Barry Siskind
UFIs Community Manager

Recently John Blaskey, founder of the UK based The Exhibit Agency, presented a webinar for the UFI Education Center. His webinar was entitled Showing Your Exhibitors How Strategic Exhibiting Grows Business.

I contacted John and asked a couple of follow-up questions:

Barry:

Is there a risk that organisers may be meddling in their customer’s affairs when they offer to help them find better results?

John:

Obviously – or maybe not so obviously – customers /exhibitors continuously need better results for their exhibition investment and I believe they are entitled to look to their supplier – the organiser – to help them set meaningful objectives. Helping them to link these objectives to their business plan seems like a worth-while offer for the organiser to make.

Barry:

Are organisers the best source to offer these strategic suggestions?

John:

Organisers are not yet in a strong position to offer this advice but they should be working towards this goal) The first step is to ensure that organisers and their staff understand, respect and promote the unrivalled potential of tradeshows. If they use the right business language, tools and processes, it will make everyone’s life easier. For example recently in Dubai, DMG held two Masterclasses for exhibitors, but it was DMG’s own staff who gained much from attending. They are now in a better position to be able to talk to their clients.

Barry:

Should organisers focus their advice on new exhibitors or is there a rationale for offering help and advice to all exhibitors

John:

Organisers know best who to prioritise from the five market sectors I identified in the webinar. Definitely include new exhibitors but also include what I call the MLTDs (Most likely to defect) must be recognised as well. Some organisers may deliberately strategise that they need a mix of new exhibitors to keep their show Visitor-Fresh!

If you aren’t a regular follower of the growing body of information that’s available in the Education Centre then you should check it out at: http://edcentre.ufi.org