What makes a booth at OSH good?

Patrick

Patrick

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Pat
Serious question.

I have the pleasure of arranging an exhibit at the upcoming EAA Air Venture in OSH.

We will have a tent with 27 inch iMac demo stations, video screens, rollups etc. to showcase. We’ll also have some chairs and roundtables to get good conversations started. I am finalizing our exhibit and besides extending a warm welcome to all of you to come by, I am also curious to hear from you what you would like to see in a great OSH booth? Free drinks? Food? Quiet and “loungy” style or loud and flashy? What were some of the things at exhibitors you remembered during previous OSH visits that were great?

Thanks for your remarks!
 
We got the interesting topic and product part covered.
 
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As an exhibitor for many years representing various organizations, be careful with guest chairs. You'll get some folks who will plop down and talk your ear off, not just annoying you, but also scaring away other potential customers who don't want to get sucked in to the conversation.
 
for me
#1 is a product or service I'm interested in
then #2 is enough staff for someone to be available to discuss without too long of a wait. I've see a lot of booths where I might be a little curious about something....maybe just enough to ask...but the one or two folks manning the booth are involved in an in depth 1on1 with a customer.... I'm not going stand round waiting for a seriously long time to ask a question.
#3 might be products on hand, for a hands on look
#4 needs to be approachable for both just a quick question and also for a more in depth look or discussion...
 
:yeahthat:
I’m one of those who shop with a mission. However, we do walk around and try to see everything, but I rarely stop just for the sake of stopping. You can have the coolest, most sexiest booth on the planet but if you’re selling or promoting something I’m not interested in, I’m most likely walking on by.
 
Used to be having a runway model. Now I think it's having a trans model.

Seriously though, I find both the above annoying. Don't do it.
 
I don't want to talk to your booth salespeople and I certainly don't want to be talked to by them. Double demerits if they're hopped up on caffeine and come at me like a Dutch Bros barista. Provide a printed summary of the product for me to take away. On it, explain whether I can order your widget right NOW and also receive it RIGHT NOW, and for how many dollars. Bonus if you jack the price up then offer a "show special" to get my FOMO going.

After I read your handout, if I have questions, I may return to ask them or I may visit your website for the answers. Hopefully your website has answers on it. If the product is not able to be ordered and received today, I will wonder wtf you're even doing at the show, briefly, before pitching the leaflet in the nearest bin and diverting my delicate attention span to the next shiny widget.
 
Some indication via signs, brochures, whatever, why your product is different/better/unique from the other gazillion gizmos that do the same or similar things. If I’m looking for a gizmo in your product area, that info will make me stop.
 
schmookeeg said:
I don't want to talk to your booth salespeople and I certainly don't want to be talked to by them. Double demerits if they're hopped up on caffeine and come at me like a Dutch Bros barista. Provide a printed summary of the product for me to take away. On it, explain whether I can order your widget right NOW and also receive it RIGHT NOW, and for how many dollars. Bonus if you jack the price up then offer a "show special" to get my FOMO going.

After I read your handout, if I have questions, I may return to ask them or I may visit your website for the answers. Hopefully your website has answers on it. If the product is not able to be ordered and received today, I will wonder wtf you're even doing at the show, briefly, before pitching the leaflet in the nearest bin and diverting my delicate attention span to the next shiny widget.
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Yeah, don't leave all the tech guys at home that actually know how it works. If you can only spare one tech guy, bring the best one, not the moron.
 
pburger said:
So, where's the booth/tent? What's the company name? What's the product? DO TELL....
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Exactly! I don't care about the size of your iMac screens - instead: what problem are you trying to solve for me?

Another thought: engage with people walking by, make eye contact, talk to them. I'm amazed how often employees are just looking at their cell phones or talking to one another instead of luring potential customers in.

- Martin
 
Salty said:
Yeah, don't leave all the tech guys at home that actually know how it works. If you can only spare one tech guy, bring the best one, not the moron.
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This! A few years ago I was at a large well-known manufacturer's booth and wanted to talk to someone. A young guy came up and said something to the effect of "I can help you, but I'm just an engineer."

I said, "NO. You are an engineer, you are EXACTLY who I want to talk to. THEY are just salespeople."
 
Patrick said:
We will have a tent with 27 inch iMac demo stations, video screens, rollups etc. to showcase. We’ll also have some chairs and roundtables to get good conversations started. I am finalizing our exhibit and besides extending a warm welcome to all of you to come by, I am also curious to hear from you what you would like to see in a great OSH booth? Free drinks? Food? Quiet and “loungy” style or loud and flashy? What were some of the things at exhibitors you remembered during previous OSH visits that were great?

Thanks for your remarks!
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It greatly depends on the product. What is your product?

The most important thing is knowledgeable, engaged people who are enthusiastic about a useful product.

Depending on the product, having some available to see and possibly work with hands-on.

There is already plenty of noise at OSH. "Loud and flashy" is not the way to go. If you have to go loud and flashy, that tells me that your product is based more on hype than substance, and it's probably overpriced for what it does.

If you have a tent, you need to have something that's going to make me want to come look inside your tent. What is your product, who is it for, why should I want it? If you aren't answering those questions somehow on the outside of your tent to get me inside, all of your fancy video screens are worthless.

Hope this helps! Where can we find you at the show?
 
Market research weeks before the convention is…sub-optimal.

