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.

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This is a message for trade show vendors: At your next show, sneak up on your own booth. That’s right, pop out from around a corner about 10 yards back and take a good, honest look at your investment.

Do your booth staffers look like sad little wallflowers?

Do they look like kids at a high school social afraid to ask someone to dance?

Is there a guy sitting expressionless in front of a glass bowl of Hershey’s Kisses, wondering why no one is coming up to talk to him?

This “condition” is more common then you might think, especially with the smaller booths. At one recent show, I walked around and paid particular attention to the 5 x10 and 10 x10 booths. Often they’re manned by just two or three people who are so uncomfortable they’re burying their heads in books or dabbling with smartphones — just sitting there waiting for it all to be over.

I looked at these people and found myself thinking about Neil Strauss, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone best known for penning a book called, The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists. This was the inside story of guys who despite NOT being the most attractive males out there, pick up women with absolute ease. Strauss not only researched this “secret society,” he became arguably one of the top pickup artists in the world and actually started conducting workshops for the undesirable and uninitiated.

At the heart of this book is a philosophy about “how to engage people.” He argues that if you’re going to try to pick up a woman in a bar, you don’t say, “Can I buy you a drink?” You don’t ask anything that could elicit a “no” response. Instead, you “engage” her. You contrive a story seemingly playing out before her eyes and ask, “What do you think?” Yes, it’s an opening line. But it’s an opening line that’s not clichéd or overwrought; it’s a question that pulls this woman into a story with you through her advice or involvement.

Strauss’ philosophy is hardly limited to the world of pickup artists. “Engagement” is something that most certainly can be applied to trade show marketing. I was observing the booth staff at this recent trade show, and they weren’t engaging anyone. First of all, they’re sitting. Rule No. 1: No sitting! Secondly, even when standing, they look positively miserable. If you’re spending that kind of money at a trade show and you’re planning to go there with the attitude that you’d rather be anywhere else, then don’t go! And before you say a couple of staffers don’t represent the “enthusiasm of the company,” remember that these faces are your company for the purposes of these crucial three trade show days. They are the representative image of you and the images that attendees will remember.

Honestly, if I had some sort of magisterial banishment power, King Newman would have sent home half the people working this particular trade show. If you’re going to look bored — if you’re going to feel miserable — find another way to market your services.

Here’s the ironic thing: A lot of these same people will spend a fortune on search engine optimization, which is designed to drive traffic to their site. But they don’t spend any energy driving traffic into their booth. And that doesn’t necessarily mean hiring a trade show presenter like me but perhaps a crowd gatherer — at least someone with people skills! If the person in your booth is not the type who can go up to a perfect stranger and strike up a conversation, then they’re the wrong person to be at the show.

You need to find someone who is not just a technical expert; you also need your company’s best pickup artist.

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.

1. Treat your trade show like any other business. To succeed, a trade show needs to be well managed and cost effective. When a trade show goes under, the first assumption seems to be “there goes the industry.”  That’s simply not the case.  Shows die because they’re poorly organized, poorly promoted and poorly attended. Well-run shows are doing just fine.

In fact, some trade shows are exceptionally well organized. The timing is right. They host a two-hour cocktail reception on the first day so attendees can get a feel for everything without having to rush around. Visitors know they still have three more days to explore, so they can enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres and socialize with friends and business associates. The trade show days have reasonable hours and there’s an absolute minimum of conflicting events.

It’s all the little things being done well that make for a successful show. The devil’s in the details, and that’s how many trade shows miss the mark. It’s about the quality of the experience for both the attendee and exhibitor.

2. Keep your exhibitors happy! Don’t schedule a rock-star CEO’s  keynote during Prime Exhibit Hours. Exhibitors don’t appreciate sitting around in a ghost town — especially when with a little thought (and better timing) that keynote could infuse the trade show hall with more life and energy.  In fact, here’s a radical idea: Why not schedule hours when the exhibit hall is open and NOTHING ELSE is going on: No general sessions. No eating sessions. No keynotes. No salsa lessons. Nada!

Thoughtfully limit the number of announcements that come over the exhibit hall’s PA system. Every announcement interrupts presentations and follow-up conversations, and an interruption by its very definition stops progress. Think about that.

