You have your new portable display complete with custom-designed trade show graphics from Blazer Exhibits – now what? Try visually documenting your trade show experience. Customers love to see it, and it shows that you are credible and relevant in your industry. Here’s how!
The Rules
Before you pull out the camera or camcorder, you should check to see that the trade show you’re planning to exhibit in allows the devices. Some don’t, while some offer one or the other, and still others offer both. You don’t want to go breaking the rules, do you?
If you are allowed to videotape the show, there is one more consideration – your neighbors. You don’t want to aim your camera in such a way it captures the booths of your neighbors. It doesn’t matter whether they are a competitor or not, it’s just common courtesy.
In terms of equipment, you don’t need to break the bank. Start by thinking of the purpose of the documentation to determine your true needs. You might not need that fancy camcorder, as a smartphone will serve your purposes just fine. Shop around so that you aren’t spending more than you need to!
Why Document?
Whether you’re taking pictures or capturing video of your trade show experience, many industries can benefit from documenting their experience. Here are a few reasons why:
Training Purposes. Whether you want to show a new employee the way things are done or you are looking to streamline your process, videotaping the trade show at various points can provide value. You’ll need to make sure you alert all employees working in the booth that the camera will be running at certain points throughout the day, and placing a sign that is visible to booth visitors is recommended as well. The footage captured can be used to teach new employees booth setup, sales training, and how everything operates in general.
In addition, you can review the footage to see if there’s anything you could do better. Maybe the design could be a little different to ease congestion, or show you what times of day more manpower is needed to deal with booth visitors. Is there a consistently slow time of day that you just don’t need four people working the booth? You can learn from your footage.
Social Media. This is probably the best use of footage and images captured at the trade show. Customers who aren’t able attend, usually due to location or schedule conflicts, will still feel like part of the action. Some offer live, streaming feeds on the company website. For a more personalized approach, you should snap a few pictures with booth visitors, of course obtaining their permission to post on your company’s social media sites!
They will love it – it’s kind of like being famous! Shoot pictures of new products, your employees demonstrating a product, a picture before the show starts and then again when the show is over, pictures of you with big names in your industry, or post a video of something fun that happened at your booth. Do you have a guest speaker? Post a snippet of their talk for those unable to attend. The sky is really the limit here. People love to see this sort of stuff! You can even tie your pictures into some sort of giveaway.
Marketing Materials. The images you take of your booth and the activities at the trade show can be used for a multitude of marketing materials, including your website. Brochures, slideshows, and even PowerPoint presentations can include some of these images.
Not sure what to shoot? Don’t worry! Just start taking pictures. A good place to start is with key speakers or important people at the show. Just start capturing as much as you can, and weed out the best of them when the day ends. The more pictures you take, the better your chances for landing the perfect shot!
Are you inspired to get snapping and/or recording? You might want to bring along a person whose only job is to take pictures or capture footage. You don’t want to be caught up talking to a new contact or existing customer only to miss a great shot or moment! Not sure your pictures will be website-worthy? Hire a professional photographer. There are some out there that specialize in trade show photography. It’s worth the money to get high quality pictures that can improve how your booth performs in the future.