The Home & Garden Show in Columbus Ohio is a 9-Day Show, therefore, is not well-suited for an Exhibitor who cannot maintain stamina and energy for hours on end! Whenever you commit to exhibit at such a long event, be sure to schedule just as you would for a ‘retail environment’……meaning everyday schedule short 5-6 hour shifts and an overlap of 30 minutes. For example, each Saturday the Show was open from 10am-8pm. So the wise Exhibitor would schedule one person from 9:30am-3:00pm and the second person from 2:30pm-8:30pm, if you cannot afford ‘to staff’ 2 people in the booth at all times. What does this accomplish???? First, arriving 30 minutes early and expecting to say 30 minutes after the doors are locked, allows you to be fully prepared to engage with those attendees who arrive promptly at 10:00am and those who linger past 8:00pm. These attendees are just as important and meaningful as those who come in the middle of the day. For some reason, I observe that this fact gets overlooked by the weary Exhibitor, who runs in at the very last minute or who cannot wait to leave, and forgoes these opportunities to engage!
Second, it keeps the Exhibitors fresh and allows time for a brief update with the changing of the guards. Communicate if you think someone may be stopping back by your booth, or if you put a purchase on hold for a customer who did not want to carry their purchase around the Show. The attendee will appreciate a seamless transition as they are welcomed back and their presence seems ‘expected.’ What you don’t want to happen, is for the attendee to experience confusion and the feeling that their purchase has been misplaced, lost, or worse yet, given to someone else. This scenario will turn what was a positive purchase into a negative experience. As I repeatedly say, “Put yourself in the Attendees Shoes….and treat them how YOU would want to be treated.”
Happy Exhibiting….until we chat again! -Doctor Diane