Friday Connection: Tradeshow Makeover

Published: Fri, 11/22/19

Hi ...

Welcome to the first Friday Connections!

What the heck is this?

Easy enough to explain, I suppose. In all of my days in the tradeshow exhibit world, I've met hundreds of people. Became friends with many of them. Remained colleagues and acquaintances with many others.

Got to thinking recently that it might be fun to try and connect you with them. You might already know some of them, but many you probably don't.

If you're in the tradeshow world as an exhibitor, for instance, you might like to know who a good presenter is. Or who is a good brand-builder. A good agency that works with smaller exhibitors. Or someone that can teach your CEO or General Manager how to become an excellent public speaker.

As I've compiled these connections, it occurred to me: why not share them, one at a time.

So this is the start of a random, somewhat regular Friday email to my TradeshowGuy Newsletter subscribers. I don't think I'll have a connection for you every single Friday, but I'd like to do it 2-3X a month. You okay with that? Too much? Not enough? Let me know.

Let me introduce you to...

Tradeshow Makeover!

I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Dianna Geairn and Alice Heiman of Tradeshow Makeover. You can see the podcast interview I did with them here.

I recently asked them if they could describe an ideal client.

Yes.

Here's what they sent back, and it's pretty specific:

For us, we seek exhibitors/sponsors who are:

Owner-led, investor-backed companies
In growth or hyper-growth mode
Exhibiting at 5+ shows per year
Using trade shows and live events as a lead generation strategy (not just brand visibility)

We offer:

1-day onsite training with the trade show team.
Pre-work with executive team to evaluate their past metrics for successful (or unsuccessful) trade show strategies.
Post-work with the team as they execute the plan we create together.
For an extra fee, we offer unlimited post-show email/phone access to answer questions or help overcome obstacles.
For an extra fee, we will join them onsite at the show.
For an extra fee, we will create a Playbook that they can use to execute over-and-over.

For trade show organizers, we seek associations who:

Have 2 or fewer business development people on staff dedicated to filling sponsor/exhibitor spots
Have 1,000 – 2,000 attendees
Have 50 – 175 exhibitors/sponsors
Regularly hear from exhibitors/sponsors that they aren’t getting enough
- Foot traffic from their show
- Attendee engagement from their show
- ROI from their show

We offer: Training

1-day onsite training with their trade show team.
Pre-work with executives to set goals, evaluate past successes, and address current concerns.
Post-work with the sales team and executives

OR: Market Insights

Vendor/Exhibitor/Sponsor 3^rd-party research project to learn what vendors want from their show
Includes a report with actionable strategies for improved:
- Messaging to exhibitors
- Offers to make their show more appealing
- Support of the exhibitors/sponsors before, during, and after the show

If you think that Alice and Dianna might be a good fit for you, or think you can make a referral, please do so. Check out their website here, or just get back to me and we'll make the connection.

Look for another Friday Connection in the near future!

And thanks for all you do!

Best regards,

Tim

Tim Patterson
@tradeshowguy on Twitter
TradeshowGuy Exhibits
Salem, Oregon