Trade Show Booth Staff Training Expert, Susan Friedmann, CSP, The Tradeshow Coach

First impressions matter, virtually or in-person. “Your appearance, makeup, hair and clothes are as important as your smile. When you project an image of confidence, you are more likely to succeed in business and social relationships,” according New York image consultants.

Whether you’re seen or not, participating in a virtually event doesn’t mean that you have to forget about how you look.

Nowadays, with office-casual attire accepted in most corporate environments, and given that you can work from home in your PJs (if you feel like it), you might under-estimate the value of business attire in a virtual meeting or event environment. Lazing around in PJs or shorts and a tee-shirt with tousled hair makes you look and feel unprofessional. Even if you’re not on video during your virtual event, the way you look definitely affects the way you perform, speak and think!

Check out The CBS Interactive business network’s savvy video about dressing for business.

When you attend a virtual event where you’re seen by your colleagues, consider the following seven tips to make sure that you come across professionally and feel good doing it:

1. Focus on the upper half of your body since head and shoulders are usually the most visible on a webcam.
2. Make sure that the background around you is neat and tidy.
3. Dress professionally. Your attire and grooming are important for you to feel and act more business-like.
4. Make sure that your hair is clean and styled, teeth brushed and face washed and/or shaved. Women, if you normally wear make-up, apply it as usual, and use some powder to get rid of any of those shiny spots.
5. Sit up straight. It shows that you’re interested and paying attention, plus, good posture helps keep your energy level up.
6. Wear a plain shirt or top, or one that has a small insignificant design. Heavily patterned, brightly colored, or too detailed-oriented garments will distract your audience away from your message.
7. Avoid gaudy jewelry like large earrings and chunky necklaces – another major distraction.

The Golden Rule is that “understated works best.” However, even though you’re concentrating more on the upper part of your body, don’t ignore the lower half. If you dress the part, you’ll be the part, geared up for your virtual event success.

Spring is a time when we brush off the winter blahs and just feel the urge to be active. It’s a time when we wake up our body, mind and spirit.

The question is how often do you exercise your exhibiting muscles?
Do you have a regular workout designed to increase your trade show dexterity and boost results?

Whether you’re looking for strength training to increase your competitive edge, flexibility to improve your marketing strategy, or just general overall fitness, a regular workout program is a must.

Find your level of fitness training in the following:

Continue reading…

How many of your booth staffers realize that the most important message they send is communicated without a single word being spoken? Body language is a critically important element of communication. The way we hold ourselves, from posture to hand position and our proximity to our peers can determine how successful we’ll be as exhibitors.

Here’s a quick checklist. How many of the following “Sinister Six” body language habits do your staffers have? Continue reading…

A few weeks ago I watched on Twitter as a marketer committed social media suicide.

Within hours after someone tweeted about having a severe, nearly fatal allergic reaction, she received a marketing message from a company that sells non-allergenic products. So far, so good. The marketer had obviously set up a search on the appropriate term and used the information to reach out to a potential customer.

Unfortunately, the marketing message was poorly targeted and offensively presented. Not only was the recipient angry at the clumsy overture, she responded in such a way that everyone reading her tweetstream would become aware of the problem. The marketer garnered some bad publicity for his company.

Then, instead of apologizing, the marketer made a bad situation worse by defending his actions. The potential customer has now publicly vowed never to use the company’s products, and she has told a number of people about the problem. More bad publicity.

Three lessons from this marketing debacle:

1. Search terms are not enough.
If the marketer had actually read the tweet, he would have known enough about the situation to avoid offending a potential customer with mistaken assumptions. If you are selling cat toys, for example, don’t try marketing to someone who has tweeted either “I hate cats” or “My cat just died.” Either one is likely to be unproductive at best.

2. Social media messages are not ads, they are personal conversations.
The strategies that work well in a print or TV ad don’t work in door-to-door selling—and social media are much more akin to direct sales. Always remember that you’re talking to an individual on her own territory. Be respectful, friendly, and aware of her feelings.

3. When you’ve angered the customer, apologize.
Arguing with the customer’s reaction just makes matters worse. It’s okay to explain that you didn’t intend to be insensitive, but apologize sincerely for having caused offense. This leaves the potential customer in a forgiving mood, and you may make a sale anyway.

Are you part of a unique group who can share what you do in ten words or less?

The one-liner, elevator speech, company pitch, call it what you want, nonetheless, it’s a powerful way for you to deliver what your company does in a short, concise, easy-to-understand format that people instantly grasp. This is an essential tool to help maximize your tradeshow exhibiting.

According to tradeshow research (available through CEIR – the Center for Exhibition Industry Research), you have 3-5 seconds to capture someone’s attention on the show floor. Less time than it took for you to read the last sentence.

The people at Sequoia Capital call it the “one-liner” – a concise statement that tells people what you do.

Google’s head honchos, Sergy Brin and Larry Page sold their idea to investors with the one-liner, “We deliver the world’s information in one click.” Cisco Systems’ Sandy Lerner and Len Bosack used the statement, “We network, networks.”
(Source: “Fire Them Up! by Carmine Gallo)

How about you? Do you have a clear, concise, consistent statement that says what you do, so your tradeshow visitors immediately get it? Realize that people will judge you and you company based on this statement. Within seconds they decide (rightly or wrongly) whether they want to explore doing business with you.

From my experience walking hundreds of shows, and training many hundreds more, I very, very, very rarely hear a message that I truly understand first time around. Most often I’m bombarded with a string of meaningless industry or product jargon, which isn’t consistent. Speak to one booth staffer, I get one message, speak to another, and the information changes.

In preparation for your next tradeshow, work on your one-liner using the following four steps:

1. Make three columns – (1)  What you do (2) Who you do it for (3) the benefits you offer, then list essential words.

2. Start mixing and matching the words until you come up with a statement of ten words or less.

3. Test it out on your mom. If you can make her understand it, and want to use it, then you’ve hit the mark!

4. Revisit your statement on a regular basis to refine, and keep it fresh and exciting.

Check out the new online tradeshow training program - “Jump Start Your Exhibiting Success at Tradeshows & Events”