Archive for October 22nd, 2009

Last week we (HigherSites) enjoyed a couple of days at Business South West 2009 in Exeter - a business exhibition that we have supported for the last couple of years. This year was made more interesting by the fact I was given a one hour session in the theatre on search engine and social marketing. My presentation was well received and I have been offered a slot for next year’s show.

Exhibitions are a great way to meet new people, network, increase brand awareness, and do a bit of team building at the same time. We first started hitting the road when we were invited to join the Connecting Somerset - Technology for Business programme, which included speaking and exhibiting at a number of events around the county.

Of course, key to success at shows such as these, is a well presented display stand and spades of enthusiasm and proactivity. A colourful and attractive banner stand may bring some customers to your stand, but it’s good to go out and grab people too!

We use a pop-up display stand. These things are complete genius. The kit all fits into a podium box which has wheels for easy transportation at the venue. Pop the lid off the box, and inside is an expandable trellis frame that goes from small and compact to enormous in about 5 seconds! I never get tired of watching it go up - super piece of engineering. Then you just attach some magnet strips to the frame. Finally, there are printed vinyl display banners with our company information on that hang from pegs on the top of the frame and are secured in place by magnetic strips on the back of the vinyls that attach to the magnetic strips on the frame.

Inside the lid of the box are two high-powered spotlights that clip straight on to the top of the display stand. Then, there is a further printed wrap-around vinyl that goes around the display stand box and secures with velcro. On top of this, we have a wooden table top / plinth that completes the display stand.

From box to display stand in five minutes! I think these things are brilliant, and any company thinking of exhibiting at a show should consider pop-up display stands or banner stands for that stand-out look. Thanks to our lovely company colour of acid green, we really do stand out in a crowd and we have found that, thanks largely to our great display equipment, that exhibitions and shows are an excellent source of new business for us.