How to Engage People at Trade Shows, with Robyn Davis

Dave Stachowiak (0:00)

Almost every professional has been to a trade show, and a lot of us have represented our organizations at conferences and shows. And many leaders have trade shows somewhere in their portfolios. In this episode, how to help your team engage the right people at these events to ensure the investment you've made is worth it. This is Coaching for Leaders, episode 803

SPEAKER_2 (0:24)

Produced by Innovate Learning, Maximizing Human Potential.

Dave Stachowiak (0:33)

Greetings to you from Orange County, California. This is Coaching for Leaders, and I'm your host, Dave Stachowiak. Leaders are born, they're made. And this weekly show helps leaders thrive at key inflection points. You know, one of the things that is a really important point for many of us, many of our organizations, many of our teams throughout the year, is attending events, specifically trade shows. Many organizations, many industries do this as a regular practice, especially it's often a tradition in many organizations to go to certain events and certain shows. And often we don't think about the bigger picture strategy of what our teams, our organizations are getting out of those shows, and how do we actually approach it in a way that's going to be so beneficial to the people we're serving, our teams and our organizations. And that's why I'm so glad today to welcome an expert who is just so savvy at helping us and helping organizations to think through this and to do it well. I'm pleased to introduce Robyn Davis. Robyn has been advising exhibitors across industries and around the world on strategies that work at trade shows since 2009

As an award-winning speaker, trainer and consultant, Robyn is known for her fresh perspective and process-driven approach to exhibitor success. She is the author of Exhibit Smarter, A Step-by-Step Guide to Trade Show Success. Hey, Robyn, so glad to have you on the show.

Robyn Davis (1:56)

Hey, Dave, thanks for including me.

Dave Stachowiak (1:58)

I am so looking forward to this conversation because this is one of those topics that I think a lot of leaders overlook. When I think about your work and so many of the wonderful invitations you make to leaders who are thinking about doing this better, one of the distinctions I hear from you is that to really think about prioritizing strategic value over the vanity metrics, the fun things, the giveaways, those kinds of things that a lot of people do at trade shows, you really invite people to think big. That's so important for this, isn't it?

Robyn Davis (2:35)

I agree. I think that a lot of professionals and leaders get so caught up in what they're doing on a day-to-day basis that they forget that a trade show is more than just a few days in a convention city. They get used to showing up on-site and thinking that will be enough because that's the big part that you see that people talk about so much. But really, it's about the preparation and the planning several months in advance and the follow-up that comes after the show, not to mention your evaluation, which tells you whether or not you can improve year after year. So I think where there is a lot more that should go into a trade show than most people do.

Dave Stachowiak (3:07)

There's also this trap that a lot of organizations fall into and you talk about this a bunch in your work that, of making things really fun and memorable and doing giveaways, you talk about some of the interesting things people do at booths of bringing in puppies and giving out keychains and like all that stuff. And people really like that, like they like the experience of it and yet they don't connect it back to the organization very often, do they?

Robyn Davis (3:33)

Oh, that's so true. I see that often. I actually have a phrase for it. I call it the Robyn Davis test. When you're trying to decide what you want to do at your booth, if you are giving away an attraction or you're giving away some sort of swag, or you're hosting some sort of attraction that I, Robyn Davis, would want and I would take my time to stand in line for, then it's probably not the right fit for you. I am not a good customer for most of the exhibitors I work with at trade shows. And so I've stood in line to win prizes for my nephews. I have toy trucks that I bring home to them and stuffed animals. I also have a big screen TV that I use in my office because I was working in an exhibitor's booth and the booth next to me was giving a TV away. Oh, wow. I entered the drawing and they drew my name. And because I had been doing such a good job in our booth, everyone knew me. And so they were like, oh, we know Robyn, she's right there. And so I won this TV and I'm sure the company didn't want me to win their prize.