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Finding Your Voice at Trade Shows — American Image Blog Post

October 22nd, 2012 COMMENTS

Admittedly, I read a lot of trade show blog posts. Partially, because it’s my job, but also because I enjoy seeing how Classic Distributors, industry suppliers, and competitors tackle familiar topics. As you can imagine, there’s a fair amount of repetition. There’s only so many ways to list “critical” trade show supplies or how to handle leads. But, there’s also a lot of creativity.

I really enjoy the bloggers who take the familiar but make it entertaining and often bizarre.  Then there’s someone, in this case Charles Dugan at American Image, who writes about a topic I haven’t read before — “Finding Your Voice at Trade Shows.” I thought I’d tease you with some of it and then link to his blog post. Hey, we can all use links to our websites. 😉

Finding Your Voice at Trade Shows

In many ways, the planning and creation of trade show booths are the easiest part of participating in a trade show. Sure, airports and hotels can be a pain, and getting to the show site a day or so early and putting up the trade show booths can sometimes be an effort and a time commitment.

However, once they are up, many participants seems to feel the hard part is over. You can often see company representatives sitting and waiting for potential clients to come to them. It is almost as if they feel that they have earned a rest after all of the preparation.

In reality, the interaction and speaking to customers is the actual trade show. Your trade show booths need to attract visitors, but the rest is up to you and your sales team. The personal touch is the part of your presentation that you can control during the show.

Many people have difficulty with speaking to clients, either by feeling too much anxiety or acting with too little sensitivity to the personal space and receptivity of the passing customer. Here are a number of things to keep in mind when actually speaking with clients, ideas to remember about your voice and what you can do to project the best possible impression through vocal salesmanship.

Never, ever raise your voice: No matter how loud the sales floor gets, no matter how far away the client, never raise the volume of your voice while working in your trade show booths. This isn’t a stock market, even though it may feel like it at times. If you are trying to get the attention of somebody, use non verbal tricks.

Make eye contact.

Smile.

If you are ten feet away, put your hand out to shake theirs.

Very few people will refuse to shake the hand of a stranger if it is offered with eye contact and a smile. In this way, you seem like a friend even though you are meeting for the first time. When they respond with a shake and a smile of their own, feel your anxiety melt away

Continue to the blog post . . .

Cheers!

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com

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Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions and engineered aluminum extrusions (ClassicMODUL). Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100.

Audio Clips in Exhibit Design Search

October 22nd, 2012 2 COMMENTS
VK-1662 iPad Pedestal

VK-1662 iPad Pedestal

One unique feature of Exhibit Design Search (EDS) is the Audio Clips. It seems a little odd to refer to “audio” as unique, but the internet is dominated by video and text which makes audio-only files unusual. That difference, I would contend, is a difference of distinction. It’s one way that distinguishes your Exhibit Design Search site from other online display websites.

Now, I recognize it’s just one feature. It’s hard to “hang your hat” on one feature. However, and yes I’m probably going a little too far on this, I would maintain that the audio coupled with the “See Photo Examples” adds a personal touch absent from most display sites. Allow me to share a few of my favorites. There are over 80 different audio clips throughout EDS.

I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts about the audio clips, good or bad. Have you ever listened to them with a potential client while on an appointment? What was their reaction?

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com

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Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions and engineered aluminum extrusions (ClassicMODUL). Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100.

It’s the Village that Matters: Word on the Street — Oct. 15th thru Oct. 19th

October 21st, 2012 11 COMMENTS
It's the Village That Matters: Word on the Street -- Oct. 15th thru Oct. 19th

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Never have I hoped and prayed that a statement was truer!

You would have had to live in a cave not to hear the news this past week about Lance Armstrong. And those who know me well, know that I have always been a very passionate supporter of LIVESTRONG as well as Lance. To put it plainly, he is a hero of mine. But the reason, as the title of one of his book says, It’s Not About the Bike. Sadly, I am not sure he necessarily believes that statement, but that is another story. For me, it never was about the bike. It was about LIVESTRONG and the community of support within LIVESTRONG and all the work they do and have done over the years.

I received countless emails and phone calls over the past week asking if I was OK. Listen, I am disappointed in the man. But with age comes wisdom as they say. And especially in the past handful of years, I have come to realize that you can’t and shouldn’t ever put too much faith in Mankind. You will always be left with some disappointment and/or hurt.

But the organization, LIVESTRONG, has become more than Lance. Better said, it became more than Lance a longtime ago. Evidenced by Nike’s decision to drop Lance but maintain their unwavering support of LIVESTRONG. Kudos to Nike on both counts.

One particularly bothersome email to me read, “Have you received any flack for all the fundraising you did all those years for that cheater’s organization?” I decided not to respond, but let me say this, “No, you freaking idiot!”

