Networking at exhibitions: Start before the show even begins:
1. Research the other exhibitors and the show
Exhibition sites and your exhibitor’s packs have all the information you need to find out who else is exhibiting, and what opportunities there are to connect with the companies you are interested in. Perhaps there are speed networking sessions to attend or one-to-ones with experts you can book in advance.
2. Plan your objectives
Just like you would for any other part of your marketing strategy, plan who you want to meet and what you want to achieve. You can then allocate staff to particular tasks and prep them well for taking meetings with both visitors and other exhibitors.
3. Allocate your time
Once you get caught up in the thick of an exhibition, it’s amazing how quickly time goes, and if you don’t plan your time, you could find you’ve missed out on a vital connection. Look at the stand plan, and prioritise who you need to meet, then if your stand gets busy later and you can’t get away, you’ll still have covered the important meetings.
Networking on your stand:
While there’s nothing wrong with ad hoc meetings with people who happen to wander by, there’s equally nothing to stop you from planning meeting slots for you and your staff, and allowing visitors to book meetings ahead of time via your website, or your company page on the exhibition website.
Especially if you know your stand is going to be busy, you’ll be far more organised with meeting slots, with the chance to speak to people who are very interested and motivated to meet you.
Networking away from your stand:
Don’t just stick to your stand. Get out there and meet other exhibitors, and join in with any planned networking. You never know who you’re going to meet when networking – or who they know!
You might find the perfect supplier or service provider, or even the perfect client just from chatting.
While we’re not advocating abandoning your stand, if you have several staff there should be some opportunity for every staff member to have a look at the rest of the exhibitors and strike up some conversations. They might even come back with ideas for next year’s stand or the marketing plan.
Everyone talks about the importance of following up after networking, and it really can be the difference between failure and success, so take notes of who you want to get in touch with after the show, add them to your CRM, and make a plan for following up.
