Easily Find Upcoming Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Trying to find the perfect trade show event to attend or exhibit at can be a tiring exercise indeed. With so many options available in terms of venues and volume of shows it can be hard to find the right one for your industry or interests.

This is where an online trade show calendar comes to the rescue. Recently launched by exhibition display specialists Discount Displays, the exhibition calendar has over 4,000 records in its database and has custom search and filter functions, enabling you to find a specific event in seconds.

Previous methods of finding upcoming trade shows meant compiling a list of venues in your area and laboriously looking at each site in turn. Attempts at compiling lists of trade shows by other sites have resulted in limited range or no options to filter by preference, simply listing them in chronological order.

With Discount Displays Trade Show Calendar, everything is there on the same page. An intuitive design leads to an user friendly experience and even has links going directly to the event home page.

How To Use Sampling Promoter Stands Effectively

Promoting new products in shopping centres or setting up food sampling for an in store trial can be a challenge. Display Hardware needs to be light, easy to assemble and economical while presenting a professional image. Often staff manning these displays are temporary with little training so a sampling stand that can be easily carried and needs no tools to erect is a must.

Promoter industries, pioneers of flat pack demonstration stands have the answer. Promoter lightweight sampling stands all have the same basic designs but come in over 14 different configurations. Flat packed they clip together to form a stable stand. From a basic podium style to a more elaborate display that has shelves for storage of literature and a graphics header.

Discountdisplays the display equipment specialist have linked up with Promoter Industries to expand the range of Promotional Counters. they offer. In addition to their best selling Original promoter discountdisplays have introduced 13 new products. The new range of Promotional counters come in a wide range of designs and sizes to fit all requirements and budgets

With their own large format print department Discount Displays offer a true one stop service. Whether you need a one off demonstration unit for food sampling or dozens of promotional counter for a shopping centre product promotion. Graphic for promoters can be printed direct to the panels or additional graphics panels can be made to for quick change-over when a campaign ends.

Exhibiting & Retail Supplier Gets a Facelift

With the advent of online purchasing, buying exhibition and retail displays has never been easier. But for both customer and supplier, it is important to create a browsing and purchasing transaction that runs smoothly and simply.

To this end Discount Displays Express has just launched its new web store. With a clean look and feel, easy navigation, and a wide range of customisable display products on offer, this site aims to put the focus on the customer experience.

An improved search and filter system, teamed alongside a streamlined transaction process, takes the hassle out of finding the perfect display to highlight your product or service.

As well as banner stands, retail displays and in-house large format printing, there is a wide range of outdoor displays just in time for summer, and the upcoming trade shows and exhibitions.

If you are looking for a fresh approach to buying your exhibition and retail display equipment then give Discount Displays Express a try at the below link.

Link: Discount Displays Express

Big Ideas for Small Spaces

If you’ve had to reduce the amount of space you usually take up at your industry trade fairs and exhibitions, here are some ideas for getting that smaller space to make a big impact:

Build Up, Not Out – if your space is small, go tall. Tall structures within your space will make your booth appear – and feel – larger.

A Good Reflection – an old interior design trick, incorporating mirrors into your exhibition stand design is a sure way to create the illusion of space without actually having it.

Less is More – having an uncluttered exhibition stand design makes your smaller space appear larger. Keeping your trade fair booth space relatively empty will make it feel much more open and spacious than if you clutter it with product displays.

Add Overhead – things will be looking up for your smaller booth if you hang graphics from the ceiling above it, allowing you to claim all the space your exhibition stand needs to shine.

Lighten Up – using lighter colours in your exhibition stand design will open your space up. Research shows that light colours reflect light back to the eye, which your brain then interprets as a larger space.

The new Discount Displays Express site focuses on retail, exhibiting and trade shows, helping organizations make a big impression no matter what size of exhibition stand they require. Our staff designers love a challenge – so if you have one, bring it to us.

Explore all the possibilities by visiting Discount Displays Express.

The Impact of Making an Impact

Recently I have been looking into the potential effects an exhibition or similar event has on the local community, and found an interesting development from Edinburgh University.

They have developed a toolkit that determines the impact an event has on the community by looking at factors such as transport issues and crowd noise.

Personally I think this is a great idea. In this day and age, it is important to analyse the effect your business is having on the environment, and a by product of this is that you will appeal more to a consumer's green standards.

It is important not just for the event organisers, but the individual businesses to work closely with the local authorities in order to minimise the disruption holding an event can have on the surrounding area.

Something I would focus on, is what could the business do FOR the local community. Be it hiring local people to help out setting up the show, to free tickets for the event. Even something as little as giving out your promotional 'goodies' can leave a lasting impression on the community. At the end of the day they are potential customers too!

Promoting Your Promotion: 5 Tips to Help Promote Your Next Trade Show

Previously I have talked about how to get the most out of your stand during exhibitions and trade shows, but this article is going to focus on getting attention for your stall before the show takes place.

The best bit is, all these tips cost nothing to implement!

The first question I hear you ask is, "why would I want to promote myself before a trade show, isn't that what the event itself is for?" and my answer is yes and no.

Of course the exhibition is there to help you promote your business, but say you have a new product coming out, or a new piece of technology that no-one has seen before. In this instance, the power of 'hype' can have a huge impact on the attention your stand will draw at the event. If journalists and industry commentators know there is an exciting feature being announced, you bet they're going to make sure they are there, drawing extra publicity for your brand.