While I’m on the subject, don’t schedule a wonderfully catered luxury luncheon somewhere else! Schedule a wonderfully catered luncheon at the venue and keep the leads inside the trade show hall. Exhibitors are paying a substantial sum for their trade show booths. Their investment needs to be worthwhile.

3. Publicize. A trade show is not a single event; it’s a process. You have to advertise and promote the same way you would launch a new product or garner buzz for a new downtown restaurant. Ask yourself, “What more can I do?” Opening night needs to come together and impress, as if there was a critic scribbling on a notepad somewhere in the room who was going to make or break your whole future with that one review. Make sure there’s ample staffing and ample direction. If you have one bad day, that’s a third of the trade show! Three bad days and it’s lights out.

4. Create the proper infrastructure. The hall needs to be set up in a way that’s easy for people to register, get in and get around. 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. A LOT of trade show attendees have this experience trying to find booths at some of the bigger shows.  At one of the more popular Las Vegas events last year, I saw countless attendees wandering around clutching maps and looking like kids lost at Disneyland.

5. Make sure there is adequate signage. At a recent trade show in San Francisco, many exhibitors complained that traffic seemed to be a lot lighter even though attendance was actually up. Why? Turns out that a good number of attendees had no idea there were exhibits on the other side of the Hall! This could’ve easily been avoided by using little colored footprint decals on the floor leading the attendees to and from both sides of the event. When in doubt, add more signage, more guides and more information kiosks.

When attendees and exhibitors alike have an easy and enjoyable experience, they’ll come back. Overlook the little things, and you might be the next news headline.

Next week, we’ll return to the usual Q&A format, so click the big “?” in the blog banner and submit your itching trade show question or concern. This blog is for you, and your topic might just be the subject of the next post.

I don’t say this so much to toot the Magnet Productions horn as to illustrate an extremely important point: Having a live presenter made all the difference in our client’s success at this show. In fact, it was the difference between an empty booth and a full space clocking 2,000 leads (out of a trade show attendance of 7,000 total) … and this in a relatively small booth.

There were other live presentations at this show, and those booths had similar experiences. We heard comments like: “I didn’t understand why we needed a live presenter until today.” Another said, “Some people are already packing up, and we’re still packing them in. And this: “It’s not just that we got a ton of really good leads, it’s that everyone in the booth — our entire staff — had a really good time at that show. And that’s a first.”

You can’t predict the size of the crowd in these changing times, but you can protect yourself against a failed trade show experience. Think of it as preventative medicine: Booking a live presenter is like preventative medicine against an empty booth, ensuring good return on your money and good leads from the show.

When the trade show doors open and the first crowd comes through as a mere trickle, you know that you’re going to be in for a long three days — particularly if that trickle is on the morning of Day One! That’s exactly what happened in Chicago, with most of the booths staffed by people ready to pounce on anyone who came near. Pretty intimidating for a trade show attendee.

Instead, at our client’s booth, our live presenter would stop people in the aisles, offering to teach them a mindreading illusion.

“Come look at this! It’s amazing ! I am going to prove to you that we know EXACTLY what you’re thinking. And then, if you hang around, I’ll teach you how I did it.”

And attendees would watch … and then a few people would come by and watch them … and then some people would watch them … and then the presenter would take the stage and deliver our client’s message … to a standing-room-only crowd.

What I think it comes down to is this: Trade shows may be seeing a drop off in the number of attendees. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t exhibit. What it DOES mean, is that when you DO exhibit, make it count! If, for example, you are committed to a show that is only going to be attended by 7,000 people, you’re not going to want to come home with just 50 leads. The best medicine to prevent that is to have something going on in your booth that will make it THE place to be. And that something is a live presenter.

I recently did three days of presentations for a company that was giving away $10,000 at a trade show. The festival atmosphere this promotion conjured up was beyond incredible. I’ve seen companies give away cars and other larger-ticket items, but the buzz about this cash was unparalleled.

To win, you filled out a card with your name and contact information. To be eligible to enter the drawing, you had to watch the live presentation I gave or engage with somebody in the booth one-to-one and ask a question or listen.

