CUT COSTS & IMPROVE TRADESHOW RETURNS...CUT COSTS & IMPROVE TRADESHOW RETURNS | 3In this report, we look at a new way of making those all-important contacts while keeping your costs

CUT COSTS & IMPROVE TRADESHOW RETURNS:Activating Off-the-Trade-Show-Floor Experiences

exhibits events environmentswww.groupdelphi.com

2 | CUT COSTS & IMPROVE TRADESHOW RETURNS

Recent research shows that the power of tradeshows remains strong even as total audience numbers decline. (SEE CEIR CHART) As more and more exhibitors fight for an ever-shrinking pool of prospective customers, competition on the show floor is getting fierce. The average time spent on the show floor with prospects is under 3 minutes and increasing that time is a tall order. Plus, the Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA) reports that exhibitors plan to go to fewer shows in 2009. “They went to an average of 30 trade shows in 2008, but expect to go to only 25 shows in 2009,” TSEA says in its report, “Exhibit Management Survey Analy-sis.” What all this means is that face-time with prospects is more important than ever, and that the experience you create at tradeshows and events must deliver something of great interest and value to your audience Making the most of this personal connection opportunity is key.

5 reasons why off-floor activation makes sense:

1. Reach more targeted attendees

2. Lower your costs of a traditional exhibit

3. Control the conversation, the noise and the environment

4. Extend the time you spend with prospects

5. Measure more easily and accurately

www.groupdelphi.com

TRAFFIC DENSITYNumber of people occupying 100 square feet of space

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AUDIENCE INTEREST FACTORPercentage of audience who stop to talk or acquire literature

CEIR: The Effect of Economic Recessions on Exhibitions, January 2009

exhibits events environments

CUT COSTS & IMPROVE TRADESHOW RETURNS | 3

In this report, we look at a new way of making those all-important contacts while keeping your costs down. We’re not advocating that you eliminate your show-floor presence. Rather, we encourage you to consider an off the floor experience as an extension to your show participation, enhancing face-time with custom-ers and prospects. For example reducing your booth footprint or putting less drayage-bearing structure into your space (or both) frees up dollars that may be better used for a more intimate, off floor customer experience. In such an in-stance, you maintain visibility on the show floor but use your booth to direct cus-tomers to a more personal setting -- a meeting room inside or outside the show hall, or an event venue nearby. The off-the-floor activity then becomes a bolt-on to your tradeshow booth or other show participation. It allows you to leverage your booth investment while offering an attractive destination where you create a more personal experience for highly qualified customers or prospects.

“Offsite efforts are an adjunct to the tradeshow business; you use this for great-er positioning power. Going offsite is used as a way to enhance the tradeshow experience,” says Tom Bowman, founder of Bowman Marketing, which works with clients in new product launches, brand development, and more.

Bowman cites a number of reasons why he successfully went off-floor when he was with Novellus Systems:

1. Creative Freedom: “We liked doing experiential kinds of things that have a high impact,” beyond the constraints of a show floor

2. More Positioning Power: “We knew that by being on the floor at a regular tradeshow we would have been in an inferior position; we wanted more weight than that.” So they combined location and experience to get a clearer and stronger position with prospects

3. Size & Space to create the right engaging experience: “We needed both; we knew we could get it at the time by going AWAY from the show floor.”

4. Scope vs. Cost: “To do what we wanted to do in size and scope would have been costly on the floor. There are lots of restrictions on the show floor, so we went outside to avoid the restrictions.”

www.groupdelphi.com

Novellus systems at semiCoN West

CEIR: The Effect of Economic Recessions on Exhibitions, January 2009

exhibits events environments

Recent findings back up Bowman’s assertion. According to the Event Market-ing Institute’s EventView 2009 Global Report, building and maintaining customer relationships remains a priority: “Given respondents’ significant investment in ex-ternal events, it’s interesting to note that for nearly 43 percent of senior sales and marketing leaders, success lies in whether or not the event investment resulted in enhancing customer relationships (See chart, below). Generating brand aware-ness and qualified leads are considered important, but that respondents cite the customer relationship as paramount confirms their understanding that it is this connection that will be the most profitable over time.”

Credit: EventView 2009 Global Report

CREATIVE EXPERIENCE DESIGNIn order to effectively execute an off-the-floor endeavor, careful thought must be given to the creative effort. When building your “Effective Creative”—the “draw” that pulls in an audience —keep in mind the following points and make your strategy:

• COST EFFECTIVE: It should address all functional requirements in terms of anticipated flow and dwell times around key discussion points in a manner that obviously respects the budget.

• CONVERSATIONAL: It must reflect your corporate personality and brand promise in a way that invites prospects into a dialogue with you and your organization to further your communication objectives.

