Your Event Expert

Article 10 - Practical Visit Scotland Expo Information

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

So VisitScotland expo is getting near. This article includes some hopefully helpful reminders, hints and tips to help you make the most of exhibiting.

It's The Little Things

Why not get your exhibition supplies organised now? Stationery including staplers, blu tack, enquiry pads, plenty of pens are always good to include along with your own literature and other supplies.
Have you double checked your supplies to be ordered in - literature, giveaways and other items - making sure they are on track now could save some last minute panics.
Are you planning to invite some of your existing customers - if so why not give them a personal phone call now or send them a handwritten invitation?

Practical Information

New shoes - no matter how lovely - are always a terrible idea. Exhibition halls are notoriously hard on the feet. Seeing ladies at the end of the day with no shoes isn't a great look.
An exhibition rota is a great way to ensure everyone has the breaks they need throughout the day so why not get it done now?
Storage on the stand - your stand will have a lockable cupboard on it but is this going to be enough for you? You need to consider where you will keep personal belongings which if left out on show will make the stand look messy.
Pre-event briefing - if you are planning to have one of these then make sure everyone knows when and where it is. Why not use it as an opportunity to practise your opening lines?
Test your enquiry forms so you know they are quick to complete and cover all the key information you need.
Think where you will store your enquiry forms and who will be tasked with following up the information after the event.
Make sure you allocate time after VisitScotland expo for following up enquiries - an initial enquiry after 24 hours is a good timeframe to aim for with more detailed information following after that.

Getting More Benefit

Why not check out the location of companies you do business with already at VisitScotland expo - perhaps you could have some of their information on your stand and vice versa giving you both a bit more exposure.
Let the VisitScotland team know about any new product launches or exciting developments you will be launching at the show. You can send a press release to them and they will spread the good news for you.
Don't forget to communicate - get tweeting, Facebooking, blogging or spreading news of your attendance.

Let's Hear It
Please feel free to comment on anything in this posting or blog. We would love your comments so feel free to ask for any extra information or to let us know what you thought.

Coming Next;
Last Minute Top Tips

VisitScotland expo contact details;
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

Article 9 - Exhibition Do's and Don'ts

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

We have covered much in our series of articles - right from event objectives to recording enquiries. In this article we will be looking at some general do's and don'ts. In a later article we will be doing a summary of everything covered so far.

Some Do's

Tell everyone you can about attending VisitScotland expo - get the details on your website, email signature and in as many other places as possible.
Think carefully about who you are planning having on your stand and what their roles will be - ensure you have enough staff that everyone can have regular breaks. 1.5 hours on a stand is long enough for a shift until there is a short break to recharge the batteries.
Have a look at the exhibition plan to locate where organisations you work with already areou.
Ensure your profile is updated and written for the audience that attend VisitScotland expo i.e. trade buyers.
Think about any giveaways you are planning on having on the stand - tablet is probably something that a lot of people are going to be giving away for example.
Think about what people will be wearing on the stand - are you having a uniform or what is your dress code going to be.
Complete your exhibitor information - you can find all you need to complete in the exhibitors manual.
Order electricity and any other equipment you need - again all the details are in the exhibitors manual.
Send your press releases to the team below which they will upload onto the site for you.
Book your networking evening tickets which you can do through the Exhibitor section.

Don't

Panic - if you have your objectives set then you should know how to gear all your event activity
Plan on sitting down on your stand unless you are with a visitor - it makes visitors less likely to approach you. One good way to avoid this is not to have chairs!
Eat on your stand - ensure that all breaks are taken off the stand.
Do what these stand personnel do in this video
Don't do what this guy does in this video

This video has a good selection of do's and don'ts that apply to any exhibitor.

Let's Hear It
Please feel free to comment on anything in this posting or blog. We would love your comments so feel free to ask for any extra information or to let us know what you thought.

Coming Next;
Practical Information

VisitScotland expo contact details;
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

Article 8 - Receiving and Recording Enquiries at Expo - What Will Work For You?

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:46:00 +0000

Well here we are - at the really important bit - the bit where you gather receive and record your enquiries from VisitScotland expo so that you can do something with them after the show.

Preparation is the key to making recording your enquiries successful. If you get this bit wrong then you have wasted your time with your lovely display, great staff, snazzy leaflets and you have suffered aching feet for nothing.

The first thing to say is that you need to think about what information is important to you. You should have already completed your event objectives so you will know if it's important to categorise buyers in a certain way for your own organsiation's requirements i.e. are they from a particular area that you are targetting for business?

You need to plan clearly what information is important so that you can gather this in the most efficient way. Collecting business cards is a sure fire way to get lots of business cards but to forget the conversations and requirements you had with those people.

You need a system which gathers key information in an order which is suitable for you. This could include things like;

What/who do they use at present?
What issues/problems do they have at present?
What did you recommend/suggest?
What next action did you agree with your visitor?
Any relevant information to help with future contact?

These questions should all follow the line of questioning you are taking with visitors when they are visiting the stand or attending a pre-booked appointment so keep the enquiry form in the same order that you will use for questionning to make it easier to complete.

Of course you need all the contact information but 99% of visitors will have all this information on their business contact so there is no need to ask them for this directly and then write it down but you do need somewhere to store the information you gathered when you questioned your visitor.

There are various methods of recording enquiries. You can order a "pen" scanner from the exhibitor part of the VisitScotland expo website. This will enable you to scan the visitors badge and you will get access to all the information they supplied when they registered. This includes all the information about their current and planned areas of operation, their type of customer, the typical spend of their customer. It's incredibly useful stuff.

There are a couple of things to consider when using a pen device. Firstly there is an appropriate time to scan a visitors badge and it's not the second they have put a foot over your stand. You need to ask permission after you have opened up a conversation with them and approach them carefully being respectful of personal space. The other thing to bear in mind is that you should also have somewhere to record the information you have gleaned from your visitor during the course of your conversation with them - things like what/who do they use at present, what their current problem/issues are etc.

You can buy some pre-prepared enquiry pads from stationery suppliers but it may well be worth making up your own forms with the fields you require. If you do this I would suggest making them A5 size just so they are a bit easier to handle.

Whatever method you are using make sure you are familiar with it and you have tried it out. It shouldn't take more than a minute to complete (assuming you are using the business card for all the contact information).