All three days of the show, we never presented for less than standing room only. Ever. On the last day, the money had already been given away, yet we still packed the presentation. That final-day success had a lot to do with our crowd gatherers and how persistent we were about getting the seats full. But on those first two days, the money did a lot of the work.

I mean, it’s $10,000. That’s a lot of cash … and a substantial incentive.

Not every company is going to shell out 10 grand, but they might spend $1,000, which is still a good chunk of change. It’s enough for people to come into a booth and fill out a piece of paper just to enter the drawing. So, if a company is willing to spend $1,000 for the cash grand prize and a total of $800 more for three medium-priced electronic devices, what they’ll get back for that expense is huge. There’s a lot of buzz and booth traffic to be gained from an investment of that size.

Mike, the point of contention is whether this cash incentive will get you a bunch of greedy “dead-ends” or some actual leads on which to follow up. There’s a big argument in the trade show industry that says you’ve got to look for quality leads over quantity. I disagree. That’s because if you have 20,000 people attending a show, you must do something compelling in your booth to capture the names of a significant percentage of those people (even 10 percent over three days) and get that traffic to flow through the booth. If you don’t, there’s a good chance you’re never going to have the opportunity to identify those coveted high-quality leads. In fact, you won’t have any leads at all.

Those 25-30 key people—the dream leads—aren’t going to just magically appear in your booth.  They’re likely to be swept into your booth along with the hundreds of other people who may be there to just win the $1,000.

There are only a few things that will draw people to your booth, and a lot of it has to do with what’s eye-catching. That can be movement, color, noise; those create crowds. When we did this drawing, and we have video documentation of this, there were 1,000 people standing around the booth. The fire marshals were getting people out of the aisle. It was insanity, pandemonium.  People were walking by asking, “What’s going on here? … They’re giving away $10,000! Oh my, can I get in?”

Sure, that person may have no interest in the particular technology, but somebody they later talk to might … or somebody they’re standing next to might … or somebody just walking by. An adept salesperson will capitalize, and there’s a huge piece of business that’s been booked.

Trade shows are, by their nature, a little bit of “sideshow.”  There’s no question that it’s all about buzz and excitement. And nothing says excitement better than an oversized check with $10,000 printed on it.

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.

Great question, Emily. A lot of booth staffers simply fail to apply fundamental rules of human behavior at trade shows. Two or three staffers will just stand around in a cluster talking to each other. That’s basically saying to a tradeshow attendee, “Don’t bother us; we’re busy.” Then, if an attendee actually gets close enough, the booth staffer says, “Do you have any questions?”

You wouldn’t engage a friend that way.

You would first make a comment relevant to the both of you. You know, make some conversation: “Did you watch the inauguration?” was a natural question I was asked in January. Or how about something simple like, “Are you staying at a hotel nearby?”… “Did you walk over?”… “Isn’t this weather amazing?” It doesn’t really matter so long as it feels human. Booth staff should first be in the business of finding a way into the middle of a conversation.

The best stories are the ones that start in the middle and circle their way back to the beginning, anyway. When you do that successfully at a trade show, you get the attendee “into the mix.”

Most booth staffers just don’t get that. The main problem is a lot of people who show up at trade shows to man booths don’t have the necessary skill sets. That’s why Magnet Productions ends up doing so much consulting and booth staff training. These folks need to understand appropriate and fruitful ways of approaching attendees.

When conducting a training session, I sometimes just give the booth staffers a simple exercise. I say, “All you do is read their badge.” That’s it. I tell them to walk up to an attendee, flip their badge over, if necessary, and just say, “I see that you’re with [insert company name]. What do you do for them?”

People will answer that question. They’re not going to say, “None of your business.” But if you ask them a question for which there’s a “no” response, (such as “Can I help you?”), there will be a “no” response. It’s just simple sales technique.

It also works because people love to talk about themselves. It gets the trade show attendee engaged. It’s about making contact and asking the types of questions that get desired results. And it’s essential that your booth staffers “get that.”

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.

Bob, in this economic climate pretty much all companies are trying to save money. So, what are they doing in regards to their trade show presence?

