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  • 1.  Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-02-2022 10:42
    Happy Monday to all! Time to kickstart our Huddle of the Week discussion where we'll be talking about trade shows!

    It's no secret, that trade shows provide unique opportunities to meet with customers and prospective buyers and build relationships. But many firms struggle to deliver post-show leads to sales reps quickly, causing leads to go cold. This also makes it difficult to evaluate the success of their trade show program. As you plan your total event program, it's crucial to reevaluate and strengthen your trade show strategy with the technology that fits today's needs.

    With this thought in mind, we highly recommend you join us on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, at 11 AM ET (4 PM BST) as we walk you through Cvent's Trade Show Solutions and show you why 50% of Fortune 500 companies choose Cvent and how you can seamlessly manage trade shows end-to-end! Register Today!

    We'd also love to know your thoughts around -
    • How do you capture, shortlist and follow up with leads garnered during trade shows?

    Let your thoughts pour in the comment section below! #HuddleoftheWeek #VoiceIt
    ​​​
    #ManagingOn-site
    #ManagingVirtualEvents

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    Megan Clark
    Assistant Team Lead, Online Community Marketing
    Cvent
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  • 2.  RE: Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-03-2022 15:05
    At tradeshows we usually use a handheld scanner to scan QR codes on name badges provided by the facility. These track everyone who has been scanned, we can take notes on their programs, and at the end of the show they can be emailed back to us in a spreadsheet. If this is not an option, we use our HiHello Digital Business Card which is on an app on our phone. We can add new business cards and attach attendees Linkedin's, websites, Facebook's, etc.
    Once we get back to the office, we upload everything into our CRM and usually send a Follow-Up email which includes our picture, Meeting Planner Guide and other helpful information. We send more personalized emails to anyone that we had an appointment with or if we know they have an important upcoming program.

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    Virginia McCoy
    Sales Associate
    Visit Savannah
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-04-2022 10:24
    The best way to capture leads is by having a give away that will require people to put in their business cards. Then make sure you follow up with all of them, even if you think they were just trying to win something, their needs could change and then they might need your services or know someone who does.

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    Teresa James
    Director of Sales and Marketing
    DoubleTree Gainesville
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-04-2022 10:52
    A great way to capture leads is by having an incentive or a prize give away that will require people to put in their information. During trade shows using the app to scan badge qr codes is a great way to capture leads. Then we use google drive/ google sheets to make a spreadsheet and keep up with all the leads. Then send a mass email to all leads to check in with them.

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    Jorja Johnston
    Events Marketing Coordinator
    eXp World Holdings
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-04-2022 11:58
    On one hand, I think a great way to capture leads is to have a giveaway prize; however, this can also results in a handful of not-so-promising leads. I'd suggest doing this AND trying to have an Account Rep onsite to have in-depth conversations. This combination, in my opinion and experience, tends to lead to more legitimate leads.

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    Sarah Virgin
    Director of Marketing and Partner Programs
    SyCom Technologies
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-05-2022 08:56
    Our events are all internal and the majority of our vendors already have established relationships with stakeholders. However, we try to drive engagement, lead captures, and ROI to the vendor by encouraging them to "spruce" up their booths to make them attractive to attendees, have opportunities to leave a business card (ex. giveaways), set up an area where the vendors can give short presentations about a product/service or relevant topic. We've also used Cvent products to drive leads - encouraging 1-on-1 appointments, using Click game (ex. a challenge where attendees have to interact with particular vendors and take photos to win points).

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    Bouran Qaddumi
    Sr. Manager, Training
    Church's Chicken
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-05-2022 13:37
    We'd also love to know your thoughts around -
    • How do you capture, shortlist and follow up with leads garnered during trade shows? Give always always help with capture.  Follow up is important and strategy should be a "series" of activities.  Starting with an e-mail blitz then I think phone follow up to those e-mails is essential! 


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    Colleen Beck
    Director of Sales & Marketing
    The Westin Tampa Bay
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-06-2022 10:46
    I know for previous Tradeshows that I have been apart my company has always done some kind of drawing to get lead information. I think the one year my company did a huge flat screen TV! But I have also seen other companies to drawing for a free product or estimate.

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    Meghan Payne
    Travel and Events Coordinator
    Corning Incorporated
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Evaluating the success of trade show programs in 2022!

    Posted 05-12-2022 08:53
    Most of the trade shows we are involved in have some sort of lead capture tool - either virtual event booth that tracks visitors, in-person QR code scanner, etc. Sometimes we also do a door prize and either have an old-fashioned fish bowl in which people drop their business card, or a tabletop sign with a QR code - they scan the code to go to a landing page to enter the drawing - that data is immediately captured into our marketing automation software to provide to the sales team for follow-up.

    Sadly, our organization currently does not have solid marketing and sales team alignment, so our marketing team has no idea what the sales team does with the leads.

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    Lori Wildman
    Senior Marketing Manager
    DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc.
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    Original Message