So when do you record your enquiry? If you can't remember a thing then perhaps it's best to ask your visitor if it's OK to jot down a few notes as you go through your conversation with them and use this to record your enquiry from. If you can remember conversations well then you may want to record your enquiry after your visitor left. The best time to record your enquiry is as soon as possible - leaving it to the end of the day guarantees a pile of cards that have no context/meaning so lose most of their value. If you are worried that the stand is busy and someone is waiting to talk to you then greet them and let them know you will be with them in a moment.

Let's Hear It
Please feel free to comment on anything in this posting or blog. We would love your comments so feel free to ask for any extra information or to let us know what you thought.

Coming Next;
Exhibition Do's and Don'ts

VisitScotland expo contact details;
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

Article 7 - Get To The Good Stuff - Gaining Sales Information From Visitors

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:54:00 +0000

So now you are getting to the exciting stuff - getting information from visitors to your stand. This is where all your hard work turns into an enquiry, something tangible and hopefully something that will benefit your business in the future.

Having read the previous article you are now confident in approaching visitors and opening a conversation with them but this article is about how you drill down to find out what they are interested in. The following applies whether your visitor has approached the stand or whether your visitor has pre-booked an appointment.

The first thing to remember is that a lot of this section is about questioning, listening and digesting. It's not about asking a couple of questions and then giving a "standard" spiel, it's also not about trying to do a full sales presentation. You are trying to find out what they use at the moment, what problem they have or what problem they are looking to solve. I think of questioning as being like a funnel - I am asking lots of questions at the top of the funnel so I can get down to the narrow point of the funnel where I can make my key points.

One of the best questions to start getting this information is "What/who do you use at present?". If they use someone already this information helps you start finding the differences between your service and their current supplier so you can start highlighting the benefits of what you do. A huge word of warning here - it looks totally unprofessional if you are detrimental about the supplier they are currently using and it reflects poorly on your company. You are effectively saying that the buyer made a poor buying choice - they may well have done, but they won't appreciate you pointing it out to them.

Maybe the company doesn't operate in Scotland and is looking to bring groups here for the first time. In this case you could ask them about the type/style of tours they are looking to offer - do they want something that focuses on culture, on food, on places of interest perhaps?You could ask them why they are planning to come to Scotland? Have they had interest already from their customers?

If they operate in Scotland already then perhaps they are looking for some fresh ideas/input? You could ask them how the tours have been going at present, when was the last time the programme was updated, are they looking to include some new additions - festivals, food for example?

There is a balance to be had when you are questioning your visitors. You are trying to establish the situation they are in at present, what change they want to make and why. You are trying to establish this so you can highlight why you are the best organisation to deal with. So questioning needs to be tailored and brief - it's not an inquisition but thoughtful questions will elicit the information you need relatively quickly. Once you know their current situation and the change they want to make and why you should confirm this briefly back to them to show you have understood and clear up any misunderstandings if needed. For example you would say something like "So at present you don't bring any groups to Scotland but you would like to for 2013 for tours of around 10 days covering the key destinations in Scotland and staying at 3 star hotels". Once the visitor has agreed that you have summed up correctly then you need to do a short summary of the highlights, the key benefits, the advantages of using your organisation. You might say something like "Well we have worked in this area for 10 years now and we deal with groups from all over the World. We work closely with the client to ensure we tailor the itinerary and include lots of little surprises that will delight your customers, giving them a taste of the real Scotland that other visitors don't normally get".

Remember you are not giving them a full sales pitch, nor are you looking to close the sale at VisitScotland expo - you are summarising the key benefits of working with you and then agreeing the next steps you will both take.

Once you have finished ask them if they have any questions or if there is anything further you can help them with. You could ask them if they are going to the Networking Evening event at this point too as this would be an opportunity to make a further connection with them.

Once you have finished summing up the key benefits advise the visitor what next steps you would like to take to gain agreement. You might say for example "I would really like to send you some more information about our service and then perhaps we could discuss more on the phone or via Skype to see how we can progress things further?"

Whatever you say you are going to do, you must do.

When you have agreed the next steps thank them for their time and let them move on. Remember their diary is busy and so is yours - you should have all the information you need if you have used some good questioning.

Let's Hear It
Please feel free to comment on anything in this posting or blog. We would love your comments so feel free to ask for any extra information or to let us know what you thought.

Coming Next;
Receiving and Recording Enquiries

VisitScotland expo contact details;
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

Article 6 - How To Approach Visitors

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

In this article we will be looking at how to approach visitors to your stand at VisitScotland expo and how to engage them in conversation. A future article will be looking at how you get to the key bits of information you need to assist them most effectively.

So let's get the bad news out of the way right at the start. Unfortunately there is no one phrase, saying or greeting that works for everyone in any situation - it's a case of finding a small selection of phrases that you are comfortable with and using the one you think most suits the person you are planning on talking to. This requires the ability to read a bit of body language.

The chances are your visitor is as nervous as you so any chance to break the ice will be welcome by them also. Talking of visitors can you remember how you felt the last time you walked down the aisle at a trade exhibition? Were you a bit nervous? Were you expecting to be pounced on and sold to? Were you avoiding eye contact because you were afraid of getting a big sales pitch heaped on you? Well that's probably how your visitors are feeling. So the number one thing you can do to put them at ease is as follows;

Smile - this works in most languages and cultures and it's hard not to return a smile

Open with a non sales/product/service related open question such as "Is this your first visit to Scotland?", "How are you find the show today?", "Is this your first visit to VisitScotland expo?".

This will relax you and your visitor and make them feel welcome. Don't worry about perfecting the perfect opening line - just get out there and talk to people and keep remembering that they are as nervous as you. Exhibitions are all about the visitors so don't miss your opportunity to engage with as many visitors as you can. The more you do this the easier it becomes and the more comfortable you will become using a variety of different opening lines.You may want to practice some opening lines on members of your team to get comfortable with them, these feels odd but it certainly helps.

A future article will be covering some suggested do's and don'ts for the stand but you should have an open and engaging stance - no arms crossed for example. You should not be reading, talking, sitting down, fiddling with mobiles or computers - there is plenty of time for that but not on the show stand. You should also be located somewhere towards the front of your stand but not in parallel with it as you will form a human barrier to anyone wanting to look at any of your fabulous displays. I find about 45 degrees is a good angle for me towards the end of my stand. I can see who is coming and my body language is welcoming without blocking the stand.

