Attracting the right Trade Show attendees

From November through March, there are trade shows in Miami every week. Industry events and conventions are common in this city that has so much to offer. There are many details to putting together a successful trade show. You'll need the right venue, logistics, vendors, ticketing and so much more. Trade shows however, cannot succeed unless you are attracting the right trade show attendees.

Certainly there are the traditional sources of marketing like trade magazines, but there are some additional ways to attract the right attendees. Let’s take a look.

LinkedIn

By its very nature LinkedIn is almost custom made to attract the right trade show attendees. Look for like-minded groups or start your own. LinkedIn is all about networking and trade shows are certainly a great vehicle for that.

Facebook

Make sure you have an event page and you invite people to it. Every day talk about the variety of events and vendors that will be at your event. Be sure to mention some of the other lures of the city, including South Beach.

Create a Trade Show App.

There are companies that can customize an app specifically for your trade show. These apps can offer discounts, keep attendees updated, encourage referrals, and build anticipation. They also have a variety of uses during your event, like sending reminders and promoting vendors.

Don’t Forget Regional Marketing

While your trade show may attract attendees from throughout the country, you can market to those within driving distance. These people will find attending the event more cost effective. This can be done through press releases to regional media, and of course by targeting like-minded companies within the region directly.

If you are looking for the premier multi-purpose event space Miami has to offer, we invite you to tour Soho Studios. Our 65,000 square foot facility has been used for events for such globally recognized companies as Puma, Evian, Ford Motor Company, Telemundo and America Apparel.

Our staff of experienced professionals will help you create an event that will be positively reviewed for months to come. Contact Soho Studios for a Miami, Florida trade show that will impress!

Virtual Meetings for Event Planning

Planning your event doesn't necessarily mean lots of travel time, expensive airfare and hotel costs. There are a variety of “virtual” meeting options available to help in your event planning.

Skype

Skype is perhaps the most well-known of video conferencing services. There is an app for smartphones that makes Skype portable, adding even more value to an already valuable tool. Skype offers one on one video conferencing as part of its free service, so if you want to meet with more than one vendor at a time on a video conference, it will require a small monthly fee. Considering the ultimate savings, it can be well worth it.

GoToMeeting

This program allows you to have meetings with up to 25 participants at a time. Participants can join in on your meeting from a Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone or any Android device. They even offer a 30 day free trial. While Skype is used for a lot of personal video conferencing, GoToMeeting was designed with businesses in mind. This makes this program more professional.

OoVoo

OoVoo offers free video chatting with up to twelve participants at a time. It also has the capabilities for mobile applications. While it is free, users, and attendees, will be exposed to advertising. For a modest $29.95 per year OoVoo offers a no-advertising option and what they call “premium support”. OoVoo also offers a handy video recording option that allows you to record meetings for future review.

There are also many paid software programs that allow for video conferencing like Adobe Connect Pro, FUZEMeeting, ClickMeeting and others, but the above three should get you started. Once you have explored the world of virtual meetings, you may want to explore premium choices that can include things like a whiteboard, private chats with select participants and other options.

If you are searching for event space Miami has to offer, we invite you to contact us at Soho studios. Soho Studios is a multi-purpose facility with 65,000 square feet of available space. It can be used for small and large meetings and conferences, art shows, fashion shows, concerts, photography and videos, trade shows and virtually any event you can create. We have an experienced team that can help you deliver on your promises, because we deliver on ours. Looking for venues in Miami? Consider South Florida’s premier space…Soho Studios.

The key elements to an unforgettable trade show booth

Trade shows are one of the best marketing tools you can use for your business. Setting up a trade show booth is a good way to attract attention from potential customers, network with others in your industry and demonstrate what you company can do with its newest products and services. A trade show booth only works effectively, however, if people notice it in the first place.

Creating an unforgettable trade show booth means doing everything necessary to stand out from the crowd. Trade shows can feature hundreds of companies grappling for attention from the same target audience.

You can make sure no one skips your booth by incorporating these key elements:

Use Social Media

Social media is a quick and effective tool for getting the word out about your booth and get people chatting about your company. Use a custom Twitter hashtag and send out tweets about your company booth from the trade show. Post a Facebook update to let people know where you are and offer special promotions and prizes to trade show attendees via your Facebook page. These things will help generate tons of buzz in a short time.

Get Visual

Many people are drawn to interesting or funny videos. You can capitalize on that by running a short video on a loop at your booth. It can be an advertisement for your products or services or it can offer testimonials from satisfied customers. You can pair the video with a memorable tune. All you need is a laptop or tablet with speakers, to get you going.

Offer Swag

Everyone likes getting free gifts. You can't go wrong bringing along plenty of swag for trade shows. Hand out everything from pens to baseball caps. The main thing to remember is to brand each item with your company's logo and colors. It will spread your company name among the attendees and create several walking advertisements for your products and services.

