unPACKed Podcast: First-Time Exhibitors - Essential Tips for Success at PACK EXPO

Sean Riley:

With all the fancy introductions out of the way, I'd like to welcome Alana, Robbie, and Bob to the podcast. Alana, since ladies first, maybe you could tell us a little bit about yourself, the company you work with, and how long you've been involved with trade shows.

Alana Brown:

My name is Alana Brown and I am the events manager for Syntegon, and this year we'll mark my 25th PACK EXPO show.

Sean Riley:

Wow. Very cool. Robbie, how about you?

Robbie Quinlan:

My name is Robbie Quinlan. I am the marketing manager for Blueprint Automation in the Americas, and I have been there, it'll be 24 years in October, so this will be my 24th PACK EXPO coming up in November.

Sean Riley:

Very good, and last but not least, Bob, how long have you been at it?

Bob Kuzmich:

My name is Bob Kuzmich, I'm the director of technical support at Econo Corp and my first trade show was 1990, so quite a while.

Sean Riley:

Fantastic. We're gearing this towards first timers. We're trying to help people who are either new to the show, new to their position with a different company, maybe they're exhibiting for the first time with a new company. We really appreciate, I guess we have 70 years of experience, which is fantastic. To start out with, we wanted to kind of touch on logistics. That seemed to be a big issue that the first timers that we surveyed wanted to discuss. Right from the top, the service manual can be a bit overwhelming as most manuals can be. I guess what would you suggest to a first timer? Where do you start and if there's someone that can help guide you as sort of a navigator through where you can start with the service manual?

Alana Brown:

First of all, I would say that the PACK EXPO services online manual has improved and it is very easy to use compared to how it was back in the day. My specific tips are make this your favorite link. You'll be going to this link all the time. Use the checklist. There's a checklist provided and if you use it'll make sure you get all the tasks done by the due date, and you're not responsible for a specific task, you can now add a user. For example, if you have someone else in your company that orders the exhibitor badges, you can give them access and they're able to do that right online. I would also say if you hire an exhibitor appointed contractor, make sure the person that you're hiring has experience working at McCormick Place or the Las Vegas Convention Center and that they also are introduced and have all the right connections to your service manager or your floor manager at the show.

Sean Riley:

Robbie, anything you might want add that Alana might not have covered?

Robbie Quinlan:

Personally, I'm pretty old school, so before I dive into the service manual or the exhibitor resource center, I actually have my own spreadsheet that kind of lays out everything that needs to be done and ordered, so anything from rigging to floral. I kind of piece it together myself before I dive in and start ordering. Then the other thing too is if it becomes overwhelming, you can kind of reach out to your customer success manager. Typically every show, even with this being my 24th show upcoming, I will order all of everything and then I'll reach out to the CSM and kind of review everything just to get another pair of eyes on it, so I think that's pretty important, and they are there to help you.

Sean Riley:

They're with PACK EXPO services, correct?

Robbie Quinlan:

That is correct, yeah, that is correct.

Sean Riley:

Perfect. I guess all good ideas. Customer success manager seems to be something that we should definitely take advantage of through PACK EXPO services. I guess, this is another question, how do you ensure that your booth is in compliance with the show rules and regulations?

Alana Brown:

We always submit our booth layout and our floor plan in advance for approval. I believe you only have to do this if you have hanging signs, but I think it's beneficial to submit it even if you don't just to make sure you're following all the right guidelines for your type of booth, the setback rules. Having it submitted and approved I think just gives you an overall good feeling that everything is correct and you should have a smooth setup.

Sean Riley:

That sounds like a prudent way to go.

Robbie Quinlan:

Also, depending on your booth size, you can go into the exhibitor resource center and download a PDF copy of the rules and regs. They're pretty self-explanatory, depending on how big or small or complicated your booth, your booth layout is, but that's also another avenue.

Sean Riley:

I'm going to move on to the next question. Bob, do you have any cost saving tips when ordering booth services?

Bob Kuzmich:

100% order before the discount deadline comes to fruition. I go on early and often to make sure that I have everything covered, but ordering before that discount deadline is huge and don't wait until the last week or so to start ordering all of your services. It's a very big discount and you want to make sure that you take advantage of all of the discounts that are available.