1. Signage clearly indicating product, solution and value proposition. Could be words but needs solid imagery that’s pays off on the words will get me to stop and take a look. Imagery alone that is too cute to be understood immediately is a fail.
2. Product demos for newbies, advanced sessions for owners. Self directed demos are good too - give me some highlights that I can discover without a booth person in my face will pique my interest. Have working products, not slides or demoware.
3. Business card or note card sized takeaways with QR for more info. Internet can be cruddy so something tiny and lightweight to remind me to research later is good.I tend to just snap photos now though, so clear human readable web addreses on your signage. No tinyurl BS.
4. Giveaways are trash 99% of the time. Bottle of water with your logo slapped on it will get you more appreciation than a squeezey stress ball or stickers. Balsa gliders for the kiddos though could be a win.
5. Clear system for taking what your hear and learn back to the home office for product improvements.
6. If you do the mailing list thing, the first 2 emails better be super high signal to noise or you get unsubscribed.
7. Throw a party after show hours with beer, food and t-shirts. That worked for Jay Honeck.
8. Good stuff above too.
 
Ah, a tent. Have a plan for torrential rainstorms and high heat. Dust on the carpets and counters. A real schedule for staff that gives them time to enjoy the show too.

Keep in mind you have at least two audiences: people for the convention and people for the air show. I’ve worked a booth at OSH in the past and designed and worked few more for other trade shows so DM if you want me to stop by Thursday or Sunday prior to the show for last minute tips if it is your first tent at OSH.
 
NO repeat NO ongoing audio, including loops on any video displays!
No one can hear it, no one will listen, and there is nothing more horrible to your neighbor booths.
 
Please, please.... NO "Show Only" pricing.

If you're willing to sell your product today for $XX, you should be willing to sell it next week for $XX. I understand wanting to do promotion pricing, but do it with a card or a code that's valid for a while. Trying to force me to buy something right now to get a discount, without giving me the opportunity to do a little research or some comparison shopping, tells me that your product isn't anything great. It's a car dealer tactic and it sucks and I won't do business with slimy sales people who use it.

Over the years I've developed certain policies around how I make purchases. Sometimes these policies might cost me a few bucks, but over the course of a lifetime they've saved me countless mistakes and dollars. For me it's a matter of policy that I walk away from time-pressure sales tactics. Every bloody time.
 
Half Fast said:
Please, please.... NO "Show Only" pricing.

If you're willing to sell your product today for $XX, you should be willing to sell it next week for $XX. I understand wanting to do promotion pricing, but do it with a card or a code that's valid for a while. Trying to force me to buy something right now to get a discount, without giving me the opportunity to do a little research or some comparison shopping, tells me that your product isn't anything great. It's a car dealer tactic and it sucks and I won't do business with slimy sales people who use it.

Over the years I've developed certain policies around how I make purchases. Sometimes these policies might cost me a few bucks, but over the course of a lifetime they've saved me countless mistakes and dollars. For me it's a matter of policy that I walk away from time-pressure sales tactics. Every bloody time.
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I look at those a little differently than you, though I understand your position completely. I often know what I want already and delay purchase until sun-n-fun to get the discount. So they work fine for me.

But if it's a product I never heard of and you're wanting me to buy it right now, then yeah, I agree with you completely.
 
Salty said:
I often know what I want already and delay purchase until sun-n-fun to get the discount.
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Yeah, I've done that once or twice. When I was shopping for an ANR headset, I waited until SNF so I could try a few different types. Settled on a GCA with a show coupon that gave me $50 off.

Salty said:
But if it's a product I never heard of and you're wanting me to buy it right now, then yeah, I agree with you completely.
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That's really the situation I was getting at.
 
Know how to juggle more than one customer. I was already looking at a new LS headset when the sales clown literally yanked it out of my hands to show another 'customer'. The three I already had were tossed instead of repaired when they failed, and LS never saw another cent from me and never will. You're the face of your product. I won't buy any product from an a**hole, no matter how good it is.
 
More pilot salespeople that truly understand or use the product. Bottle water helps.
 
Cool displays and things to look at, booth babes and little handouts will bring people in. But I'd say the important thing is to have them remember something about your company after leaving. Present something live, in 3 dimensions, that they can't view equally well over a computer screen in a living room. As an example, if you've ever seen a full size cutaway of an engine, or a constant speed prop, you'll remember it. Even better if whatever it is you can hold in your hand. It makes a tangible, tactile connection between person and product.

If you're selling software? I work sort of in that field, and I can't help you, except to echo what others have said above. The software industry is so horribly broken, though, that if you're doing anything at all right, you're already ahead of everyone else.
​
 
Not sure for aeroplane stuff, but I've worked county fairs at booths. We focused on the following:
1. Some wow factor, make them stop and look.
2. When busy, some free thing to give away. Something simple like a business card. Cheaper than promo products so collectors ignore.
3. Low height profile towards customers, keep it easy for them to engage.
4. I agree no chairs. Similarly, be willing to leave non productive conversations to shake hands with others.
5. If booth involves some pitching of product, at some slow point, consider recording spiel on video and make it easy for folks to find later.

Smiles, everybody smiles.
 
Brad W said:
for me
#1 is a product or service I'm interested in
then #2 is enough staff for someone to be available to discuss without too long of a wait. I've see a lot of booths where I might be a little curious about something....maybe just enough to ask...but the one or two folks manning the booth are involved in an in depth 1on1 with a customer.... I'm not going stand round waiting for a seriously long time to ask a question.
#3 might be products on hand, for a hands on look
#4 needs to be approachable for both just a quick question and also for a more in depth look or discussion...
Click to expand...

I had this problem when I visited the Merlin aircraft (the single-seat LSA) booth. When I stopped by at SnF, no one was there. When I stopped at OSH, the 1 or 2 guys there were in an in-depth conversation with no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
 
I went to an industry trade show, non aviation. I was shopping for products. The stuff I was looking for is really only made by two companies. First company had a non owner manning the booth, could not answer my questions, took our info for a call back from the owner. No call back=no sale. Other booth was well staffed, easy to gather info. Product delivered this week!
 
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