Well, if you can’t afford a 10,000-square-foot house, you don’t buy a 10,000-square-foot house, right? You buy a 3,000-square-foot house, and if necessary, you rent some storage space.

In stark contrast, companies have been totally consumed with “bigger is better” at trade shows and having the biggest possible booth. But the real estate you rent from the management company is one of the biggest expenses … and then you have to fill up that large space (more $$$).

At Magnet Productions, our argument has always been to prioritize filling your space—not procuring the largest one. If you don’t need a 50×50 booth, don’t rent one. If you can get away with a 30×30, then get a 30×30. Frankly, having a small booth completely overrun with people makes a much stronger statement than having a large booth that’s half-empty.

As an experienced trade show presenter, I advise not to have the maximum number of seats because you’re not going to fill them. And if you don’t fill them all, it will give the impression that the presentation going on isn’t very interesting. Now, if you have 10 filled seats and 40 people standing and watching, that conveys a very different impression: Your product is so compelling that you have a standing-room-only crowd.

So, booth size is a great way to save some money. Booth design is another area where the savvy spender can achieve great results for far less money than other companies are shelling out. Magnet Productions partners with a number of booth designers who “re-skin” existing booths. That’s the process by which the designer will strip the signage off a booth and repurpose the existing design to save the client a fortune.

For more information about booth design consultations, feel free to contact us.

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.

John, way back in 1960 there was an experiment called the “Visual Cliff.” It was a study on depth perception where psychologists Eleanor J. Gibson and Richard D. Walk designed a runway for infants to crawl across, “ending” with a sheet of plexiglass that created the appearance of a precipitous drop. It was really a perfectly safe surface to crawl on, but it didn’t look that way. Most babies would crawl really, really close, but they wouldn’t go “over the cliff”—even with their mothers beckoning them from the other side.

That’s kind of how people are at trade shows.

If visitors feel like stepping into your booth is like stepping out onto that plexiglass, it might not matter what you do to try to beckon them in. Let’s take your booth carpet color, for example … yes, the carpet color! If there is a dramatic difference between the color of the carpet in the aisle and the color of the carpet in the booth, lots of people won’t step over it. They see that carpet and it’s like they’re falling into the abyss. As soon as that carpet changes from the blue or gray that runs down the aisles of the trade show to the green or red that’s in your booth, people stand there and lean but won’t go any farther.

As a trade show performer, I’ve been on stage actually seeing this happen. I’d say, “Come a little closer; we have a couple of empty seats,” and they’ll respond, “No. I’m okay right here.”

They just don’t want to make that commitment. It’s as if there’s something about stepping into the booth that’s suddenly opening themselves up to the possibility of being descended upon like the wrath of God by an army of booth salespeople.

So, when I do booth consulting, one of the things I always tell people is to make the process of entering the booth as easy and seamless (literally) as possible. So, make the booth’s architecture as open as it can possibly be to create maximum flow. You want people to just stroll through and almost accidentally find themselves in the booth. 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.

I ran a “Visual Cliff” experiment of my own—one of the trade show kind. I told a client to find out well in advance what the color of the convention hall carpet was going to be in the area of his booth. Then, I told him to get his booth carpet in the same immediate color family. A little softer blue (or gray, etc.) would be fine, but keep it close.

Now, I’m not Eleanor J. Gibson and Richard D. Walk, so I can’t tell you the quantifiable difference. But it sure felt like it mattered because trade show attendees were wandering around and then, “Oops! Oh, my gosh. I’m in your booth! Would you look at that?”

The key point is that booth layout and thoughtfulness has much more to do with success than booth size and “impressiveness.”

It’s not about trying to blow someone away with the architectural beauty of your design. That’s really not the point. Qualified leads will say, “Wow! What an incredible booth” … and then walk right by it. That’s because it doesn’t have flow. It doesn’t invite you in.

At one recent trade show I attended, there was an elaborate booth with kiosks all around the perimeter. It was fancy, but because of the kiosks there was literally only about a 5-foot-wide entryway. So, it was like pulling teeth for people to get into this expensive, extravagant booth. Yikes!

And to think, all they really needed was a little thinking into the flow of booth traffic—and perhaps some blue carpet to get those leads to jump off the “Trade Show Cliff.”

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.