The year is 1985:  I’m presenting at one of my first trade shows: Comdex.  Strolling around the Sands Convention Center, I see more women falling out of their clothes than I’d seen at Caesar’s Palace the night before. I turn a corner and actually see one booth offering lap dances with women cooing high-tech features of products to highly “attentive” attendees.

But, of course, that was then and this is NOW, right?  We’ve progressed WAY beyond that kind of thing. (Insert ironic smirk, here.)

Several months ago, I attended a very large and respected annual event in Las Vegas. There were “stewardesses” in micro-miniskirts and skin-tight Spandex everywhere I looked. Attendees were getting whiplash walking from one booth to the next — and senior executives of some of the same companies exhibiting the questionable practices, were taking offense. (Senior executives of both sexes, mind you.) It became such a cause for concern that I understand Show Management will now be enforcing a booth staff dress code for future events.

This conduct is precisely why it can be so difficult to articulate the value of a legitimate, professional crowd gatherer to an exhibitor; they’re lumped in with all the rest of this “eye candy.”

As I have written about before, qualified, savvy crowd gatherers can be a huge help on the trade show floor. But these women and men are doing much more than selling sex and taking photos with attendees; they’re delivering a pitch, stratifying prospects and bringing target attendees to the booth staff capable of following up. It’s important, meaningful work.

All this sex appeal raises a very important question: What do these companies think they’re getting for their money? Sure, attendees are stopping by the booth for a “closer look,” but who are these people and what are they looking at? Sex sells … but what does it sell? What’s the takeaway? When calls are later made to follow up on these leads, the people picking up the phone aren’t real prospects. They just wanted a photo between two bikini-clad models. A guy in a suit might be less attractive, but he’s attracting serious prospects. And by that, I mean “serious” in demeanor and interest in your product.

Companies need to keep in mind that when they run their trade show presence like the Vegas strip, they don’t get the benefit of “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” These attendees have smartphones with 5 megapixel cameras and 1080p video. Now it’s more like  “What happens in your booth is on YouTube in 30 seconds.” And if what’s happening there is not consistent with your company image, or potentially offensive, THAT can be some risky business.

Have an industry-related question? Send “Newman” an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

Jeffrey, I want you to imagine this:  It’s Monday night, and you’ve just blocked out two hours for the season finale of  “24.” During the next 120 minutes, as Jack Bauer saves everyone from everything, how often do you think you’ll see him with armfuls of papers, rustling through them for reference while he’s disarming a bomb or finding the bad guys? Never. Why? Because it’s on his phone. It’s on his thumb drive. It’s on his laptop or if and when there’s “24: The Movie,” on his iPad. It’s all about quick, simple, efficient, on-demand information access — especially when TV lives are on the line.

At the core, the trade show world isn’t very different. The smart companies are getting away from traditional media entirely. The trend started with moving from glossy paper handouts to CDs … then to 1 gig thumb drives. The next logical step is to point all those iPhone and iPad-toting attendees to a dedicated website landing page. Why burn through paper and budget when you can just direct people to YourNameHere.com/Interop?  Virtually every trade show attendee has a handheld digital device, or two. Now it’s up to all of us to utilize them. In the meantime, exhibitors featuring innovative ways to share information will continue to best the booths with stacks and stacks of paper. At a recent show, one company was handing out 2-gig storage drives that were the no larger than a credit card. All that literature that would get trashed, was now treasured right there next to your Amex card. Brilliant.

Oh yeah, and those high capacity storage devices also lend themselves beautifully to video testimonials, product demos and other things that paper just can’t deliver.

I believe that attendees need to take some responsibility for this problem as well.  Just last month I watched someone at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, going through their trade show bag and dumping just about EVERYTHING into the trash.  Well, they DID rescue the t-shirts and flying monkeys …

Attendees should ask themselves — while still at the show — if they really need all those papers. They should also be asking the exhibitors if they have a green, travel-friendly alternative. If exhibitors find themselves going home with almost all of the literature they showed up with,  how fast do you think they’ll adjust? Immediately!

Jeffrey, it’s not just about being green; it’s about being smart … and taking advantage of all the opportunities available in the digital trade show world.

Have an industry-related question? Send “Newman” an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

“Just hold it over your head, press the green button and in 30 seconds you have captured every lead on the trade show floor.  It even works through bathroom doors!