• CUSTOMER CENTRIC: It should address the audience from the perspec-tive of their motivations and needs in order to attract them to your experi-ence.

• And finally…CONTROVERSIAL: It ought to make you slightly nervous be-cause it is unexpected. As such, it should stimulate word-of-mouth and make your experience a desired destination

GoiNG off the floorExperience is the best teacher, and those who’ve taken their efforts “Off-the-Floor” have all good news to share. The following are field reports from two who’ve been there:

harald GreiNerDirector, Business Development Media

ComPaNy: Siemens AG

veNue: National Association of Broad-casters (NAB) show, Las Vegas

offsite: A suite at the Bellagio Hotel

Why: Offers a “more relaxed atmo-sphere. Gives us more time to talk about projects” with potential customers.

results: Had 30 customer meetings, lasting from 60 to 90 minutes each.

feedBaCK: “Very good so far. This year we had more meetings than ever be-fore, and all have led to at least a con-sulting opportunity.”

Caveat: “Customers we hadn’t touched base with prior to the show, we might have missed. So it helps to have some sort of a contact point at the show.”


Internal Event Budgets

Increasing awarenessfor your brand

Generate qualified leads

Enhance customerrelationships

Motivate media/press coverage

26%

26%

43%

5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

2008


COST EFFECTIVEEvent and tradeshow marketers know that show costs continue to rise, espe-cially in terms of services and labor. By going off the floor you can contain costs, and even make the environment you choose part of your brand. Harald Greiner is Director, Business Development Media, at Siemens AG, a company that has growing experience in going “off-floor.” He identifies two strong points for meeting a customer away from the show: “Saving money, and giving prospects the chance for a more relaxed time.”

Greiner notes that since Siemens started holding off-floor meetings with pros-pects, he estimates the company is investing 30 percent less in space than they would have spent for a traditional booth. And while it’s difficult to exactly measure the ROI, he nevertheless sees a dramatic improvement in their budget and the quality of their customer meetings in off-floor settings.

CONVERSATIONAL“This year at NAB (Nationl Association of Broadcasters), most of our discussions led to concrete opportunities,” according to Greiner.. “At the show you have a lot of discussions, but many of them are more generic and do not lead to concrete op-portunities,” as opposed to those Siemens had off-site.

Justin Hersh, CEO of Delphi Productions, has one overarching reason for cham-pioning the more intimate settings that going off-floor offers: “It’s more personal. By going off the floor you can more effectively control the conversation with the customer, and lengthen the time you spend with that customer,” he says.

CUSTOMER CENTRICStill, it’s not just a simple matter of “Build it and they will come.” Greiner notes that there are some challenges inherent in going “off-floor.” They include:

• Convincingcustomersthatit’sworththeirtimeandefforttocometoyour“off-floor” location

• Youneedaspaceeitherclosetotheshow—oraveryattractiveone—togetthe customers to want to take the time to visit

• Youneedtoorganizemeetingsinadvance

• Tothatend,youcan’tallow“pass-by”visitorstowanderin.Appointmentsneed to be made and honored.

dexCom at aade



CONTROVERSIALDelphi’s Hersh is a big proponent of going off-floor, but for the right reasons and with the right strategy behind it; his company has been doing so for more than 14 years. “It’s part of a broader philosophy of asking our customers the right ques-tions as to what they need to accomplish. Is the a traditional trade show the right answer, or do you need to consider alternatives that extend your time with pros-pects?” he asks.

Hersh spoke at the recent Event Marketing Summit in Chicago, where he reiter-ated the five key reasons for making the transition off-floor. They include:

1. Controlling the conversation

2. Spending more time with customers

3. Spending less on events

4. Standing out from the crowd

5. Creating a compelling brand experience that drives dialogue

HYBRID ALTERNATIVESIn order to make the transition, many companies are developing a “hybrid” pres-ence at shows, Hersh says. They take a smaller position on the show floor, and then, after initial contact, direct customers to the off-site space where a better, more intimate connection can be made.

Some shows insist on a threshold floor presence and many associations and or-ganizations are well worth supporting through on-floor exhibits combined with off-floor activity. This on/off strategy can be the most effective way to communicate your market presence and create an air of excitement about your off-floor activity.

“But you have to make sure it works on a variety of scales and applications,” Hersh said. “You want to create a compelling experience for your best customers; be very thoughtful about what will encourage them to spend hours, versus just a few minutes at your booth.”

“All the customers we’ve done off-the-floor projects with find it more cost-effective for them,” Hersh said. “They accomplish significantly more and spend less money. We’ve surveyed them afterward and found customer satisfaction went way up.”

“Some of our customers really like the off-floor approach, because the atmo-sphere is much more relaxed,” Siemens’ Greiner said. “But,” he added, “the choice of the location is important.”

