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Presentation Resource
109 East Cary Street, Richmond, VA 23219
Contact: Peter Winters at 804-648-0800
peterwinters@presres.com

BY
SHEILA WILKINS




PRESENTATION RESOURCE

A native of Virginia, Ms. Wilkins has over 30 years of expertise in the trade show and large format print industry.

Current Trends - Word of Mouth

First, let's talk "Word of Mouth." A quick search turns up numerous white papers, blog posts, and conference presentations on the topic. If we didn't know better, we'd swear it was just discovered. It wasn't, but there are several reasons why so many of us have a renewed interest in it.

Word of mouth (WOM) has a profound influence on those making purchasing decisions. You can almost hear the cash register ring every time a client or prospect talks favorably about your product or service. So what can you do at your next trade show or event to get people talking? First you need to engage your target audience - then you need to give them something to talk about.

Engaging Your Audience
One of the fundamental benefits of any event is your ability to interact face-to-face with people. The key is to create an "experience" the person can share with others:

Product Demonstrations: Appeal to the senses and invite your audience to participate in the demonstration, handle the product sample or brochures, and always ask for their real-time feedback . To create buzz your demos need to be interactive, relevant and compelling. You want to convey a simple story that your audience can easily share with others.

Interact: Allowing attendees to send email from a booth is becoming popular at trade shows and events. As is taking photos of attendees in front of your exhibit. During or shortly after the event you can send the attendee a white paper or other product info they request along with their photo.

If you're really savy, you can incorporate their photo into future newsletters you send or post the photos on your website. A simple web page that says, "Thanks for stopping by to see us" can go a long way.

Also, if you conduct interviews or surveys at events make them interactive - never hand someone a survey on a clip-board and ask them to fill it out by themselves.

Honesty: It goes without saying integrity is a high priority in any message or experience you share with your customers and prospects. Your goal is to provide a mechanism for others to share their "honest" opinions more effectively.

Hang Time: Create "hang time" when offering attendees your giveaways - prepare brief conversations to go along with each item. For example, you could inform the attendee that you are deciding between 2 or 3 giveaways for future shows. Ask them to select one and tell you why they selected it. Once they made their selection, be prepared to explain the connection between the giveaway and your company. This is your chance to provide them with compelling product information they can share with others.

Incentives Work: Create incentives for any future action taken by event or trade show attendees (website visits, white paper downloads, newsletter subscription, etc.). Make sure the incentive has real value so the person taking action can share the experience with others.

If you would like more information on this topic or if you would like to suggest a topic for a future article, please contact: Sheila Wilkins.

Sheila has sold, designed, produced, and installed creative one-of-a-kind large format projects for trade shows, corporate interior graphics, and point of purchase installations.

Ms. Wilkins worked for companies such as General Binding Corporation, Expert Graphics, William Byrd Press(Cadmus), Graphics 3, Popmount, MegaColor Printing Services, and Mini Data Forms.

When she's not at work, Sheila enjoys boating, catering, driving her new sports car and gardening.

Map & Directions
Ph: (804) 648-0800

Directions: Our officers are located just west of downtown Richmond, Virginia.
Take the Belvidere Street south exit from I-95, turn LEFT on Cary Street. We're located at 109 East Cary Street (on your right heading east on Cary Street).

Presentation Resource has been creating captivating designs for over 17 years. From the beginning creative, out-of-the-box thinking is what has won awards and earned the respect and loyalty of clients like:

The company and its talented team of designers will assist you in promoting your brand in big ways. From trade show and event exhibits to corporate branded interiors and multimedia, Presentation Resource will use your message and our creativity to communicate with your audience effectively. Exceeding your expectations with every encounter.