The SCAN-EM-ALL 450. If it has a pulse. We’ll scan it!”

Is this where the industry is heading? By some companies’ current metrics, the Scan-Em-All 450 would guarantee you the most successful trade show ever: 45,000 attendees and 45,000 leads. Pretty great, huh? But what would you do with them all?

This hypothetical may be hyperbolical, but the issue is very real. Many exhibitors right now have two or three crowd gatherers tasked with scanning as many people as they possibly can. It’s an easy way to rack up “leads,” but what will happen when contact is made after the show? Many of these people will say “Sorry, I just stopped by to get the flying monkeys you were giving away.”  What good is analyzing your cost per lead if what you’re calling a lead is just someone filling their backpack with free stuff?

What really does define a lead? Is it just anything with a pulse, or must it be something more?

Which is more successful: a trade show with 300 leads categorized as “HOT,” or 3,000 leads in a metaphorical trade show piñata, where you’ll just whack at it after the show and see what shakes out? Some will say there’s likely more buried value in those 3,000, while others would rather focus on 300 sizzling leads and avoid sifting through random thousands.

So, I’m asking you, the community: What should be the metric for a successful trade show? What technologies do you use to categorize your leads as “hot,” “warm” and “cold”? Should crowd gatherers themselves have a tiered system and be directing traffic based on perceived quality of the lead?

Unless we come together on a clear definition of a successful show, before too long, we’ll ALL be waving SCAN-EM-ALL 450s.

Have an industry-related question? Send “Newman” an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

2) Make sure your booth staff is ready to talk to attendees
That means don’t sit down. Avoid standing in groups of two or more fellow staffers. Stand near the aisles.  Look out at the crowd and make eye contact. Smile. Don’t say, “Can I help you?”  They’ll say, “NO.”  Instead, look at their name tags.  Use their name. Ask them what their company does. Invite them into the booth. Now you’re getting somewhere.

3) Quickly follow up on leads
Three-quarters of the leads generated at trade shows are never followed up on … and when they are followed up, it tends to be way too late. Those 2,000 leads you got don’t mean anything if you don’t do something with them. You need a way to categorize your leads as “HOT,” “warm” and “cold” — and with hot leads, there’s no such thing as getting in touch too soon. First contact should come within days of the trade show’s end. When weeks or months go by, you just end up lumped together with all the other SPAM.

4) Use giveaways to build booth traffic
BUT, don’t just give stuff away. USE that giveaway item to quiz the audience on what they’ve just heard. Use it to get them to ask questions. You can also use higher-priced giveaways (from thumb drives to HD TVs to wads of cash) as an incentive to get people to the demo stations and get them into the booth. And consider “green” giveaways. Cheaply made swag just ends up in the trash and then in landfills. You want your giveaways to last … so that attendees hold onto your branded item as long as possible.

5) Keep product demos short
Seven minutes is ideal. Ten minutes is the limit. Fifteen minutes … Get the hook! Trade show attendees have a lot of real estate to cover. Don’t feel you have to tell them your entire story. Pique their interest. Get them to want to know more. Get them into the booth.

6) Limit your seating
A seating area with 50 chairs is intimidating. Few people want to be the first to sit down. Also, if you have an audience of 25 people, it still looks half empty. But with a dozen or so seats, you’re looking at a standing-room-only crowd. People walking by will be more interested in what’s going on if all the seats are full. It’s only natural to wonder what could be going on over there.

7) Have at least one crowd gatherer
We are not talking about scantily clad eye candy for your booth. We’re talking about warm, engaging, gregarious greeters. We’re talking about men and women who know how to chat up people in the aisles, ask them questions, invite them into your booth, introduce them to your knowledgeable (and well-trained) staff. These crowd gatherers will continue to invite people to stop and listen even after the presentation has begun. If you skip the crowd gatherers because of the stereotypes, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

8 ) Insist on an “open” booth design
Think about the lines. Think about the traffic flow. And think about how much you enjoyed the last time you couldn’t find your car in a parking garage. Try to design your booth in a way where there are virtually no impediments in any direction for someone coming in or someone going out. Make the booth’s architecture as open as possible to create maximum flow. You want people to just stroll through and almost accidentally find themselves in the booth. Booth layout and thoughtfulness has much more to do with success than booth size and “impressiveness.”

