Posted by
Barry Siskind
UFI’s Community Manager

Who is your exhibitor manual designed to help – you or your exhibitor?

In the past the focus of this manual has been you and your suppliers. It was your method of ensuring that all of your exhibitors played by the same rules and did what they needed to do to ensure a smoothly running event.

According to a survey I conducted a few years ago, less that 4% of exhibitors actually took the time to read the manual from cover to cover. Why? Because it had nothing to do with them and everything to do with organizers and suppliers.

What if the manual was focused on the needs of the exhibitor? What if it became a reference book that guided them through the steps they needed to mount their successful trade fair participation? What if the exhibitor manual were reformatted so exhibitors could focus on issues they are wrestling with such as; how to promote their presence, what to do with their staff, how to create a winning stand and so on? If this were to happen would more exhibitors read it? I think the answer is yes they would.

This process of refocusing is not simply an exercise in semantics, but a real shift in attention from you to them.

We spend a considerable amount of time developing our exhibitor manuals. Maybe it’s time to change old habits and embrace a new way of thinking. This topic is worth opening up a discussion, so let me know what you think.