So how was it? To be honest - disappointing...
For one thing, coming from the UK I'm used to hugely vast exhibitions - the NZ expos are much, much smaller and I still haven't gotten used to that.
But more importantly, it astounds me that companies make such a huge investment to be there (the stand, setting it up, the labour costs -it all adds up to a very significant sum) yet make little attempt to engage the public and/or build their database. (The marketing consultant in me can't switch off, even on a Sunday!)
Make an exhibition of yourself!
At most stands, the stall holders stood there with their arms crossed looking unhappy. It doesn't really make you want to go up to them and enquire - it's quite off-putting.Expos aren't the time to be introverted, shy or quiet - so if the staff or owners are suitably extrovert, then hire some outgoing people to engage the public!
And it's such a great opportunity to build a database (with a competition or something) and maybe even do some market research (what do the visitors think of your industry/product/service?). If a company isn't going to interact, they may as well not be there.
The most interactive stand? The Miracle Shammy. They put on such a good demo (and handed out freebies at the beginning) that I handed over $30 for a bunch of super-absorbent cleaning cloths. Great demo, fellas! (And hopefully the cloths will be handy for mopping water out of the bilges on the boat.)
A brochure I picked up that could be interesting for the future is from Granite Transformations (http://www.granitetransformations.co.nz/) - they put a real granite surface over existing bench tops. Could be good for us, as our kitchen is solidly constructed but looks dated, so it'll be interesting to see how much this option would be. (Though re-doing our kitchen is a few years away yet!)
I also saw a client there whom I'd recently done some copywriting work for - http://www.fishtanks.co.nz/ - he has very funky fish tanks!
Photo: the Miracle Shammy!
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