9) Do your pre-show work!
Promote in advance using social media. Send e-blasts to prospective attendees. Offer up a promotional tease to get people into the booth before the show even starts. Tweet from the trade show floor with your latest news and special offers. Utilize video. Do a “Live from the Trade Show Floor” spot and a daily wrap-up. Announce news and promotions with all the fanfare a live recording can offer. Make it short, interesting and something to get people excited in anticipation of your event.

10) Utilize a professional presenter
Bippy the Mime making a workstation out of balloons may be impressive, but it’s not likely to ensure you qualified leads. Have someone represent your company who is engaging, knowledgeable and will interact with the audience. Most trade show demos seem to be staged readings of marketing white papers. Whether you hire a professional presenter or not, don’t do this … under any circumstances.  Everyone talks about “24/7, valued-added solutions.” Your audience will tune out. Say it in layman’s terms, and say it with passion. Find a reason to truly care about your subject matter.

This article originally appeared as a guest contribution on the ChoiceVendor.com blog. We’ll return next week to the usual Q&A format. If you have an industry-related question, send “Newman” an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

We all know that digitized scalable monitoring can offer a compatible WYSIWYG Intranet or a horizontal, even-keeled knowledge base. But for an extended fault tolerant matrix or for ameliorated scalable process improvement, you really need extended systematic software. In fact, a vision-oriented actuating migration or a right-sized, bottom-line help desk can provide the kind of eco-centric customer loyalty for which we all clamor.

Something tells me that opening paragraph didn’t do much for you. In fact, if you were a trade show attendee listening to THAT presentation, I suspect you’d fake an “important phone call” just so you could get up and leave. Yet, many trade show presentations sound just like this.  Many of them (most?) are little more than a staged reading of a marketing whitepaper — without any emotional connection at all.

Specs and high-tech talking points don’t sell products and services; enthusiasm and passion do.

Connecting with your audience is key. They need to hear the passion and energy in your voice, and they need to hear how that product will change their lives (or the world at large). How is this going to help people? Why should they care? What are the benefits for them? And why are you so excited about it? For some reason, answering those essential questions is most often lost in the development of the presentation script.

Whether it’s an enterprise-class server or a new baby formula, you MUST find a way to be passionate when you’re talking about it.

I recently represented a solar power company at a large home and garden show. The company had given me the basic data points about solar panels, which I incorporated into my presentation. After just a few shows, it became very clear to me that attendees weren’t paying much attention to those details. What they responded to was the way I talked about solar power. They could tell that I really believed in this technology — that it was good for the homeowner and good for the planet — and they flocked to me after the presentations with their technical questions.

They just figured if I was that passionate about the product, I must know all the nitty-gritty details. So, clearly what stayed with them wasn’t the technical info. It was the way they connected with me and my presentation OF that information.

I was getting qualified leads and signing people up for free in-home consultations based on the feeling the people had about the product and how it could help them … and the feeling they had about the “energy” of the presentation.

That energy — that passion — needs to be there all the time. If you’re the presenter, you have to find something about that product or service that you can really get behind. As a presenter, you owe it to yourself and to your audience to be genuinely passionate about your subject. The audience will pick up on that … or they’ll just be lulled into a coma by a barrage of corporate jargon.

If you’re not hiring a professional trade show presenter, then find someone in the company who is genuinely passionate and has the facility to deliver that passion on stage. Eight minutes is long enough, so long as that enthusiasm comes through. More than the size of the booth, more than the thickness of your carpet pad, this passion level really matters. The alternative isn’t pretty:

“We offer you a 24-7, mission critical, best-of-class, paradigm-shifting solution that will proactively enable cross-platform deliverables in a synergistic, distributed LAN/WAN environment.”

Okay, SIS, I hear you. People are still very resistant to jump into the whole Twitter thing … especially when I move from talking about 140 characters to “advanced” tweeting techniques such as leaving Twitter video messages.

I know you’re busy and are afraid that Twitter will be a big time-wasting machine. But it’s not like you need to have a Twitter Department and hire a CTO (Chief Tweeting Officer). Just throw yourself into the mix. There’s absolutely no downside to creating a very simple Twitter profile—even if it’s just a profile directly related to your presence at an upcoming trade show. It costs nothing to do.