It is important to note here that you are not allowed to sell in the aisles at VisitScotland expo, in common with many other trade exhibitions. "Hawking" in the aisles can turn a walk down the aisle into a real mission for visitors having to dodge sales people and therefore missing the information they need on the stands.

You will of course have a number of pre-arranged appointments for your stand. You need to make sure that someone is responsible for welcoming the people to the stand and enough staff to deal with them should you be busy with other visitors to your stand. We will cover getting information from them in a future posting.

Here is a very short video to remind you about body language

Here is another very short video about where to locate yourself on the stand

So To Summarise;

Staff your stand in line with your objectives for VisitScotland expo

Have a mix of skills on the stand if possible

Think carefully about having sales personnel on the stand

Let's Hear It
Please feel free to comment on anything in this posting or blog. We would love your comments so feel free to ask for any extra information or to let us know what you thought.

Coming Next;
Getting to the Good Stuff

VisitScotland expo contact details;
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

Article 5 - Manning Your Expo Stand - Who Should Be There?

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Having the right people on your stand at VisitScotland expo is key to your success. The easiest way to decide who the best people are is to think of your event objectives and then staff accordingly. If you are trying to gain the maximum number of leads then you need people who are able to approach everyone confidently, gain the relevant information quickly and then move on. If however you are launching a new product/service you might want some of the development team on hand to answer more technical questions.

Ideally your stand should have a mix of people with complimentary skills on the stand.

Another key thing to think about when looking at manning your stand is to think how you feel when you are walking down the aisles at a trade exhibition - you probably feel a little nervous at times, a bit like a rabbit caught in headlights perhaps and feeling like you are going to get "pounced" on by sales people. Someone who can quickly make visitors to your stand feel welcome and relaxed is therefore of great benefit (more on actually approaching visitors is coming in a future article).

Think for a minute about having sales personnel on the staff. If these people are normally employed in a full sales role there is a danger that they could try and "close the sale" on the exhibition stand, as they normally would try and do. There are two dangers here - firstly that this process could take quite a long time if they follow their normal sales process and secondly that they will infact alienate the visitor and turn away from being a potential customer.

Research shows that visitors to trade exhibitions (not talking about consumer events here) go to learn, to see what's new, to compare, to discuss, to touch and feel but they rarely go to actually buy on the day. However, they may well get all the information they need to very quickly purchase once they have weighed up the options. Think about yourself when you visit trade exhibitions - how many times have you gone with your chequebook in hand to buy something there? A sure way to alienate these visitors is to try and sell to them on the day.

Given that visitors to trade events are interested in lots of information perhaps it's worth thinking about what other staff might be good for them to talk to. If you are a hotel how about reception or service staff talking about the service your hotel provides, if you are an attraction how about a tour guide/customer facing staff talking about the experience your attraction provides, if you are an activity provider then how about your instructors talking about some of the groups and the reactions they have enjoyed?

Whoever you staff your stand with you need to make sure that they are all clear about the event objectives and how you will be measuring them. You also need to make sure that they clearly know each of their roles on the stand too. A future article will give you some practical information about being on a stand which includes rotas and some hints for making the right impression.

So to summarise;

Staff your stand in line with your objectives for VisitScotland expo

Have a mix of skills on the stand if possible

Coming Next;
How To Approach Visitors

VisitScotland expo contact details;
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

Article 4 - Utlising Social Media To Highlight Your VisitScotland expo Attendance

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Social media is a great way to let the wider world you are exhibiting at VisitScotland expo. This will help you get an even better return on investment by helping you attract more visitors to your stand, raising your profile and encouraging interaction with potential customers and more frequent contact with existing customers.

Think of social media as a way to tell a story to your audience. You already have your event objectives clearly set so you can tailor your story to your target audience accordingly.

Social media is like any other form of communication. Think of how you would converse one to one and then apply this to social media. You wouldn't walk up to someone you hadn't met and start trying to sell to them - social media is no different. Think of it as a way to build up a relationship.

The social media you use should be the media you are most comfortable with and the one where your target audience are likely to be. Below are some social media options you may want to use and some suggestions of how to use them.

LinkedIN
This is a fantastic network for making and maintaining contacts. It's generally thought of as a more "business" style than other networks. It is worldwide and used to research potential customers, contacts, businesses and employees amongst other things. VisitScotland is also listed as an event on LinkedIN so why not register to show that you are attending and see the profiles of other attendees? You can find the event listing here with handy buttons to share on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.

Facebook

I am assuming your business has a Page when writing about Facebook. Perhaps you want to use Facebook to tell the story of your attendance - writing small short posts in relation to your preparations, to your new product/service or you may want to link to VisitScotland expo information and posts. Whatever you write keep it short, interesting and linked to your event objectives. You may want to consider perhaps running a small Facebook advertising campaign to highlight your attendance at VisitScotland expo. These can be very targetted, very cost effective and easily measurable. Again consider using Facebook as a place to tell "your story". Here is the link to the VisitScotland Facebook page.

YouTube
Not only is YouTube great for watching laughing babies and sneezing pandas it's also a great way to show the world what your business is like. If you haven't used YouTube then now is the time to start. You don't need high quality video filming - a simple hand held camera or even a smartphone will often do the trick and gives the film a certain "authenticity" that viewers prefer. What a great way to showcase your business to potential visitors, you can show them rooms, activities, facilities, introduce them to staff, show them how you prepare great food, how to enjoy your fabulous whisky - the possibilities are endless. Whatever you do keep your videos short - it's better to have a series of short videos than one long one and of course a series can be uploaded and shared one at a time increasing awareness too. Why not film your preparations for VisitScotland expo - it could be anything but make it interesting, engaging, aligned to your event objectives and in a style that suits and reflects your business. Here is a link to a YouTube copy the Year of Creative Scotland VisitScotland advert.

Flickr
Flickr (or similar photo sites) are great ways to share photos easily online. With Flickr you can easily upload photos to Facebook. Bear in mind that most of the buyers at VisitScotland expo are from overseas so a series of photos might give them a much clearer idea of what you do than a long email or article. You need to show what makes your business special - is it your location, your service, your facilities? Whatever it is take photos that reflect the personality of your business - no one finds looking at pristine bedrooms or conference rooms particularly interesting so seeing someone in them, preferably smiling, helps enormously. If you have a fabulous location then why not photography "the view from our restaurant", "the view from our bedrooms" etc and post these. Here are the VisitScotland Flickr photos from 2011.