Even if you don't have anything new to unveil, getting word out to the right people (i.e people attending the exhibition), you are making sure they are aware of your company name so when they see you at the event, they will usually make the effort to come over and check your stand out.

So, where do you start? Here are 5 tips on how to promote your attendance at an exhibition or trade show:

1. Forums/Trade Directories - ever read a forum, seen a comment with a link and follow it? If you approach the relevant sources (Google is your friend here) you will find a receptive audience for your promotion. You don't even have to include a link to your website, though if there's the option to I say do it! Just a couple of lines saying what your company does, and that you will be at a certain trade show is enough. Here is a great place to start.
   
   
2. Facebook Events - hopefully you have a Facebook page for your company (if you don't, shame on you!). You may or may not be aware of the feature to set up an event. This contains the usual details such as when, where etc. but the key to this is to put relevant keywords into the title and description. Naming the event something like 'Company X @ Exhibition Y', will lead to getting hits for both your company name and the name of the show. You can invite everyone on your friends list, and what's nice is that Facebook give them a reminder on the side of their profile of any upcoming events, with the title you have just created.
   
   
3. Viral Marketing - The most relevant form of this is the YouTube video. It has to be short, and capture the general populus imagination. One of the most viewed videos of all-time is a skateboarding dog! Imagine how simple that is to create, and how many millions of people have seen it. On YouTube you have two options of promoting your event; in the main video screen, though this is less likely to be embraced by the public, or the less intrusive method is to announce it in the description. If it works, not only are you promoting your next trade show, but also your brand as a whole. The key to viral marketing is to not push it too much. E-mail a few of your friends telling them to check it out, and if you've got it right it should spread like wildfire. Most importantly be creative. Here is an example of a great piece of viral marketing on YouTube.
   
   
4. Write a Blog - as you can see, you don't need to be the next Oscar Wilde to write a blog. There are lots of free ones to use, such as the one this is written on; Blogspot or create one on your site. Over time you will build up a following (put a link on your Facebook page for instance), and what better place to announce your next trade show!
   
   
5. Word of Mouth - as you might have noticed, I'm a huge fan of Internet marketing, but often the best way of increasing awareness is word of mouth. Now, hopefully the techniques listed above will generate word of mouth promotion for you, but next time you meet a client/customer why not just mention you will be attending 'Exhibition X'. In fact tell EVERYONE you meet, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If you talk to people in your industry, you will likely hear a response of, "Actually, I'm going to that, I'll have a look out for you." and you've just got one more person interested in your stand for 5 seconds of work.

These tips are just a starting block, hopefully they will inspire you to think of other great ways to promote your appearance at the next event you attend. Good luck!

Aaron,

Discount Displays

A Display of Power: The trade show industry's fight-back against the recession

I have had several conversations recently where people tell me, matter-of-factly, that the display business must be suffering.

Obviously I ask what proof they have on this, and this is where the conversation usually quickly changes tack.

Of course all businesses have been affected to some degree by the economic downturn, but from personal experience, and watching the market, there are strong indicators to suggest that the fallout isn't as bad as first expected.

I think this idea comes from the fact that most businesses, when faced with a gloomy economy, initially look to cut costs across all departments. They then quickly learn that they can't afford not to spend money promoting their product. There's very little point in having a product with minimal overheads if nobody is aware of it!

My resolve has been strengthened by the report that Gamescom has just finished and attracted 248,000 visitors, becoming the largest games fair in the world.

Reports from other areas of the world report that attendees to trade shows and exhibitions are better than expected for the current climate, and the general consensus is that this industry is in a excellent position to recover from the impacts of the global recession.

We are doing our bit for the industry at Discount Displays. Through publishing guides and promotions we are doing all we can to help businesses realise that exhibiting doesn't have to be as costly as they first fear.

The Rules of Engagement

A brief guide on the importance of interaction between you and potential customers.

So you've bought all the components needed for attending a exhibition, you've spent time creating a design to make your stall stand out from the rest, and you've meticulously planned the logistics of getting to the event itself.

All this is great, but where many exhibitors fall down is that when it comes to crunch time, they do very little to actually interact with potential customers, and are content to let them just walk on by.

It is perplexing, and surprising, as a regular attendee of trade shows and exhibitions, to not be engaged even when I'm looking at the product or service on offer. To know how much effort has gone into exhibiting and to then not capitalise on it is a crying shame.

There are obvious, yet simple, ways to maximise the conversion rate of passers-by to potential customers:

• Make eye contact - I'm not talking about staring here, just catching somebody's eye can lead to them engaging you in conversation or for them to take a second look at your stall, enabling you to start your pitch.
• Preparation - a well known saying states "luck is where opportunity meets preparation", well this is your opportunity! Before you set off to your event, make a note of the key benefits of your product/service, any special offers for this event, anticipate objections and how you can overcome these, and if they aren't willing to commit instantly what measures do you have in place to follow-up with them (e.g. mailing list, contact details database, brochures/catalogues to take home).
  
• Mentality is the key - some people are gifted sales-people, but perhaps this isn't your forte. The key here is to change your mentality to 'what have I got to lose', or more importantly 'what have I got to gain'. If you see somebody walking past your stand without taking a second glance, and you don't actively engage them, the chances of them becoming a customer are roughly zero. If, however you take a moment to announce your product to that person, you never know what the outcome will be, hopefully a new customer, or at least a sign-up to your mailing list.
  

If you recognise yourself as one of these exhibiting culprits I hope this guide can serve as a useful reminder on the importance of active selling, and increase the return of investment on your exhibition displays.

Bought to you by Discount Displays