5 things to avoid when organising an exhibition

News Mar 7, 2019 at 11:07am

‘’A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.”
Roy H. Williams

Everyone makes mistakes when organising an event. It’s the pre-planning and preparing for the inevitable which makes the difference. Avoid doing things which can cost you as a business. We have put together our top five tips for what not to do when running an exhibition:

Forget where you started

Everyone believes that turning your small one-day event into a mammoth four-day event is the key to success. Stay true to where you started and the reason you started the event in the first place. Quality over quantity is key. 

Ignore feedback 

Customer feedback is more precious than gold; however, it is quickly forgotten when planning your next event. Don’t miss out on the rich information your research provides when making critical decisions. This insight can inform the entire customer experience, from initial marketing efforts to post-show follow-up; the customer should always be at the heart of your decision-making process.

Be afraid to try something new.

Just like any relationship you have to keep the spark alive with events. Events are meant to be exciting and interesting. Exploration of new technology or looking at your competitors for ideas can be a great way to stay ahead of the game and keep your event attendance growing.

Try not to cut corners.

It’s easy to try and save money by cutting back on certain aspects of an event such as reducing staff numbers and catering options. Yes, this can be essential but don’t let it damage the event so much that the delegates suffer as a result. Make sure you have the right number of staff for specific times and if its quieter in the afternoon maybe employ staff for only half the day rather than not at all.

Get overly involved in Social Media.

Only use the appropriate channels, where the majority of your customers are talking, and spend your time joining in conversations. Instead of blasting sales messaging, provide relevant content as a taster of what delegates can learn when attending your event.