Twitter
If you haven't used Twitter before it can be a great way to connect with people you have little contact with at present but who might be interested in you or your might be interested in them. There is an awful lot of information floating around on Twitter but the good news is you can filter this out. One of the issues I had with Twitter initially was using it every day. I then discovered programs like HootSuite which allow you to set up several twitter posts, up to 50 infact, and set the times that you would like these to be sent out. This means you can effectively tweet in batches. Beware though - you still need to check your account regularly as someone may have contacted you and you need to respond. VisitScotland expo has it's own Twitter account so make sure you include #Visitscotexpo in your tweets to help them get picked up. These could be retweeted giving you access to a much wider audience.Click here to see the Visitscotexpo Twitter feed.

Coming Next;
Manning Your Stand

VisitScotland expo contact details;
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

Article 3. Promoting Your Attendance at VisitScotland expo

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Letting people know you are attending VisitScotland expo is a great way to encourage more visitors to your stand. For this post we will concentrate on methods that don't involve social media as the next blog post concentrates on social media specifically.

If you want to get an even better return on investment from attending VisitScotland expo then spreading the word, raising your profile, getting additional PR coverage and getting some additional visitors are all great reasons for letting the wider world know about your involvement at the show.

Your event objectives should already be clearly defined, with measures in place to see if how you performed. This information can now help you set your event messages.

A key way to communicate what you are doing at the event and why is to complete your buyer profile. This is the information that registered buyers will be looking at. You need to make this information specific to your business and your stand at VisitScotland expo - make it clear why the buyer should be making an appointment with or planning to visit you. Try to avoid lifting text from your website and pasting it in, remember to keep the language clear and simple to help the overseas buyers and avoid jargon and acronyms. Keeping your event objectives clear whilst you are writing will help you do this. You may find it easier to start with a longer paragraph and trim it down - you have 700 characters to make an impact.

Press releases are another great way to promote your VisitScotland expo attendance. You can do a series of press releases in the run up to the event if you wish - you need to make clear what is new, different, interesting in each one of course. Simply send these through to the team at VisitScotland expo and they will add to the PR database but also issue out to your own press contacts too - contact details at the bottom of this post.

Why not put some literature on display at your venue? You could have details of your stand, what you are launching/exhibiting and what you are planning to do at the event. It may be handy to have the website on this information but if so highlight the fact that VisitScotland expo is a trade event and also outline the key visitors targetted such as conference organisers, wholesales, tour operators etc. This will save anyone trying to register who may not fit the visitor profile.

Many people think of exhibitions as a way to meet new customers but you should always consider exhibitions as a way to connect with existing customers also and it may also give you an opportunity to reconnect with customers that may not have used your business/services in a while too. Deciding how to contact these customers depends on your business, how many there are how and the level of contact you have had with them previously. For key customers a personal invitation and phone call is always a good idea. For more general contacts then perhaps a printed invitation might work better with a phone call if time and resources allow. You may want to offer existing or lapsed customers an incentive for visiting your stand. Whatever you do spend some time inviting them - even if they can't make it they will appreciate the invitation and it gives you another reason to keep in contact with them. To fastrack registration for your key contacts just get in touch with the team at VisitScotland expo who will help you with this.

Other ways to promote your attendance include adding the information into your existing communications.

Why not add details of your stand in your newsletter?

Add details of your stand and your attendance onto your website, blog and of course Social Media sites.

If you are doing any advertising why not add in a line about VisitScotland expo and perhaps your stand number.

If you haven't done it already add details of your stand and VisitScotland expo into your email signatures.

Coming Next;
Social Media

VisitScotland expo contact;
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

Article 2 - Promoting Your Attendance To Your Team

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Once you have your event objectives set for your attendance at VisitScotland expo (if you missed this post you can find it here) you need to make sure your own team know what you are doing and why.

You are probably thinking why should I worry about my own staff knowing about the business attending VisitScotland expo but think of the contacts they have, of the networks they have and of course some of them are likely to be working at the event also. You are aiming to make your staff ambassadors for you, encouraging them to invite people to VisitScotland expo which will help make the event an even better return on investment for your business. Even if they are not inviting people along to the event just talking about your attendance with existing and potential customers is a great way to connect, keep contact going and boost the business profile.

So how do you communicate your plans with them? Keep it simple and decide what suits your business. For some it's a bulletin or newsletter, for some it's a quick meeting, for some it's a longer presentation which includes details of the new product/service they might be launching, or perhaps details of the new market the business plans to enter. Whichever it is keep it clear and detail what your objectives are, how these will be measured, what's new or different. Given that VisitScotland expo is a trade show then it might be worth detailing the target visitor they should be thinking about if there are any customers or potential customers they wish to invite;

Conference Organiser's
Wholesalers
Travel Agents
Tour Operators
Carriers
Destination Management Organisation's

If you would like to register any of your existing or potential customers as visitors then please contact the VisitScotland expo team who will arrange a fastrack registration for them - contact details at the bottom of this article.

Getting your team onside and clear about your event objectives is a great way to make sure VisitScotland expo will be an even greater success for your business. Why not do some of the following;

Get your team to add details of your stand and the event into their email signature
Encourage your team to come up with ideas of how to make your stand even more inviting and exciting
Ask your team to pick 2/3 or more key contacts each to be invited along and arrange personalised invites

Coming Next;
Promoting Your Attendance

VisitScotland expo contact for fastrack registration
Tel: 0131 472 2378
Fax: 0131 472 2223
Email: anne.sykes@visitscotland.com

What Are Your Event Objectives and How Do You Measure Them - Week Commencing 23rd January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:34:00 +0000

Welcome to the first in a series of weekly blog articles to help you get the most out of exhibiting at VisitScotland expo. Over the coming weeks we will be covering a wide range of topics including manning the stand, promoting your attendance, using social media, practical tips, recording enquiries and how to approach visitors.

In this article we will look at defining your event objectives, once these have been defined you can then measure them and track your progress which will enable you to calculate the return on investment from exhibiting at Visit Scotland Expo.

Setting your event objectives early on will help tailor all your VisitScotland expo related activity. It will help you decide who should be on the stand, what should be on the stand, what promotional activity you should carry out, what your marketing materials should say etc.