Sean Riley:

Alana and Robbie, anything to add?

Alana Brown:

I would agree and I would actually let everybody that you're needing answers from let them know the due date is September 9th, even though it's September 16th, because you always have people that will not make the deadline and you want to make sure you have enough time to get everything ordered.

Robbie Quinlan:

I would just add material handling costs can be a budget buster depending on the size of your equipment. Keep in mind that PMMI includes material handling costs for all direct to show shipments so it's included in your booth space. That's a huge savings when exhibiting at a PMMI show like PACK EXPO, so if you can get all of your shipment on your target date into your booth, you're going to save probably a buttload of money and material handling charges.

Sean Riley:

That's a perfect segue into my next question. When you're talking about your shipments and moving in and moving out, what has worked best for you to ensure that arrival is on target dates and that your shipment is loaded correctly when it's time to leave? Is there anything that you guys have that you've done in the past or that you've learned from perhaps previous mistakes or good things to ensure that you do to make sure you have a smooth move in and move out?

Bob Kuzmich:

One of the things that is paramount to us is to make sure that your trucking company, if you're shipping directly to the show, make sure that they need to follow the instructions for the marshaling yard. They need to be in the marshaling yard at the designated time. Sometimes it's difficult for a trucker to do that, but it is imperative for them to get in position and unloaded quickly and that sets the tone for everything else, all of your other services. You need your equipment or your backdrop or everything else first before you can have your backdrop set up and that type of thing so it's really key.

Alana Brown:

I would add that if you have shipments from multiple locations, even multiple countries, one thing that I found that is very, very helpful is color coding your skids. If you have five different locations with equipment or anything coming in on skids or crates, just having a spray paint can, spray paint everyone with the assigned color, it will make your life so much easier when all the machines are coming in so you know where to place each one. Also take pictures of how the equipment arrives on the skid or the crate so that when you do the tear down you know exactly how it needs to be placed to be returned.

Sean Riley:

I like those. Those are both very simple things that people might not think of, but color coding, taking pictures so that you remember what it looked like when you're putting it back together, those are good tips that I think first timers will definitely want to take advantage of.

Robbie Quinlan:

Alana actually said something that kind of sparked this, but what we also do, and it's kind of a cost savings as well, but we now use steel skids. We have large capital equipment, so it might not apply to everybody, but instead of shipping on wooden skids, the machinery, we have now started shipping on steel and stainless steel pallets. There's certainly an upfront cost to this, but then it can eliminate some of the dismantle rigging and the storage of the pallets, so that's also something to consider if you're able.

Sean Riley:

I love it. You're on site and you're setting up and you think everything's going great, and then unfortunately an issue arises. It has to happen. You guys are there for so long, setting up. Who's the best to work with onsite if an issue does arise?

Alana Brown:

I usually start with the floor managers. I've gotten to know them over the years. We've worked together for a very long time, and I go there first and start there before I will go upstairs and go to the service desk. They can usually help quicker right on the floor.

Sean Riley:

Is that what Robbie, Bob, is that the same tactic that you guys would take?

Robbie Quinlan:

Yeah, I mean for me for sure. Floor managers, I agree, over the years you become friends and partners during install. What I would also say is don't be afraid to ask a neighboring exhibitor. I did that, I guess it's my first year, so about 23 years ago and they helped me out immensely and we're actually still friends and try to make it a point to see each other at least once during the show. Don't be afraid to ask someone beside you. We're all there for the same purpose really.

Sean Riley:

That's helpful for a first timer as well. You're new. There doesn't have to be a fear that these floor managers are going to be difficult to work with or anything like that as you guys have explained. They're both there to, they're there help you and it doesn't hurt to just ask one of your neighbors who has been in your position at some point as you guys are all kind of there for the same reason.

Bob Kuzmich:

The only other thing that I can add is to get familiar with where the different service desks are. If you have an electrical problem, there's an electrical desk. Compressed air, the same thing, and it helps to know where those areas are so that you're not just wandering around. I've done that in several shows as well.

Sean Riley:

Very good tip. Save as much time as possible.

Bob Kuzmich:

Yeah.

