‘Tradeshow U’ helps companies maximize the effectiveness of exhibiting in trade shows

Brian Seals

Monday, March 16, 1998 | 9:58 a.m.

Trade shows lure about 1.3 million visitors to Las Vegas each year. To keep those visitors coming, companies showcasing themselves in the expositions have to find them profitable.

Las Vegas-based GES Exposition Services is offering $99 per person educational seminars -- dubbed Tradeshow U -- across the country to help companies earn a profit on their trade show investment.

After all, a successful show requires more than setting up a booth and offering pens with your company's logo on them.

"There's no better marketing avenue than trade shows to bring buyers and sellers together," said Gary Sain, GES vice president of sales and marketing. "Based on that, the key is how you perform at the show. It's really up to you as far as success or failure."

The seminar is aimed at helping the novice exhibitor perform well in every phase from planning for the event to enticing new customers with booths, exhibits and presentations.

For starters, a company has to know why it's there. Companies often don't get the greatest return on their trade show investment because they have no clear purpose for exhibiting, Sain said. Part of GES' seminars will help exhibitors focus their reason for attending trade shows.

That investment can be substantial. Portable 10-foot by 10-foot exhibits can range between $3,000 to $7,000, according to Jill Brookman of Exhibit Builder magazine. A modular exhibit the same size costs about $110 per square foot and more elaborate exhibits can be as expensive as the exhibitor is willing to spend. Moreover, renting floor space can cost anywhere from $9 per square foot to $50 per square foot.

The investment return for most firms is garnering sales leads. To that end, the seminars will address cultivating leads and developing systems for following up on those possibilities.

Companies also utilize trade shows to introduce new products, perform market research and to recruit dealers and distributors, or a combination of all those things.

"The exhibitor needs to have goals that are reasonable, attainable and specific," Sain said.

Jill Flanzraich of Adventures in Advertising agrees trade shows have several benefits. "You get an enhanced image and get very reliable leads," said Flanzraich, also a member of the Las Vegas chapter of the American Marketing Association.

She said planning is essential. "You need to know what you want to get out of it and what you're going to do to follow it up," Flanzraich said.

University of Nevada-Las Vegas marketing professor Lawrence Dandurand said trade shows should be a part of an overall communications program. He said such gatherings are especially useful for introducing new products or when entering an international market.

"It can open up opportunities, especially in the international realm, to develop some alliances," Dandurand said.

While the GES seminars will focus on establishing goals, they will also address more practical aspects like making presentations and what Sain calls "boothmanship," with common sense advice like don't smoke or eat while manning a booth.

Moreover, the seminar will offer tips on how companies can distinguish themselves from the dizzying onslaught of displays that greet trade show visitors. For example, a booth that makes a presentation or demonstrates a new product generates greater interest than a static booth.

Keeping the exhibitors happy is good for GES and the sponsors of the shows -- and trade shows are beneficial to the Las Vegas economy.

The average visitor to trade shows spends $1,461, not counting gaming, while the average tourist spends $551, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The city averages about two trade shows a week, or 112 in 1996. Those numbers do not include conventions.

The first "Tradeshow U" seminars were in March in Los Angeles and Chicago with two more next month in Dallas and Atlanta.