VisitScotland is a trade event. Anyone wishing to attend VisitScotland expo has to go through a registration process to ensure they are genuine buyers. Suppliers to the tourism industry for example are not permitted to attend and VisitScotland retains the right to expel anyone from the event who is solely there to sell to exhibitors. This means the quality of visitors to your stand is high and you need to make the most of these quality opportunities.

We will look at how to make the most of the diary system for appointments later on in this series of blog articles. For now we need to think about who is coming to VisitScotland and how to attract them to your stand.

VisitScotland will be attended by around 470 hosted international buyers and 350 hand picked UK based buyers including tour operators, wholesalers, travel agents and travel media. To make the most of your time at Visit Scotland Expo you need to know which visitors you should be targetting and why.

2011 key statistics

94% of UK and 73% of International buyers intend to add new suppliers to their current programmes.
94% of UK and 80% of International Buyers intend to expand their current programmes to Scotland.
90% of UK and 72% of International Buyers intend to create additional Scottish tour programmes.
67% of UK and 25% of international Buyers will introduce a Scotland programme for the first time.
81% of exhibitors were satisfied/very satisfied with the business potential expo offered with the highest quality of buyers coming from Germany, UK, USA, India and Russian Federation - in this order.
62% of exhibitors told us the potential value of the business quoted. The average (mean) potential value was £28,700.
67% of exhibitor said the ROI on their attendance was good and excellent.
85% of exhibitors conducted business with other stand holders.
87% of international buyers will feature a place they visited in future programmes.
The majority of exhibitors and buyers are feeling 'quite confident' about the prospects for the rest of 2011.

So why are you exhibiting at VisitScotland expo?

Are you exhibiting to attract customers from a new sector?

If so what area or market are you after specifically - is it group tour operators or perhaps you would like to work with visitors from China perhaps?
Thinking about this at the early stages will help you tailor your exhibition messages to your audience. It may be worth identifying your top 5-6 target visitor types to help with this process.

Are you launching a new product/service or picking up new ideas/updating information?

If this is the case you will already have existing customers who may be interested in this or it may be in a different market to the one you normally operate in. You need to narrow down the target audience so you can measure your success more accurately.
Are you looking for feedback at this stage so you can take the project further or are you looking to actively promote the product/service? If the latter is the case perhaps you could measure the number of appointments made as a result of Visit Scotland as a measure of success, or perhaps the number of quality leads gained from the event that match your target audience. (A later article will cover grading leads to help with following up.)
You could also promote this to existing customers - if this is the case add them in to your target audience as they will need a different approach

Are you looking to meet established contacts or new contacts?

Events can be a very efficient way of meeting existing contacts/customers which you will already have the details of.
New contacts can be segmented further perhaps by business type, area, quantity, quality.

Are you planning to operate in a new geographical area?

Again you need to think about your target audience but this time within the geographical area you are targetting. Perhaps you are looking for partnerships with tour operators from the USA for example.

Measuring Results
It is useful to know the lifetime value of a client to your business before starting this process

Number of potential customers - this could be measured further by grading the likelihood of becoming a customer i.e. how hot the lead is
Number of actual customers - this could be measured further by looking at the last time you had contact with the customer and the nature of their enquiry
Number of contacts made in new sector or new geographical area you are targetting
The number of buyers who attended your stand from the UK and International buyers
The quality of the buyers who attended your stand
What type of buyers visited you - wholesalers, tour operators etc
Where the buyers came from in the World to see if perhaps a particular country shows more interest in you - does this match with your target audience?
The number of appointments
The quality of the appointments
The value of other information that came from the contact - referral, link to other networks, opportunities
The value of feedback received on your product or service
The value of feedback received on your new product or service which can be measured against the cost of carrying out market research
The value of feedback received about competitors products/services
The comparison of your current sales process compared to the event sales process - did you save any steps from your normal sales process i.e. get to a one to one in depth appointment more quickly so perhaps save money

For further reading why not have a quick look at the calculation we did to work out our return on investment when attending Visit Scotland Expo in 2011 here.

There are a couple of handy tools on this event Return on Investment website. You need to complete a simple email registration to access them for free.

Here is a handy short video which gives some tips and hints about exhibiting.

So to summarise;

Set your event objectives - think about why are you exhibiting and who are you looking to talk to?

Decide on no more than 5 or 6 target visitor types you would like to speak to and write down who they are, where they are from, what business they are in.

Decide how you will measure you event objectives in a way that will not take too much time and that you can compare with other marketing activities you currently do.

Next week;

Promoting Your Attendance To Your Team

Realising a Culture of Environmental Sustainability

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

A little while ago I attended a really fascinating event at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation. The speakers were varied and incredibly interesting and the event included some really useful case studies on how to reduce the impact of events with one speaker saying the best way to reduce the impact of an event is infact not to have it all. Scotland of course has a big target of cutting it's carbon emissions by 42% by 2020 as well as reducing the final energy demand by 12% by 2020 also. Carbon emissions will become more costly to "create" so travel will as time goes on become more expensive.

One of the first speakers at this event was Ben Twist who is the Environmental Lead at Festivals Edinburgh. Edinburgh Festivals comprises 12 festivals and creates a £261 million economic impact, they put on 3,000 shows per year and have 4.2 million attendees at these performances and use 250 or so venues throughout Edinburgh. A key objective of Festivals Edinburgh is to develop and deliver collaborative projects and initiatives. Their vision is that by 2020 Festivals Edinburgh will be the worlds leading green festivals. Ben spoke about how festivals themselves can educate and influence the festival goers.

In 2010 Festivals Edinburgh did an impact assessment. It is of course easier to control things they manage directly and less easy to control emissions caused by audience travel and non-directly managed venues. They calculated that the Edinburgh Festival Office created 1,011 tonnes CO2 emissions with audience travel creating 92,214 tonnes CO2.