Create Dynamic Signs

Avoid boring signs. Use bright and bold colors. Create a catchy slogan to pair with your company logo. Give people a reason to stop and look when they pass by your signs at the trade show.

How to top last years event

Your event has ended, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, everyone is raving about what a hit it was. At first, you're extremely excited that everyone enjoyed themselves, but then reality starts to sink in.

How in the world are you going to top this event next year?

Get Feedback

While your event may have been a smash, there are almost always ways you can improve on it. To figure out the best ways to make your event production even better, solicit feedback from attendees, employees and vendors to find out if they had heard or noticed areas that needed improvement. Maybe, the lines to get in your event were backed up because you didn't have enough people taking tickets or a concession stand was located in a low traffic area so it didn't earn the income you had expected. Learn from these mistakes and make adjustments and improvements accordingly.

Publicity

If attendance at your function was lower than you expected, your event strategy for next year should include ways to increase your visibility with the public. One of the most effective and inexpensive ways to generate buzz about your event is to utilize social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. Fortunately, actively publicizing your event on these two sites shouldn't add any more cost to your event planning budget.

You might also want to consider partnering with a coupon site, such as Groupon or Living Social. These sites will not only help you to generate more interest for your event, but they can also be an effective way to help you sell more tickets.

Choose an Exciting New Venue

If you've been throwing your event in the same old hotel ballroom year after year, isn't it about time that you move your event to a venue with more atmosphere, such as Miami's Soho Studios. Located in the vibrant Wynwood Art District, this 65,000-square-foot structure with its industrial detailing can add an edgy, modern look and feel to your event.

Surprise!

Everyone loves surprises and great ones can really make an event memorable. If you, for instance, hire a special guest for your festivities, you may want to conceal his identity until the day of your event. This could create great buzz and interest in your event as everyone tries to guess who your special guest may be.

Creating corporate event promotion and branding

Planning an event for your company can serve a variety of purposes, whether that event is staff related or something that is open to members of the community, it yields great potential to raise awareness about your company and /or product. Plan your event right, and at the right venue and you'll soon hear people talk about the innovative way you've managed to market your brand.

Trade shows and business conferences are both situations where event space may be needed. A trade show may require an open space that allows customers and potential customers to freely browse and look at your product. For a business conference you may want a more stylish decor with spaces available for one on one networking and negotiation. In either case, Soho Studios in Miami has the space to suit your needs.

Soho Studios in Miami is also known as the Wynwood Convention Center. No matter what you call it, you'll find it to be among the most versatile spaces in the city. Whether you are putting together an industry trade show to help market your company's product and support your brand, or your company is sponsoring a charity event, you will raise a better awareness and by choosing a flexible space with an artistic history you'll give yourself an even better opportunity to be innovative.

Although you want your company and the product you provide to be distinctive and promote your brand, it is also important to show a cooperative spirit, and save money. If you plan your event on your own, you can rent just the space you need. However many companies find success when they work with other companies or non-profit agencies. By picking a good event partner you lend distinction to your brand and promote your value to the community.

Soho Studios is located at the Wynwood Convention Center in Miami, in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Originally, the building was home to a dry cleaner, but it has become so much more. In addition to trade shows and conferences, it can be home to concerts, parties, photo shoots, fashion shoot, film production and more.

Tips for planning the perfect industry event

When planning the perfect industry event, you want to ensure that you produce an event that will leave everyone in attendance singing your praises, there are a number of tips that you may want to keep handy.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

If the opportunity for collaboration presents itself, take it. Spare yourself the extra time and resources whenever possible. If you know that a company in the same industry is hosting an event, and the two are you non-competitive, form a partnership that will benefit both of you. When you join forces and use this strategy, you double your resources, which makes your job of planning the perfect industry event that much simpler.

Leverage Friendships and Connections

Your event will give your brand more exposure. If you know professional athletes, actors or actresses, or anyone whose name has household name recognition, it will be beneficial to both of you to use these partnerships to your mutual advantage for your event. Don’t be afraid to use your influence and resources to entice someone whose appearance will draw guests. Show your loyalty and desire that they benefit from being in attendance by ensuring your publicize their attendance clearly and frequently.

Creating the Right Image

Choose your vision for your industry event and stay true to it so you can make the pitch-perfect impression on your guests and potential clients. Your event will also speak to your brand and what it can do to enrich the lives of your guests in attendance.

Support Community by Giving Back with Your Industry Event

Find a cause or organization that is close to your heart, along with the hearts of your potential audience members, and tie it into your industry event. People supporting charities and community so your audience will probably be happy and content to be associated with your event and will probably promote it themselves by sharing photographs and videos to commemorate the evening.