In fact, most companies have already taken that first step and do have a profile set up. It’s just not being used in any meaningful way. So, here’s a start: Tweet from the trade show floor with your latest news and a special offer only for the first 50 people to drop by the booth. Get comfortable with that, and then read the next paragraph when you’re ready to start really enhancing your trade show presence through Twitter Power.

Twitter & Video: Marriage Made in Trade Show Heaven

Okay, 140 characters of text is a good start. But it’s hard to distinguish yourself from all those other text micro-posts flooding a Twitter user’s feed. “Stop by my booth!” might not hack it all of the time. That’s why you utilize video. Have your actual trade show presenter record 30- or 60-second spots for your Twitter feed and Web site. Do a “Live from the Trade Show Floor” spot and a daily wrap-up. Announce special offers, news and promotions with all the fanfare a live recording can offer.

Video is a differentiator. It stands out from the typical 140-character crowd and taps into something people already love to watch: film previews. They’re short, they’re interesting and they get people excited in anticipation of something.

Creating these videos and getting them published online has never been easier. My favorite methods are two tools: BubbleTweet lets you record a cool, little bubble-shaped video that pops up on your Twitter page. Bubble Comment creates a similar effect, but it’s right on your very own homepage. And, of course, your Web site and Twitter profile can cross promote one another. And if that’s a touch too much new technology for your taste, just post to YouTube and copy the embedded video code.

Before you say, “I don’t have the production equipment,” just let me say, “Buy a FlipCam …. and, done!” If you’ve worried about being on camera, we’ve got talent who do this kind of thing for a living. For an example, I want you to check out a Twitter video by professional presenter, Andy Saks. Here’s a recent BubbleTweet video he did to encourage attendees to stop by the AT&T Booth at Educause. Seriously, take a look because this is a great example of  harnessing the marketing power of a simple 30 second video.  Believe me, EVERYONE should be doing this stuff.

I’m not saying you need to use Magnet Productions to get any of this done. You don’t. I’m just saying all the tools and resources are in place to quickly take advantage of some great marketing tools and get more people into your booth! So, at your next trade show, don’t be Scared in Seattle. Use these suggestions and be the King of the Trade Show Twitterverse.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

Let’s talk about utilizing Twitter within the throes of a trade show. Preferably, you’ve spent months really connecting with key people through your Twitter stream, building brand awareness and building your follower count. But that time has passed. The trade show is now. So, what can you do to harness this new cool tool?

→ First off, start promoting the trade show before it happens. A series of 140 character tweets at regular intervals starting a month before the event will build excitement and interest.

→ Don’t interpret 140 characters as a limitation. In the trade show space, it’s something that can easily be used to your advantage by keeping your message short and sweet.

→ Leverage your trade show giveaways by tweeting about new free offerings every hour: “Come by the [company] booth within the next 30 minutes for a free T-shirt and other goodies.”

→ Give regular updates: “Author of important new book on Internet security will be speaking at the [company] booth in 15 minutes and signing copies.”

→ Direct Message followers you know to be at the trade show that you’d love some face time with. Leave them a breadcrumb trail of sorts to finding you.

→ Also use Twitter messages to follow up with people who did stop by the booth to gain some extra traction and clue them in to more information: “Thanks so much for stopping by the booth. Check out http://bit.ly/14jYU0 for more info on our trade show staff training services!”

→ Use hashtags to show up in the trade show stream. That way, those who search directly for feeds relating to the trade show will see your messages: “#INTEROP presentation about to begin! Run to the guy spinning plates and grab a seat.”

→ Lastly, help one another and foster goodwill: I was at the National Association of Broadcasters Show and someone realized he didn’t have the necessary connector to use his wireless headset mic. He tweeted his troubles, and 10 minutes later two people showed up with the connector he needed.

This works! So, go tweet your little trade show heart out.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

Twitter streams are overflowing with loud, unsolicited advertisements for all sorts of random stuff. And while I won’t begrudge someone for attempting to raise awareness about their e-book, that approach really misses the point.