Sean Riley:

Moving from logistics a bit, we're going to touch on some marketing things that first timers were interested in. Not sure exactly the best ways to market their booths that they're going to be exhibiting. I guess what tools do you use to let your customers know you're going to be at PACK EXPO and how they can find you? I know PMMI has a bunch of different things that they offer. Which do you guys take advantage of the most? I guess I'll start with you, Bob.

Bob Kuzmich:

We use the invite program as well as downloading the custom banner graphics and attach it to every outgoing email signature that we have. We're informing people well ahead of time that we're going to the show, where we're going to be located, when the show is, that type of thing. But we also push out to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Sean Riley:

That touches on the social media, which was going to kind of be with the next thing I was going to ask, do you guys employ that? Robbie and Alana, do you guys kind of follow the same tactic?

Robbie Quinlan:

Yeah, we do. I mean, we use invites. It's a simple and free tool where you just simply upload your email list and then they'll deploy multiple emails for you on multiple days based on what you guys decide together. We also use the online profile, map your show profile. You can certainly upgrade for a fee, but I think everybody has one and you absolutely should fill it out. If you do upgrade, we upgrade, I think we actually are on the diamond, but at that point it actually becomes a lead gen opportunity. If a visitor adds you to the agenda and then shares his contact information, you now have a somewhat qualified lead. We've had great success with scheduling booth meetings based on these agenda ads.

Then we use also the free customer registration code. We use that in our social media. Ours is Facebook and LinkedIn, but that's a great asset to use on your website, your social post, any internal emails that you deploy. Then obviously your sales team is one of your biggest assets so get them involved, give them the free registration code, have them reach out to their customers. That's what we kind of do from a free standpoint. Then we work with PMG a lot. They have a lot of paid opportunities specific to PACK EXPO that you should look into.

Sean Riley:

We have the free with PMMI, with the customer invite program. Obviously it's free to leverage your social media platforms, and then PMMI Media Group has some things that you can help upgrade if you're interested to get your information out there ahead of time, market your booth. There's a ton of 2,500 booths that people have to go through, so it's important to me to market and let people know where you are and what you're offering. The next one, I'm just going to direct it, Bob, because I know he has a story about this, which kind of helps paint a picture. The question from the first timers was, does your company do giveaways or promo items, and have you found any to be more successful than others? I think Bob's story kind of points to what you guys have found in regards to the success of them.

Bob Kuzmich:

Well, we personally don't do any giveaways. The story that I have regarding this is a trade show that I went to in Australia that I knew exactly where they were giving away free ice cream, but I couldn't tell you what the company manufactured or what they did at all. I knew where the ice cream was, but I didn't know what the company did. But that's certainly up to your own marketing department to make that decision whether they want to do giveaways or not.

Sean Riley:

I don't want to date myself too bad, but as someone who's also attended a ton of these shows, I have noticed that a lot of the marketing has gone down as it used to be in the past. I think maybe people have realized that all the giveaways don't necessarily resonate with leads or anything like that, or as Bob said, people won't even necessarily remember your names. Something as simple as a pen might be perfect, just as a way for someone to identify that you were at the show and oh, this was a booth that I had stopped by. But I think we've determined that investing too much in that isn't necessary in terms of getting your name out there. We all know that PMMI doesn't sell or rent the attendee email list. This protects the privacy of attendees who are going to be attending the show. Alana, what do you do to reach attendees or collect leads at the show?

Alana Brown:

We purchase the, I believe it's called API, the tool, because we have a customized lead app. It's a feature, it's actually quite reasonable for us. It's much less expensive to purchase that than it is to purchase apps for everybody that works on our booth. We always make sure we have customized questions that are filled out. The sales team fills it out with the visitors on the booth. One piece of advice that I say at every trade show that a lead is only as good as the information they provide.

Sean Riley:

Robbie, how about you? Do you do anything? I know you touched on some ways that you reach out to customers. Do you do anything to reach attendees or collect leads at the show?