The truth is, I am not only proud of the nearly $100K I have personally raised over the years, but also honored and thankful for the vehicle that LIVESTRONG provided me to raise money that went directly towards helping those who are and have been affected by this dreaded disease. Every year from 2002 through 2011, I was blessed to have the health and opportunity to ride “In Honor of” and/or “In Memory of” many friends and loved ones — and many of yours too.

Whether Lance, the man, ever comes to grip with this or not, he inspired something much greater than he even ever aspired to be personally. Unfortunately, as is often the case, it appears his own pride and strive for personal greatness caught up with him. My only hope is that the humility he felt back in 1996 when he was first diagnosed is something he can still find inside himself. It would help him on a human level more than he might remember.

But the organization, the Village that is LIVESTRONG still stands strong and hopefully will continue to.

In the end, YES I am disappointed like anyone who lifts another person up to a very high pedestal only to see them fall in disgrace. It does suck, but it’s only to be expected when you think about it.

To the other 40 or so who sent me messages last week,  thanks for “getting it.”

LIVESTRONG! And thanks for reading something entirely non-trade show related. 🙂

http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/19/14551552-livestrong-celebrates-successes-but-faces-crossroads?lite

Kevin Carty
http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a

NEW Exhibit Design Search — 3 Minute Tutorial

October 18th, 2012 1 COMMENT

Exhibit Design Search, the world’s largest trade show design database, has been updated. The updates include a streamline home page, simplified search options, and a reformatted Design Detail page. See all the changes and how best to navigate through EDS in this brief tutorial. You’ll be impressed by the changes . . . we promise you.

Mel White from Classic Exhibits guides you through the changes in this 3 minute 44 second video.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asBdMTWgMeo)

For more information about Exhibit Design Search, please contact Mel White, Jen LaBruzza, Reid Sherwood, or Kevin Carty at Classic Exhibits. As always, we welcome your suggestions about EDS and are delighted to conduct “tips and tricks” webinars on how to get the most from EDS with your clients. Just let us know.

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com

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Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions and engineered aluminum extrusions (ClassicMODUL). Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100.

Tradeshow Rentals: Growth and Customization Trends

October 18th, 2012 1 COMMENT
Rental Displays from Classic Exhibits

Right Down the Line
Jim Shelman, GM Classic Rentals

Our exhibit rental business continues to surge. There’s never a dull day in the Classic Rental Division. And that’s what I like about what we do here.

Flexibility and customization has been the key to our continued growth.

If we were limited to a few select “kits” or standard design offerings, it just wouldn’t be the same. But with our flexibility in offering customization to our rental exhibit designs, our days are much more interesting! Customization isn’t limited to large projects. It can be as simple as coming up with a way to connect an iPad holder to a workstation or kiosk. Or working curved headers and towers into a rental design.

Here are four recent rental projects that I’d like to share with you.

10′ x 20 “Vigilant Robots” Inline Rental Exhibit
(VIP EXHIBITS, Sherri Harrod)

  •  10′ x 20′ back wall using our ClassicMODUL TSP 50 fabric retaining extrusion profile & rear supporting structure.
  •  (2) Flat canopies with black fabric covers
  •  (1) One-piece SEG fabric graphic
  •  (5) Halogen arm lights

20′ x 20′ “LabCorp” Island Rental Exhibit
(Poretta & Orr, Ed Koebert)

  • 16′ high tower with storage access
  • Curved bridged headers
  • Workstation kiosks

10′ x 20′ “ARTAS” Inline Rental Exhibit
(ColorZone, Joshua Feller)

  •  10′ x 20′ Backlit back wall structure
  •  (2) RE-1213 Counters with attached iPad holders
  •  (1) MOD-1167 Reception counter
  •  (2) Large monitor mounts

10′ x 20′ “Kobos Coffee” Inline Rental Exhibit
(Hawkwing, LLC, Taka Saito)

  • 10′ x 20′ Extrusion back wall
  • 10′ Arch-canopy used for header graphic application
  • (2) Small monitor mounts
  • (5) RE-1201 tapered counters
  • (8) Small clear acrylic shelves

I’ve been in this business since rocks were tools, and I still love working with our team on new ideas and solutions for your clients. It’s a lot of fun to watch a concept on paper become a reality on our staging floor and in your customer’s booth.

Please send us your thoughts on new trends that you see with rental exhibits.

Jim Shelman
General Manger
Exhibits Northwest & Classic Rental Division
jshelman@exhibitsnw.com

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Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions and engineered aluminum extrusions (ClassicMODUL). The Classic Rental division offers an extensive gallery of inline and island exhibits with flexible customization options. Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100.