What business people and trade show exhibitors don’t typically realize with Twitter is the potential for connection. Sure, it’s not the same as engaging someone face-to-face, but when are you going to be face-to-face with Demi Moore (@mrskutcher) or the CEO of Zappos (@Zappos) or the Chief Technology Officer at Cisco (@Padmasree). Even with a “connection” to Cisco, Padmasree Warrior wouldn’t take my call or respond to my e-mail. But Demi and Tony and Padmasree are actively involved in the Twitter community and responding to tweets—especially if they’re clever or funny or helpful.

This is the equivalent of getting invited to “that party” and having a chance to start a dialogue and charm influential people with your personality. More to that point, you wouldn’t walk into that VIP party and immediately say, “Here’s what I’m selling!”  They’d shun you instantly (if you didn’t get kicked out altogether). But through a genuine conversation, talk might turn to what you do, and that person or the company that person represents might very well recognize a need for your services.

Twitter “conversations” are just as relaxed. It’s fun and often silly, but you can get work done within this budding medium. It’s just important to remember that Twitter is inherently a social model, not a business one. The business comes later … just like in real life.

This holds true for the flipside of the equation, too. Recently, Zappos posted the following tweet:

http://twitpic.com/f4pqp – Coolest. Toilet Seat Cover. Ever. (Never thought I’d use those words together)”

The other day there was a message about cool outfits Zappos employees made out of duct tape. (http://bit.ly/4P3h) And while Tony Hsieh just seems like a genuinely cool guy to hang out with, what’s subtly happening is he’s building brand loyalty. After months of connecting with Tony, how much more likely will you be to log on for that next pair of shoes or stop by if you were to see a Zappos booth at a trade show?

That’s because if you were at a trade show and you knew that a close friend of yours had a booth, you would stop by. You wouldn’t just go to the trade show and blow off a friend. A regular common experience with another Twitter feed will foster that sense of fellowship—even if it’s a big corporation. That’s powerful stuff. Certainly much more powerful than 140 characters overtly trying to sell me something.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

Robert, three-quarters of the leads generated at trade shows are never followed up on … and when they are followed up, it tends to be way too late. So, what does that mean for you? It means don’t bother to spend the money on lead generation if you’re just trying to impress the people in the next booth with a big statistic. Those 2,000 leads you got don’t mean anything if you don’t do something with them.

It’s essential you have a mechanism in place for when you’re receiving the leads, whether that’s using barcode scanners or a little Q&A afterward to ascertain if this lead is something worth pursuing over the next week, two weeks, month or year. You need some way of categorizing your leads as “HOT,” “warm,” “cold” and “dead fish.” (Well, maybe not the last one.)

Take those leads and, for example, send each one a postcard with a funny photograph from your presentation. People aren’t very accustomed to getting real mail anymore, and sometimes that can be far more attention-grabbing than just seeing another e-mail in the inbox. But at least promptly send an e-mail with a memorable photograph in it. Thank that potential customer for coming by the booth. Tell them you really appreciate it—and have that note waiting for them Monday when they get back from the trade show.

First contact should come within days of the trade show’s end. When two or three weeks or God forbid a month goes by without contact, you just end up lumped together with all the other SPAM.

I use a postcard as an example of something that makes people stop and take notice. When I get a postcard I say, “Wow, that’s amazing.  I haven’t gotten a postcard in a long time.” It will make me not want to throw it out, particularly if it’s a funny image that makes me laugh. And when it’s flipped over, there’s just a quick note:

“Thank you for stopping by the booth. We’ll get in touch within a week or so to follow up.”

It’s just a warm way to reach out to people. Warm is good. Prompt is even better.

People go to such lengths to get traffic in their booth—renting the leading scanning devices and hiring crowd gatherers … and then it either all sits untouched in a database or collects dust as a stack of business cards or filled-out lead cards. Somehow, nobody does anything with them after putting in all that initial effort. Worse, they’ll group them by territory and send the info out to their sales staff, who expect these to be qualified leads. But after a few phone calls those salespeople realize these were just a bunch of people who stopped by to get a T-shirt. They’ll quickly feel like they’re wasting their time and stop making attempts, which ultimately throws out the good with the bad.

That’s why they need to be categorized as real leads, as opposed to just inflating the body count. Sometimes you’ll know immediately when you have a hot lead. In those cases, there’s no such thing as getting hold of somebody too soon. (Well, let them de-board the plane and get home first.) But there’s nothing better than arriving and finding a note waiting for you.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.