Author: Amazing News Editor

It’s a game of chicken and egg when it comes to running a trade show. Your delegates want to know who’s exhibiting to sign up, yet your exhibitors want to know how many delegates you’ve got signed up. It’s tricky, certainly if you’re running the event for the first time. Never fear, Amazing Tents have some hints and tips to help you on your way…

Delegate sign ups
Give your delegates a real reason to sign up and commit to coming – consider offering special deals of the day and some form of entertainment. Depending on your budget, get an industry celebrity in to do a keynote presentation – if you can hit on the one individual they won’t want to miss and promote their involvement through the right channels, you’re on to a winner. And that will help you to create a buzz around the event. You want your potential delegates to have FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. They may miss what’s new in the industry, key individuals to network with or vital industry updates.

Offer solutions. As we all know, time is money. Run your event over 2 days, or extend through out of work hours, so the busy bosses don’t have an excuse not to make it. Offer something fun too, something light-hearted that will give your delegates a break and something to look forward to.

Exhibitor sign ups
This can be a lot harder than getting delegates through the door, because they have to pay to be there – usually a considerable amount. The key to getting exhibitors to sign up is to make your event look professional and trustworthy. It’s essential that you choose the right exhibitors for your audience – you can then share the message that this is a targeted event, with targeted suppliers as well as targeted delegates.

Give them a time to sign up by and hit the phones if they haven’t done it by the deadline. Make them aware there will be a room full of their potential customers, as even if there are 20 good quality delegates, no sales person can make their way round 20 prospects in one day! Offer marketing packages in the run up to the event for things like marketing emails, adverts in brochures and social media coverage. You’ll have the exhibitors you want in no time.

Once your trade show has built a reputation, you can get delegates and exhibitors to sign up for next year straight after the show, because now they really do know why it’s not to be missed! Don’t forget to ask them for their feedback and, of course, who else they would like to see there. For your next show, consider adding in useful services such as arranging targeted meetings between identified delegates and exhibitors, arranging an exclusive pre-show networking breakfast – the sky really is the limit.

We hope you found these tips useful, although we still don’t know… what came first, the chicken or the egg?

Speak soon,
The Amazing Team

It’s been a fantastic year for the Amazing Tents team. We’d like to take the opportunity to wish all our clients and colleagues a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

We’ll be closed from Christmas Eve until Tuesday 3 January, so see you in 2017!

The Amazing Tents Team

Many industries rely on their reputation and it’s something so hard to build but so easy to tarnish. There’s nothing more fundamental to an event planner than their reputation – after all you have no rehearsal, your audience is live and you only get one shot at that event. That’s a scary thought, but it works both ways.

Everyone loves a disaster story, but even better, they love reminiscing about ‘the best night ever’. Make YOUR event the event which keeps on giving. There’s nothing worse than looking forward to something that turns out to be a disappointment. And people really look forward to big events.

Pull on the heart strings of your guests, put on the best entertainment, offer the best wine and the tastiest hors d’oeuvres and create a magical venue. Whether it’s a marketing event for your new product, or it’s a festival, make it a night to remember.

Who knows who may be in the room at these events, who you might impress and what repeat business you might win. But, if you offer a night to remember, you’ll be guaranteed to win new business and build a reputation you can rely on.

If you’re looking for ideas of how to create a wow-factor event, take a look at some of our other blogs for ideas.

Talk soon,
The Amazing Team

Genuinely, we can empathise with disaster, starting out in eventing you make mistakes and there will always be errors out of your control, like ‘the SaddleSpan has been set up back to front’. And you think to yourself, “my life is over, my hard work is tarnished, where is that wine and I feel like never ever want to go back to work again”.

But then you remember there’s a mortgage to pay and that worse things happen at sea. It’s easy to say be calm, but being told to be calm generally penetrates anger and panic totally off the scale; so we’re not going to tell you to do that or ‘what will be, will be’ because, you need to fix it. Because the fairies won’t.

If there’s a problem, generally there’s more than one person that can help fix it. If your SaddleSpan’s backwards, or your entertainment has cancelled last minute, there will be a solution – even if you don’t know it yet.

We’re not suggesting you take on the role of speaking about pioneering technologies, or attempt stand-up comedy yourself, we’re suggesting that you share the problem with those involved with making the event a success. Generally – they’ll understand and try to help. If not well, you’re going to have to confess anyway; failing that emigrate to Australia and change your name.

The biggest thing about making mistakes, is the embedded fear of never wanting to make that mistake again, so no matter how big or small – you know what to avoid doing next time.

If you’re working with us on an event, our team are so passionate about doing the best they can, whether you want regular and constant updates, or you just want them to crack on and get the job done. And if anything does go Pete-Tong, we’re here to offer advice, solutions and therapy if necessary.

Talk to you soon,
The Amazing Team