Another speaker at this event was Andrew Coulton - the Administrative Director of the Book Festival who is also a board member of Festivals Edinburgh and Chair of Innovation and Environment Working Groups. The Edinburgh Book Festival began in 1983 and is now the largest in the world with 700 events held as part of it. 200,000 people attend the events in Charlotte Square. Andrew gave lots of practical information about changes they had made to reduce their impact. This included changing electric heaters to wood pellet stoves which they have in their central authors yurt. They changed from electric heaters to diesel heaters as they discovered that using generators to power electric heaters was very inefficient. Previously they used a 40 amp chiller unit but it just sucked the hot air out of the top of the marquee - by changing the way this worked they reduced this to a 4 amp chiller. They also put timers on all the lighting installations and light switches inside all the marquees so staff were able to turn the lights on when it got dark. The generator was re-configured to operate at it's most efficient and it saved £7,000 in diesel costs in one year.

Speaking at Events - Do It With Passion

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

I am lucky enough to attend lots of events - business, networking, conferences and many more. I have listened to hundreds of speakers and the ones that always stick in my mind are the ones that are passionate about their subject. They don't just say they are passionate but you can hear it in their voice and you can see it on their face.

Listening to anyone who is passionate about their subject is always engaging. Passionate speakers don't generally use lots of Powerpoint (more about that coming in a future article). If they do use Powerpoint or similar they use lots of pictures and use to add to what they are saying, they generally don't read out the Powerpoint slide which is guaranteed to have any audience turned off and tuned out in no time at all.

Passionate speakers are people you want to listen to. You want to hear their story and they generally include some humour and examples of what they have learned. In my experience passionate speakers also share quite a lot of useful information because they are so keen on their subject, you get to find out how they did what they did, what worked and what didn't and this makes them not only passionate but generous too.

In a recent survey public speaking came top of people's lists of things they were scared of and it topped plenty of other truly terrifying stuff too. Not everyone enjoys public speaking or feels confident. I am not suggesting for a minute that you try and become an entertainer, a comic or anything complicated or technical but if you really care and are interested in your subject all you need to do is to let that shine. Use some examples of things that have happened to you in your speech - we all find it easier to relate to things in more human terms. Whatever you do talk with passion and don't do as a recent speaker did read for 40 minutes without looking at the audience - one of his lines included "I am really passionate about education" - we didn't believe him!

If you want to improve your speaking skills in a safe and friendly environment then I would highly recommend Toastmasters - a great organisation that operates worldwide and where you can get some great feedback on how to improve your speaking and make some good contacts at the same time.

Net Gains Event - Monday 5th December, Pitlochry Festival Theatre

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

On a particularly snowy and cold day Your Event Expert headed on the lovely Highland Chieftain train down to Pitlochry for the first joint event between Visit Scotland Creative Scotland talking about collaboration.

The event was opened by Mike Cantlay who showed a short video and talked about "The Winning Years" and illustrated some of the great opportunities that are coming up in Scotland in the next few years including the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and of course more themed years and a Homecoming 2014. He also spoke about a new Disney Pixar film called Brave which is supposed to be 5 times bigger than Braveheart - it features Scotland and is voiced by Robbie Coltrane, Billy Connolly and will be having 72 premieres around the World.

Andrew Dixon from Creative Scotland gave a quick intro into his role which he has been in for 18 months. He outlined that Creative Scotland are moving from funding to investing in projects and he outlined some of the funding available including the Creative Places Awards, One Step Further and First in a Lifetime.

The attendees then split into their groups for the workshop sessions. The first session attended by Your Event Expert was talking about funding available from Creative Scotland and Visit Scotland in a little more depth. This session also included some advice on what to put in funding applications and what not to put. Good things to include are how the project will deliver a quality artistic experience, how visitor numbers will be achieved and a non local audience attracted, how will the project grow and how will it deliver value for money as well as will it be sustainable in the future.

The second workshop looked at the Lammermuir Festival in East Lothian and how it had started, what it had achieved and where it was heading in the future. This session included some very helpful advice about managing ticket sales and venues and included the advice that if you aren't passionate about the event then there is no point doing it.

Lunch was next on the agenda and there was a great selection of sandwiches, some fab cakes and lovely homemade soup - a gold star to the Pitlochry Theatre catering team for such good produce.

After lunch we tackled our last session which was around Innovation. We were given a real live issue to deal with and in small groups came up with ideas. Our project was how to make the most of the film and tv productions that have taken place or featured Scotland. Some really great ideas came out of this session which we hope will get taken forward. Some of these were building a film festival around a venue that featured in a film - for example showing the DaVinci code at Rosslyn Chapel, an interactive guide that allowed you to pick your accommodation closest to the location of interest, guides and trails and interactive tours that allowed you to recreate your favourite scenes.

The event was a great success with some really great networking taking place between organisations that don't necessarily meet under normal circumstances. The format worked well with plenty of time to network over lunch, a speed networking/informal networking session and drinks at the end. There was also a very useful "would like to meet" board and enquiry desk. The Pitlochry Festival Theatre was a great venue with a shuttle bus provided to and from the train station for ease of access as well - we look forward to visiting this venue in the summer and enjoying the great views and good catering.

Thanks to Creative Scotland and Visit Scotland for hosting this great event - we hope it's the first of many.

Speed Networking - Don't Attempt It Without Planning!

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:13:00 +0000

I was recently at an event which had decided to throw in a bit of speed networking. There was much interest in the speed networking session from delegates but the session was poorly organised meaning valuable networking time was wasted and delegates were not sure what to do. This reflected on the organisation. So in my quest to ensure the same thing doesn't happen to you here is are some top tips to organise a successful speed networking event.

Having done several speed networking events I would encourage organiser's to encourage delegates to brighten up their pitch a little bit perhaps with some personal information or a key word, objective etc. There is nothing worse than listening to a dozen or so very similar "we are brilliant so deal with us" type pitches.

Decide the Objective

Are you looking for particular sectors to meet each other - for example purchasers and suppliers?

Do you know how many people you have coming along to the event? It is much easier to organise if you do, particularly if you have some particular sectors or organisations that you would like to meet but you can organise on the day if need be. The number of people attending should also help you set the timing for the session if you have some flexibility.

Practical Information

Think about the room layout. Speed networking doesn't work if delegates are close together - a 5-6' gap ensures that voices don't need to be raised and they can last the session.
Have water available to help with voices but don't put it on every table as you will end up with people networking between rows of dirty glasses. An ideal option is to have a little 3 minute break every so often for drinks but you need to be firm otherwise it will turn into a mobile phone check, toilet or cigarette break.
The room can be laid out in a huge circle or in lines - whichever way you lay out the room do it in such a way that people can easily work out which way to move on to their next contact.
Timings need to suit the group and the objectives of the event but shorter generally keeps things fresh and interesting. 3 minutes in total can work where you are merely introducing contacts, or 4-6 minutes in total works quite well if you are looking for a bit more meaningful contacts.

