one” or co-workers that hang at the edge of your booth. Do not count the guy who told you that your booth looked nice. Only count visitors that come and ask questions and leave their contact information with you so that you can follow up with them.

Increased post show activity

One way to tell if you are getting a return on your investment is to measure the post-show activity. If you are getting increased traffic to your website, more people stopping into your office, or increased phone calls, all indications are that attending the trade show was a success.

Surveys

A good way to measure the effectiveness of your trade show display is to survey visitors that come by your booth. Such surveys can be brief: Ask the visitor if they understand the message on your booth and if the booth staff that engaged them in conversation was knowledgeable about the product/service. These surveys can tell you if your message is on target.

For guidance on creating the trade show booth that WILL boost your ROI at your next trade show, contact Trade Show Emporium at 866-764-2968.