GoiNG off the floor

tamara thomPsoNDirector of Corporate Branding

ComPaNy: Applied Materials

veNue: Semicon West, Moscone

Center, San Francisco

offsite: AMC Lowes Metreon

Why: Offers customer lounge (Re-branded as “The Change-Makers Lounge”), customer briefing center, multiple conference rooms.

results: Created “high touch” expe-rience for customers; Promoted Ap-plied’s corporate story and reinforced nanomanufacturing leadership; Es-tablished strong solar brand presence via a very popular Intersolar exhibit; Maintained presence at SEMICON West: showed continued commitment to industry and to our customers while supporting SEMICON

feedBaCK: Key targets responded positively to AMAT’s show experi-ence; Most customers consider the Metreon location a positive change; All top 25 semiconductor customers visited Metreon this year, a 47% in-crease over last year.

Caveat: Ask the right questions; Don’t accept the status quo; Chal-lenge conventional wisdom; Mea-sure the results.



CHOOSE CAREFULLYFor all its advantages, going off the floor is not the right choice for everyone. Del-phi’s Hersh notes that there remain strong pluses to the major shows, in that they provide traffic, offer direct access to your partners, and can move a lot of custom-ers through in a very short time.

“More than half of our projects are on the tradeshow floor, so we are not saying this is right for everyone,” Hersh says. “And we are not advocating for freeloading on tradeshows as a general practice.”

But for those who do decide to make the move, there are three critical steps that must be followed:

• Ask the Right Questions: Why are we doing this? What do we hope to ac-complish? Is everyone on board?

• Develop an Effective Customer Experience: Are we offering something of value to the prospects we’re reaching out to? Will it be worth their time and effort?

• Execute Flawlessly: All “multiple moving parts” of the site must be in place so that the effort itself is seamless and truly adds to the show visitors’ experi-ence.

A FINAL THOUGHTFace-to-face interaction continues to be the reason respondents attribute to event marketing’s high ROI rating, and overwhelmingly so this year. According to EMI’s EventView Global 2009 Report, the percentage of respondents who rank face-to-face contact as the rationale behind event marketing ROI increased by 25 percent from 2007 to 2008 (See chart, below). This surge confirms respondents’ aware-ness that face-to-face interactions are essential in forming customer relationships as they provide the kind of in-depth customer insight, trust-building and immediacy about a brand that drives top-line performance.

Credit: EventView 2009 Global Report

aPPlied materials

oN the shoW floor

at metreoN

at metreoN


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Reaches a targeted audience

In-person contact (face-to-face)

Number of people reached

Builds new contacts

Primary source of information

Minimal investment for highest exposure

It can be measured

Wide exposure

16%

17%11%

14%

14%21%

23%21%

27%28%

25% 30%31%

32%35%

42%45%

43%54%

53%78%

23%

5% 11%

200820072006


CONCLUSIONCombining an investment at tradeshows with off the trade show floor tactics can reap higher benefits at a lower cost. Doing so enables you to control the conversation with prospects, deliver your message in a less cluttered setting, and allow you more time in a unique atmosphere to make your presentation. While not for everyone—especially those who desire a high volume of traffic—going off-site does have distinct advantages.

In these challenging times, when everyone strives to stand out from the noise while managing tighter budgets, combining a reduced floor presence with an off-the-floor experience might be just the edge you need to distinguish yourself from the competi-tion. With a lower cost, higher ROI and more quality “face-time” with prospects, it’s an option worth considering.

ABOUT DELPHIDELPHI is an event marketing agency, creating experiences, environments and media for trade shows, events, museums and retail. We start by asking the right questions that lead to compelling stories and memorable experiences for customers in a wide range of industries—aerospace and defense, automotive, broadcast, consumer products, electronics, food and beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, museums and technology.

We tell customers that if they want to connect with their audiences, they need to think of their event or exhibit as a story that requires setting, character development, mood and tone. It’s basic but time tested and it works. Effective marketing is a conversation with your customer. Storytelling is at the heart of good conversation.

This year Delphi celebrates it’s 20th anniversary with the recent merger of Delphi Productions and ICON Exhibits. To-gether, we have nearly a century of combined industry experience, an extensive geographic reach with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, Indiana, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Berlin, Germany, and a strong industry commitment through key affiliations with EDPA, IFES, AAM, TSEA, HCEA, CEMA and EMI.

Contact: Debbie Parrott | 415.846.4546 | [email protected]



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CUT COSTS & IMPROVE TRADESHOW RETURNS...CUT COSTS & IMPROVE TRADESHOW RETURNS | 3In this report, we look at a new way of making those all-important contacts while keeping your costs