Separate the group

For speed networking to work effectively you need people to move around. The easiest way to do this is to separate the group. Sometimes each half of the group is labelled "A" or "B" to help distinguish them for each other or you could just use colours. Whichever way you do it you need half the group to be identified in one way and half in another.

However, you also need to think about what you will do once every A has met every B. You will then need to divide the group again so make sure all the A's have had a chance to meet each other and all the B's have had had a change to meet each other. An easy way to do this is to simply half the group into A's and B's and form two smaller circles or lines and have them speed network again.

Make The Rules Clear

Many people will not have done speed networking before so they need a clear explanation of the rules. You need to explain the following;

How much time each person has to speak - don't give the overall time otherwise one person can easily dominate the conversation.
Explain any sales guidelines - is the session a sales pitch, an introduction or something more personal?
Make it obvious when each session is coming to an end - if each session is 3 minutes long then it makes it much easier for attendees if you give them a 30 second warning before it is time to swop to their networking partner.
Decide the policy for business cards and sales materials - at some speed networking events delegates hand over sales materials. This can be quite awkward for delegates receiving this information as they have to move around with all this bumpf. Business cards are usually sufficient and prevent people going into a full "sales" pitch.
Make it clear how delegates will move on - are they moving around in a clockwise direction, to their left or right for example.

Speed networking can be great fun when done and also managed properly and it can be great way to make lots of new contacts. It works particularly well when there is also some time for informal networking for delegates to talk further with people that are interested in them or are of interest to them.

Speed networking is like any event - planning makes all the difference!

Leading Ladies

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:24:00 +0000

Today I have started the first day of a course all about Leadership for Women and run by the Social Enterprise Academy.

It has been a relaxed start to the day but there is a real mix of delegates attending and some interesting issues have arisen already. It is clear that there is a feeling if women are strong leaders then they can often be perceived as bossy, single minded, abrupt and a whole manner of not necessarily positive things.

How well timed that when checking in LinkedIN today this great article entitled "The 10 Worst Stereotypes About Powerful Women" by Jenna Goudrea popped up. It lists a variety of stereotypes and some examples of women who are definitely not the stereotypes listed.

By learning about different leadership styles I aim to improve my skills in this area and complete the ILM Leadership course in a years time.

Living Food 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Living Food 2011, a set on Flickr.

Visit Scotland Expo 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Visit Scotland Expo 2011, a set on Flickr.

Looking At Events With New Eyes

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:42:00 +0000

Glasgow City Council has decided to axe its traditional Hogmanay party this year because it is too expensive.

The local authority said that instead of the usual New Year party in George Square, it will host a "family day" in the square, with music, ceilidh dancing and the Glasgow Bonspiel curling tournament.

Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson said: "At the moment we are being asked to justify spending £34 of public money per head on an event which just isn't delivering value and indeed received a fair amount of negative feedback last year. This is on top of the £19 ticket price we are asking the public to pay.

"Contrast that with the free fireworks display in November which costs the council just £1.50 per head, or the hugely popular Christmas lights switch-on which costs £6 per head to stage.

This article demonstrates the shift that is taking place in events - they have to demonstrate their value. Why should events not demonstrate their value like other aspects of business? By having clear objectives and demonstrable outcomes you can show the benefit of events and measure the return on investment of any event spend. Perhaps this means that publicly funded events will be scrutinised to see the benefits they deliver to the community, to business, to tourism etc.

Why I Believe in Keeping Positive and How It Helps My Business

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 14:17:00 +0000

I have not always been a positive person. I used to subscribe to my sisters view that "if you expect nothing and something happens you are always going be happy". However, I found that if you expected nothing then generally nothing happened and you often ended up far from happy.

I have had depression in the past and used to describe it as feeling like a wave was coming towards me and I could do nothng to stop it. I have tried various things in the past to sort this out including counselling and talking to my doctor - doctors seem set to offer anti-depressants as default which fortunately I never took. I saw the devastating effect they had on my father when he took them so I have always managed to resist - plus the advice that I would get worse before I got better always worried me because I was scared of how much lower I could go.

At my very worst I felt suicidal and decided once more to visit the doctors. I got asked to fill in a form which asked me how often I felt suicidal - I answered every day. I had already told the doctor I felt it hard to resist the urge to flick the steering wheel in the car and just disappear under a truck - my problem with this was always the truck driver though which I guess goes back to my transport roots!

So I duly left the form - took my prescription for anti depressants and left. Nothing happened. I never used the prescription and I was never contacted by the doctors which seemed to make the form thing pretty irrelevant.

So why I am posting all this - on my business site? Well, when you are in business on your own the business is you and vice versa. I wasn't in a good place at this time and nor was my business - infact I really didn't have a business and was living on wages I earned working part time. Oh forgot to mention the doctor wanted to sign me off for 3 months to rest given the stresses and strains I had been going through - I asked him who was going to pay my mortgage given my self employed state and he said he didn't think that was relevant.

So I decided I would self medicate myself. I started reading a fantastic series of books called "Chicken Soup for the Soul" - there are loads of varieties including books for couples, singles, pet owners - the lot. Reading these postive stories every night helped me go to sleep full of positive thoughts rather than worrying about finances all the time.

I also got a book of positive things to read every day - 365 ways to have an amazing life. I still read this every day and simply restart the book every year.

On top of that I started to eat properly. Having little or no money meant I was eating what was cheapest but I put some effort into my diet and started forcing myself to cook - not always easy when you are single. I also started exercising more - forcing myself to get outside every day even when I didn't want to as I had noticed how much better I felt for enjoying a bit of nature.

Since starting my positive journey I have learned some more techniques to help me keep positive. My most powerful one is that if something doesn't go quite as expected I am always absolutely convinced that it's because something better is happening instead. Time and time again this has been proved right - most recently when I wasn't selected for a piece of work in my local area but within a week was offered a piece of work 5 times larger.

I also keep a happy diary - it's very small but each night I write down what I enjoyed best about the day. I have been doing this for 2 years now and find it helps me focus on the positive each day. Each night I also have an affirmation book where I write down what I would like for the future and I find reading and writing this helps me focus on where I am going and what I am doing.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is still part of my life. I now have these on my I-pod so I can listen to them anywhere and often listen to them at night.

