As I’m working with companies to launch their booth presence during the glorious rebirth of live events, marketing managers are ruminating on how best to utilize booth presentations in our ‘new normal.’ On-the-floor experience at returning events over the past few months has shown that attendees are absolutely overjoyed with the return to face-to-face marketing. This celebratory mindset means more openness on the show floor and more openness to your presentation marketing message! Plus, keeping in mind any show-specific COVID social-distancing protocols, don’t forget about your booth presentation’s ‘collateral audience,’ i.e. those listening and watching from the aisles. Every impression counts! Whether you’re writing and delivering your presentation in-house, or could use some professional assistance, it’s critical to create your booth presentation so it takes advantage of this rare opportunity. Here are 3 tips to help:

Share Extended Benefits

Sure, it’s easy to rattle off the amazing features of your product. Some of the engineers who toiled on those very features may be right there in your booth! But remember, your prospect is the person to whom you’re speaking, and they only care about themselves (as we all do!) So, when writing your presentation, consider your product’s features and benefits, but then ask yourself “…and that’s good for my prospect because?” Keep asking this question until you get to how it REALLY benefits your prospect, i.e. more time with their family, a happier boss, more $$$, etc.. I like to write in terms of Stanford behavior scientist BJ Fogg’s 3 Core Motivators. Dr. Fogg says that all of us are always being motivated on these 3 continuums:

• We seek pleasure/ Avoid pain

• We seek hope/ Avoid fear

• We seek social acceptance/ Avoid rejection

Take your product’s benefits and boil them down to exactly how they help your prospect’s life in terms of these motivators, and then mention them directly in your presentation. In your prospect’s mind, your pitch will move from the purely technical to personal, and aren’t all business decisions, at their core, personal?

Give Tiered Swag

When I see show attendees walking away from booths with swag after nary a word with booth staff, I shed a little tear inside. Giveaways work wonderfully to attract attendees to your booth, but they’re a waste of marketing budget if that opportunity is not capitalized upon. Sure, a scan is good, but can staff go further and use that moment for a quick qualifying conversation? Beyond that, once your prospect is in your booth, can you add additional, tiered giveaways to deepen the conversation, creating a ‘journey’ through your carefully planned space?

Try including small giveaways throughout your booth presentation, and provide bonus giveaways at the conclusion only for prospects interested in continuing the conversation with a one-on-one demo. Similar to website analytics, the longer you can keep your prospect engaged, the more likely you will end up with a sale at the end of their journey (trade show attributed, of course!)

Make it Present

We’ve heard an awful lot about “synchronous vs. asynchronous” communication as the world abruptly shifted to virtual over the past year and a half. “Can this virtual meeting actually be an email?” “Why are we all here right now?” “Is there some value/benefit to virtually meeting synchronously, compared to communicating asynchronously on our own time?” This same question can be asked during your trade show presentation. What are your prospects getting from this presentation right now that they could not get on your website? What makes this synchronous communication worth their time? Some ideas:

• Can you offer a personal story of how you interacted with your solution?

• Can you offer a quirky analogy that works in a trade show format, but may not fit on your website?

• Can you introduce an actual, in-person customer testimonial?

• Can you introduce one of the actual creators of the product, someone with whom prospects would never be able to communicate with otherwise?

Essentially, how can you make your booth presentation absolutely special and unique for that time and space? There should be no question for the prospect of the value added from sitting in your booth for 5 minutes.

As you dot the i’s and cross the t’s for your triumphant return to trade shows, I hope these three tips help you craft a booth presentation that surpasses all of your lead projections and results in deep, productive conversations with new prospects. Enjoy this moment of refreshing joy as folks celebrate the vibrant return of face-to-face marketing. As always, please reach out if I can be of service with presentation scripting, delivery or booth staff training. See you on the show floor!

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