Trade Show Technology Trends

Being that I have married a pre-early adopter technology geek and his love of technology has started to rub off on me, the next seminar that intrigued me was the Top Ten Technology Trends Transforming the Trade Show Industry, presented by Corbin Ball from Corbin Ball Associates. This seminar covered some very fascinating items that will enable more targeted networking and lead collection, among other numerous benefits as well!

I will not give away Corbin's Top Ten list, you'll have to contact him directly for that! But I will cover some of the key items that caught my attention!

Most of us already know about the basics of online offerings related to Trade Shows, such as Exhibitor Kits, Registration, Travel arrangements, RFP's and so on, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of people have not had the opportunity to be exposed to Pre-Show Meeting Technology such as Event Mingle; it is gaining popularity with Trade Show Producers, but I am surprised how few actually use it outside of the Tech Industry.

The object is to give exhibitors and attendees the ability to browse each other's profiles and see the type of prospects each person would like to meet during the show AND be able to request appointments pre-show! When a show offers this service I always advise my clients to carefully review the site and look for their key prospects to interact with before the show and hopefully secure an appointment with them for at the show! My advice is to always ask if this service will be provided and take full advantage of the opportunity to maximize your Trade Show participation!

Another hot item Corbin talked about was RFID Technology that allows attendees to see who's within a few feet of them, sometimes including pictures and full descriptions of the type of people they are looking to meet with! I hope that technology takes off FAST; just imagine how much more productive we could all be when networking!

The APEX (Accepted Practices Exchange) was also covered in this seminar; APEX was initiated to streamline meetings and Trade Shows by creating standardized processes, such as Post Event Reports, Event Specification Guides, RFP Forms and Contracts/Accepted Best Practices. To learn more about the exciting APEX initiatives that will make our life easier, visit: http://www.conventionindustry.org.

Last but not least, Corbin talked about how Virtual Meetings and Virtual Trade Shows will continue to play an important role, BUT they will never be able to replace the face to face interaction that a Trade Show, Meeting or Seminar provides! However it is pretty impressive how far technology has come in this area – imagine having a seminar or meeting that teleports the presenter in an apparent 3-D environment! Pretty cool!

Linda Musgrove
Tradeshow Teacher
www.tsteacher.com

Linda Musgrove, Tradeshow Teacher