Pros & Cons of in-booth presentations
Have you ever walked the aisles of a trade show and stopped by some kind of mini-conference hosted within a booth?
In-booth presentations can be a powerful strategy but aren’t fit for every business. Find out the pros & cons of such strategy and make the right decision.
Pros
There are so many good reasons to host an in-booth presentation during a trade show! Let’s review the main 4:
It drives additional traffic
The first benefit of in-booth presentations is that it attracts people.
Visitors walking by will not ignore your speech and, if they are a little curious, will stop by to listen to what you have to say.
In-booth presentations are therefore a great way to drive additional traffic that will automatically be qualified: if people go through your entire presentation, they certainly have a keen interest in what you have to offer, and you could, therefore, interact further with them.
It enables you to talk to the masses
One serious obstacle to trade shows is that you could only talk to so many people each day. Regardless of your efficiency and willingness to do good, you’ll never be able to talk to everyone.
Hosting an in-booth presentation is a great solution for spreading the word to multiple people at once.
It makes it easier to grab journalists’ attention
If one of your goals is to be featured in the media, in-booth presentations can seriously increase your chances of making it happen.
If you organize multiple presentations throughout the day, you make sure that journalists will, at some point, come across your message. It is only for you to be convincing enough that your company is worth talking about.
If you manage to achieve that, make sure your media kits are ready. (To learn more about media kits and journalists at trade shows: “5 golden rules to attract media at trade shows“)
It can be re-used
Nothing goes to waste!
If your presentation is well-managed, you could re-use pieces of it on Twitter, to engage your audience, repost it entirely on Youtube, to educate your market, re-use it internally, for staff training, in conferences, etc.
This presentation you are about to host is about to become good quality marketing material you could include in your current portfolio.
Cons
There are also quite a few obstacles that come with in-booth presentations. It is important you review these before making a final decision.
It requires space
As you have seen, hosting an in-booth presentation requires having sufficient space. You will need chairs for people to sit and a simple stage as well as a large screen.
That certainly means renting an additional booth next to yours as well as multiple pieces of equipment.
It requires top-notch audio system
What a shame it would be to organize a great presentation, attract the crowds and be inaudible!
If you want your presentation to be a success, you need to have the perfect audio system that will allow people in the audience to hear you distinctly, people in the aisles to be intrigued, and no-one to turn deaf. It may sound easy, but such setting in an open and noisy environment such as trade shows isn’t easy to setup.
Contact a contractor early on if you want everything to be up to your expectations.
It needs a great speaker
Regardless of all your efforts, everything you planned for will go to waste if your speaker is not up to the task. (presentation skills)
You need to find someone able get people excited, keep them awake, encourages them to participate, ask questions, or even laugh!
If you select this one person in your office who reads the slides of a powerpoint and sends everyone to sleep with his monochord voice, you probably shouldn’t host an in-booth presentation.
If you are the one who will own the stage, I encourage you to read “” and “How to captivate your audience during a presentation” before you go!
It requires promotion and advertising
Nothing could be more depressing than an in-booth presentation with lots of empty chairs and someone talking in front of an empty booth.
Hosting a talk and hoping that people will grab a seat is not enough.
You will need to heavily advertise your presentation before the show, through your Social Media and customers channels, but also using the means offered by the trade show organizer.
You will certainly get people to come in and sit, but only if you already have some people sitting because they actively decided to join. You should read “How to advertise your booth to optimize traffic and lead capture” before you make your final decision.
You now know everything you should know about in-booth presentations. Make the right call for your business and share your experience with our audience!
The Exhibitor.