Posted by
Barry Siskind
UFI’s Community Manager

One of the speakers at the next UFI Open Seminar in the Middle East is John Blaskey. John is the Managing Director of UK based The Exhibit Agency.

John’s topic is titled, “Showing your exhibitors how strategic exhibiting grows business.” I have always believed in the power of well-educated and informed exhibitors and I was eager to hear John’s perspective. I mentioned to John that one of the issues that I have noticed amongst exhibitors is a tendency to set too many objectives for one exhibit.

John’s response to this was, “I think it’s not that simple. I believe exhibitors are not seeing how much they can achieve from a tradeshow. In addition to delivering a direct contribution to their business plans, exhibitors should also consider; gathering market intelligence, testing visitor perception of their the stand, reinvigorating their own staff, team building and unifying the sales and marketing departments.

I also asked him about the organizer’s role in helping exhibitors achieve success. His answer was that “because content is king, organizers should not be afraid to solicit participation from the exhibitors. They are, after all, the specialists in the field.’

One technique that he promotes is the creation of a Masterclass on how to grow a business by exhibiting. He suggested this be aimed at those visitors who are coming to see the show with a view to exhibiting next time.

UFI’s Open Seminar in the Middle East will be held from March 18 – 20 in Doha, Qatar. To see the entire agenda click here: www.ufi.org/doha2014