Robbie Quinlan:

Yeah, so we also take advantage of the lead retrieval system, but once again, we're really old school just based on how many people are representing the company in the booth and how much foot traffic we come in. We still rent the scanner and the printers, and very old-fashioned, but it works for us. We fill out lead sheets for the visitors that come by that are willing to share project details, so we take notes on the spot and then we grade them on the spot like A B, C. A, being a funded project and ready to purchase within six months so that we have those and we review those at the end of each day. I take pictures of them so that they're on file and then really the salesperson can just walk away from the show with their lead sheets in hand.

Sean Riley:

How about you, Bob? Anything different from Alana and Robbie?

Bob Kuzmich:

No, but I will, Alana's point about the information going in. When we get busy, I know myself, when I get busy in the booth, it's hard to make good notes. We do also have people available that aren't necessarily working directly for the sales department that we can lean on to add those notes into the lead. The worst thing you can do is you can get a lead, but if you don't have any of the pertinent information that person doesn't feel like they spent, you're a good time with them, and it can be awkward following up on these leads if you don't have the good information.

Sean Riley:

Very interesting, very interesting point. PACK EXPO has an updated exhibitor resource center for you to update your online listing and to access show services. How do you best utilize the resource, and do you have any tips for maximizing exposure in the online directory? Robbie, I think you touched on some of this earlier.

Robbie Quinlan:

Yeah, I did. Look, if your budget allows, I would always recommend upgrading your online profile package. I think it's either silver or gold all the way up to diamond, I'm not quite sure. But it just allows you to post videos. It gives you access to online leads when you upgrade, and then you can get on the featured list, so if someone is doing a product search, you will show more at the top of the page. Again, it's an expense, but for most of us, this is our largest lead gen opportunity of the year so I think it's worth it.

Sean Riley:

Alana, how about you? Anything that you do different to take advantage of the exhibitor resource center?

Alana Brown:

The only thing I would say is use keywords that are searchable, and if you've paid for your upgraded listing, make sure you take advantage of all the upgrades. It takes some time, adding descriptions, adding pictures, adding videos, but it is very effective and that's why we're going to the show and we want them to be able to search and find us. By filling it out with all the information, they'll be able to locate you.

Sean Riley:

Perfect. We're coming close to the end, but I wanted to get a couple more questions out there before we got there. I've already taken about 25 minutes of your time. But let's just that each of you can offer one thing or two things additional that would be helpful that you would share with a first time exhibitor.

Alana Brown:

We're all in it together. We may be competitors, but especially during setup, we are all just one team trying to get a lot of things done in a short amount of time. Don't be afraid to ask your neighbor if you are missing a tool, or you need to borrow something, if you forgot shrink wrap. So many times I've asked for help, and you get to know your competitors and the people that are there for the setup, and it really works well if you just ask. I believe they're always ready to help.

Robbie Quinlan:

I would say do not forget to book your hotel accommodations. Yeah, you don't want to have a beautiful booth and everything goes smoothly and then no place to stay. PACK EXPO housing has been open for a while. Things book up fast, so it's even more critical the more people you have coming from your company. Then to piggyback on Alana, again, I would say just relax and enjoy the process. We all go in there with expectations of how we think it's going to go, and more times than not, you're going to have to pivot. But when you do have to pivot, just remember that it's going to get done and sometimes it does take a village, but the village is on site, so it'll all work out.

Sean Riley:

Bob, anything to add?

Bob Kuzmich:

One thing I like to do is I like to schedule myself. I like to have goals for each day, and it can really help calm down the whole process. When you first get there and there's no equipment, there's no carpet, there's all fork trucks moving around. It looks like you've got a mountain to climb to get done what you need to get done. But if you have reasonable goals, if you set reasonable goals for yourself and your booth, it tends to work out much better because you need to leave yourself a little bit of time at the end to see if anything slips at all. But it helps calm everybody else down if you set those goals ahead of time. Just another key is make sure when you have ordered services, check with the service desk and confirm that you're ready for the services the next day or the following the day after that, that type of thing. Make sure that you check with those service desks to make sure where they are in the schedule because you may have to pivot.

Sean Riley:

I love it. Well, I think that is a good spot to put a pin in what has been a great lively discussion. We've touched on almost a dozen questions that will hopefully be able to help our first timers tackle PACK EXPO International. I just want to thank Alana, Robbie, and Bob for taking time out of their day to come on the podcast with us today.