Event Experience Experts - Ep 16 - The Hidden Trade Show Audience

Robyn Davis has a big screen TV at home that she won at a trade show booth. The marketing budget behind it, she says, was never meant for someone like her. She calls it the Robyn Davis test, and it points at a bigger gap. Jay puts it plainly: the booth gets months, the staff gets 30 minutes on opening day, maybe. Show organizers pay Robyn to train exhibitors, and she works only with organizers who let her be honest. So what does she cut when an afternoon is all you have? What you will hear: Why too much promotion is a bad thing The step in Exhibit Smarter that exhibitors skip most Why 15 to 30 percent of a show is usually your audience Why she opens with a closed-ended question and scans the badge second What she cuts from a 30 minute training, and what she refuses to cut The chapters that did not make the book, including the four Fs of stress Robyn Davis, CPTD, CEM, is the founder of Exhibitors WINH and the author of Exhibit Smarter: A Step-by-Step Guide to Trade Show Success. She is CEM faculty and an IAEE Distinguished Service Award recipient. exhibitsmarter.com #tradeshowstrategy #tradeshowboothstafftraining #exhibitortraining #tradeshow #leadgeneration #tradeshowgoals #eventmarketing #TradeShowMarketing #TradeShowStrategy #ExperientialMarketing #EventExperienceExperts #Exhibitus 00:00 Why show organizers pay her to train exhibitors 03:14 The bridge between organizers and exhibitors 04:59 Why too much promotion is a bad thing 07:00 Attendees cannot visit every booth 07:42 Pushback from exhibitors who have always done it this way 09:38 The 95/5 rule: test something small 10:39 Test your language in the emails you send all year 11:57 The step exhibitors skip: know your audience segment 14:34 Segment your follow-up, hot to cool 15:24 How much of the show is really your audience 17:28 The Robyn Davis test for giveaways 18:41 Turn a badge scan into a conversation 20:49 Who should staff the booth 22:47 You have 30 minutes: what to cut 25:14 What she refuses to cut 26:17 Why so many companies skip onboarding 27:39 The chapters that did not make the book 29:17 Fight, flight, fawn, freeze on the show floor 30:02 Mental health on site 31:17 Where to find Robyn and Exhibit Smarter