Part 2 of 2
Creating an educational game in your trade show exhibit is a great way to drive attendees to your exhibit. In order to maximize your ROI and optimize your trade show marketing, 3D Exhibits recommends you adhere to our 13 guidelines.
These are the final seven guidelines. Click here to read part 1, which has the first six guidelines.
7. Thou shalt create an activity that will be experienced as a good use of visitors' time. Note the word experienced here. That means that participants in your game should leave either feeling like they had fun, that they learned something useful, that they love their prize—or even better, a combination of the above. Anything less and your game may actually hurt your brand by eliciting responses such as silly or waste of time.
8. Thou shalt train your booth staff to facilitate your game. Increase your ROI by thoroughly briefing your staff on your game—and their role in facilitating it. Ensure everything goes well by having your staff invite people to play, chat up the people in line, answer questions and offer to share more product information.
9. Thou shalt interact with people in the queue. If people are waiting in line, your staff should engage them, qualify their needs and start a sales dialog. It's that simple.
10. Thou shalt set aside adequate space to execute. Don't even think of cramming in a game when you just don't have space. The congestion will turn off visitors and reduce the number of participants.
11. Thou shalt use ringers to get things started. Have a few people (not dressed like your booth staff) prepared to help get things rolling in the mornings and during slow times by pretending to be attendees and playing your game. This keeps the activity level in your exhibit high—which draws attention—and generates curiosity about what is going on. This will help draw real attendees into your exhibit.
12. Thou shalt use technology as a tool and not as your focus. This one is simple too: technology to make the game run seamlessly—YES. Technology that is so cool that it overshadows your message—NO.
13. Thou shalt budget for your activity based on your expected return. Make sure that what you spend on the activity relates to its likely ROI and ROO. This one is a bit tricky because it isn't an exact science. What 3D Exhibits suggests is that you put a dollar amount on the value of the estimated additional contacts the activity is likely to generate. Then, place a dollar amount on the value of the additional attention and buzz the game will generate in comparison to the various sponsorship packages offered by show management. Based on these values, you'll need to make a judgment call on how much budget investment the activity is worth. If the cost exceeds the anticipated value, it might not be the right activity for you.
