I will do it. Just not today.
I will do it. Just not today.
That’s what a lot of professionals say about using video to reach their audiences. We know video is one of the most engaging ways to share a brand or message, but most people are still reluctant to get in front of a camera in their professional life.
Perhaps they think they need to be super polished.
But the good news is, they don’t.
LinkedIn's research project The Art & Science of Video Storytelling found that human-centred stories and authentic presenters perform better than overly polished corporate content. In other words, you don’t need an autocue or a formal studio set up to make your videos work.
With LinkedIn videos being shared far more often than standard posts, and 4 out of 5 LinkedIn members able to influence business decisions within their organisations, I think the “I will do it. Just not today.” excuses are weakening.
That’s why, whenever I see static photos of trade stands at conferences or expos, I see missed opportunities for creating authentic stories. A photo of a beautifully set up (but empty) trade stand does nothing to convince customers you offer a superior product or end-to-end customer service.
It tells me you know how to set a table. It doesn’t tell me what’s on the menu.
Last weekend I attended the Wellington Home & Garden Show and captured comments from exhibitors and their potential customers. I got genuine comments about why a product or service was valued, how it was going to help people, and why they were interested in it. From smoke alarms to pre-purchase property inspections. From kitchen designs to multi-generational living options. The potential customers were happy and their comments were gold.
So get videoing. Capture yourself, your people, and your customers – and let us get to know you.
Destination or launch pad?
Some thoughts for conference hosts
In my experience, having worked at conferences and spoken with many delegates, organisers and hosts, it is common for conferences to be seen as the final ‘destination’. Sure, speakers may talk about new trends and technologies, but conferences often look backwards, celebrating the success of the previous year’s work with awards and graduations. They can also incorporate AGMs and other ‘once a year’ business activities. So perhaps it’s not surprising that people start focusing on their conference as the ‘goal’ they’re aiming for.
They’ve become a destination - an expensive one - for everyone who goes there.
Of course, it takes a lot of effort to host a conference (organising, promoting, selling registrations and exhibitor stands, and attracting sponsors, not to mention managing every detail on the day). It’s easy to see why most of your effort goes into getting to your destination (conference) and surviving it. Unfortunately, that’s often where the story ends.
Following a constant stream of promotions, and an intense day or two of in-person events, your attendees pack their bags and head home. Delegates take away good memories, a bag of swag, and 20 slide decks to wade through in their own time. There may be some social posts reminding them of everything they saw and heard… there may even be a follow-up survey and some thank you emails. But that’s usually it. In short, after arriving at the destination you’ve worked so hard to get to, you find yourself dropping off a cliff, into an information desert.
The re-frame
If you stop thinking of your conference as the end of something and start thinking of it as the beginning of something, you can add much more value to your attendees, future customers, sponsors and exhibitors. Most successful conferences generate energy and inspiration, but excellent conferences also focus on the future. They purposefully use the event as a launch pad to build future engagement and learning opportunities and keep key issues top of mind.
The seeds of inspiration and excitement planted at the conference need to be nurtured. If you start thinking of your conference as the foundation for future interactions and education, you’ll have months of material to work with.
As opposed to distant memories of peppermints and pens.
Let’s talk it through
In this presentation I introduce the content flywheel model that you can use to re-purpose your conference sessions. This gives you a continual source of information, education and engagement to share with attendees.
What are you here for?
If you're sponsoring or exhibiting at a conference, chances are you've invested thousands of dollars for a few short hours of face-to-face time with potential customers.
Yet many exhibitors make the same mistake.
They focus on being seen rather than being remembered.
It’s not enough to just turn up
If you're sponsoring or exhibiting at a conference, chances are you've invested thousands of dollars for a few short hours of face-to-face time with potential customers. Unfortunately many exhibitors make the same mistake - they focus on being seen rather than being remembered.
Banners, bowls of lollies, branded giveaways, interactive games, and stacks of brochures might attract attention, but attention alone doesn't build trust, create opportunities, or generate sales. If you want to maximise your investment, every aspect of your conference presence needs to be deliberate, strategic, and aligned to a clear business objective.
Why most exhibition stands miss the mark
Walk through any exhibition hall and you'll see a similar pattern:
Sales staff waiting for visitors to approach
Branded merchandise and giveaways
Competition entries and prize draws designed to attract delegates.
These tactics create interest, but they don't build trust or create results. So you have to ask yourself - are you getting the most out of your exhibition stand? Is this the best use of your sales and marketing budget?
The problem is that most exhibition stands are designed to get people to stop. They aren't designed to help people understand how you can help them and why they should trust you to do so.
A free pen won't solve a customer's problem and a spinning wheel won't demonstrate your expertise.
Unfortunately, what I find is that most delegates leave events with a bag full of branded goodies, but very little recollection of who they spoke to or why it mattered.
The cost of confusion
Conference attendees are already overloaded with information. By their very nature, conferences are packed full of people sharing their latest research, predictions, results, case studies… so imagine how the delegates feel when they step out of the conference room, only to be overloaded with a score of exhibitor stands screaming ‘look at me!’.
When your stand presents multiple messages and disconnected activities, visitors have to work too hard to understand who you are and what value you provide. If your message isn't clear, your stand is adding to the confusion rather than generating opportunities.
What high-performing exhibitors do differently
Successful exhibitors ask themselves ‘What is the one thing we want delegates to understand and remember about us?’ and they plan their stand from there. Their booth design, their team talk track, their demonstrations, activities and handouts all align and reinforce their chosen ‘one thing’. Rather than trying to tell delegates everything, they focus on communicating the one thing that matters most. That is, the one key takeaway you want delegates to remember when they think of you and your brand.
Make deliberate choices
Every part of your exhibition stand should help attendees understand your organisation and how you can help them, so it’s helpful to ask yourself:
What is our key message? (if you don’t know, delegates definitely won’t!)
Does this activity/giveaway/brochure support our key message?
What’s the one thing we want delegates to remember/know/do after we’ve spoken to them?
Does this experience build confidence in our expertise and/or product?
And one of the most important questions ‘How will we know if we’ve been successful at this conference?’.
Are we shooting for brand recognition? If so, how do we know we’ve built it?
Or… are we looking for sales leads? If so, are we set up to capture these?
At the end of the day, successful exhibiting isn't about attracting the biggest crowd. It's about creating the conversations that help you achieve your strategic goals.