I also avoid negative people - you know those people that complain about everything, who are always negative about everyone as I find them draining. I am trying to remove this trait in myself as it is an easy trap to fall into - looking for what went wrong all the time instead of what went right. I am also about to start practising mindfullness so I can live more fully in the moment rather than always looking forward to when I am a lower weight, I have miraculously turned into Angelina Jodie, my mortgage is paid off etc.

Keeping positive takes work but I believe the benefits are huge. Yes things come along now which are difficult to deal with but I can deal with them without retreating to my bed for several days, without sleeping for 15 hours a day. I am not saying I have a perfect life but I have yet to meet anyone that has - I have a life filled full of the normal stresses and strains but I love that. I believe you have to experience the lows to appreciate the highs and having been in some very deep low spots I spend part of every day appreciating my life, my work and most importantly my family.

My business has been transformed in the same way I have. I have been able to focus on what I am doing, I have confidence in myself and I am positive about the future. For the first time in my business life I have work for the next 2 years and although I can't see whats on the horizon past that I am sure it will be great whatever it is.

Great Video from the Inverness Classic Car Show

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 23 May 2011 09:09:00 +0000

Inverness Classic Vehicle Show - A Case Study in Event Benefit

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Mon, 16 May 2011 20:02:00 +0000

Inverness Classic Vehicle is an event promoted by Inverness BID. For those of you that haven't heard of BID it stands for "Business Improvement District". City centre businesses within a certain geographical area all pay a levy above their business rates for the additonal services that the BID team provide - one of which is events in the city centre.

The Classic Vehicle Show was born 3 years ago and started off with a relatively small showing of vehicles and has now grown to over 70 vehicles being displayed in the city centre - on the actual streets themselves. The purpose of the event is to create interest in the city centre, to encourage new visitors to come into the city centre and for them to be "led" around the city centre as part of the event too. The event is planned in such a way that entertainment is focussed in Church Street and an event objective is to drive footfall in Church Street.

The easy option when organising an event like this would be to fill the streets with stalls, food producers etc but this would defeat the object. Businesses in the city centre are encouraged to take part in the event and do some promotions to encourage business themselves.

Targets for vehicles attending were agreed in advance and these were achieved - infact the event attracted a 40% increase in vehicles from the previous year. This didn't happen on it's own - it involved visiting car club events and building good relationships with entrants from previous years.

So what did we achieve?
We surveyed businesses throughout the city centre - in Church Street, the High Street, Inglis Street, Falcon Square and the Eastgate Centre. Turnover increases varied;

a large department store reported an increase of 3% on their normal days trading
a small charity shop reported a 100% increase
a fast food outlet reported a 42% increase on a normal Saturday

Overall the average increase in turnover across all the businesses surveyed was 18%

We did a promotion where we gave entrants a voucher for refreshments to be used in a variety of cafes around the city centre. There was a 60% uptake in this offer.

We moved visitors around the City centre and got them to places they hadn't visited before. Our focus has always been Church Street and this year 40% of the visitors in Church Street reported they never or rarely visited the street.

Without clear targets and measures in place this event could easily have just turned into a jolly day with veryone patting each other on the back but with some clear targets in place we were able to measure the effect of this event on the city centre businesses.

The Royal Wedding Event

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 21:24:00 +0000

Watching the Royal Wedding from an event organisers view was watching organisational perfection. Yes the event is planned with military precision but the event didn't come across as being a military event - it had the right mix personal touches to make it feel like a family event, albeit with 2 billion people joining in.

I marvelled at how the sand had been spread out and was perfectly splayed when exiting Horse Guards and straight lines everywhere else. I loved the trees in Westminster Abbey - clearly these had been well thought out and checked for height so that whilst they were very decorative they didn't obscure anyone's view. The seating arrangements alone must have been a diplomatic minefield and required much more thought than a normal seating/table plan but everything here seemed to go smoothly too.

The Mall looked wonderful with flags lined up perfectly and providing a wonderful backdrop to the view. I loved the fact the cleaning lady at Westminster put her best dress on to hoover the carpet ahead of the wedding party arriving - another great touch albeit the ladies own rather than anything organised.

The event was surely a triumph of co-ordination. Getting so many aspects to work harmoniously was a huge achievement - everything from managing the hoards of press and providing all the information they needed to co-ordinating the arrival of the guests and the supplies.

Event management is about the details. This event was planning perfection.

Why an Event is Like a Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Events are precious things not just because of what they cost, in money and all other sorts of terms but also because they are the public face of your business. As such we think they are a bit like your baby, something to be looked after carefully.

You wouldn't hand over care of a baby to someone you didn't know or trust and we feel it's the same with an event. You need to know that the event organiser "gets" every aspect of your event, exactly what you are trying to convey and that they wouldn't do anything that would reflect badly on your company. For an event organiser to be truly effective you need to have a clear brief and boundaries but they need to be able to operate freely within those boundaries otherwise you won't be getting the most benefit from them.

So how do you choose an event organiser? Get to know them, get a feel for how their company operates, how they deal with clients and see if they make a good match with your company style and ethos. Ask around for recommendations of people that your colleagues have used before but do some investigating yourself.

You need to make sure that before you hand your "baby" over to an event organiser you are confident they will take as good care of it as you would.

Here is our photostream

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Lean and Green Events' photostream on Flickr.

Measuring Our Return On Investment at Visit Scotland Expo

noreply@blogger.com (Melanie Newdick) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:10:00 +0000

We have just come back from exhibiting at Visit Scotland Expo in Aberdeen and we were working out our return on investment. Here is what is cost us to go;

Exhibition Stand £1500 plus £200 corner supplement = £1700
Travel over to Aberdeen and back 270 miles @ 30p per mile = £81.00
Printing of display materials for the stand = £300
Other stand decor = £100
Enquiry pads = £20
Hotel for two nights = £160
Networking evening tickets = £60
Food and drink on way over to event, throughout and back = £110
Socket for the stand = £90
Staffing for the stand and setting up = £350
Time spent on the stand and setting up = £600
Time spent arranging the stand, doing rotas and stand admin = £200
Time spent promoting event attendance = £300
Time spent following up enquiries initially after the event = £300

Total = £4,371
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