Power Point Sound

Exhibiting at a trade show can be an excellent way for new companies to attract business. However, having a successful trade show experience takes a lot of preparation. With so many booths to visit, trade show visitors dont often linger at one boothunless you give them a good reason to. Following are nine tips for getting the most out of your firstor fiftiethtrade show.

Know what you need. In advance of the show, make sure you know exactly what you want to get out of the experience. Are you there to educate the public about something that pertains to your business? If so, lots of literature, demonstrations, or PowerPoint presentations might be your focus. Do you want to collect prospects for a marketing list? Then plan to give people incentives to sign up. Are you planning to sell products directly? Be ready to offer discounts, coupons, and free giveaways. Knowing what your goals are will help you decide what you need at your booth.

Know your show. Well before the show occurs, get in touch with the organizers to find out as much as you can about the venue. Where will it be located? What demographic does the show generally attract? Whats the layout of the building? Where will you be placed? Can you choose your placement? Will the show provide a booth? Who will your neighbours be? Will there be electrical outlets nearby? What else is provided? Make sure youve given some thoughts to your goals for the show beforehand, as it will affect which questions youll ask.

Pick the right display. Its important to be sure your trade show stand will attract attention. Pick colours that match your company logothe more they match, the more slick and established youll look. Choose a unique design that will also match your needs for space. Think neatness, conciseness, and visibility. Focus on graphics more than copyoffer a few bullet points or a catchy slogan, but save your customer-education efforts for brochures and other handouts, as visitors will rarely stop to read a large block of text displayed at your stand.

Give freebies. Give people a reason to come by your booth. Most businesses give away pens, magnets, key chains, and other small items decorated with the company logo and phone number. Go a step furtherbring food (even if your business isnt food-related), give gift certificates and coupons, hold raffles for a valuable product or service you offer, give demonstrations, or bring a PowerPoint presentation.

Be welcoming. Dont just stand quietly at your booth and expect people to come by. Be friendlystrike up conversations. Smile. Make eye contact. Dont eat or sit down at your boothitll look like youre taking a break. If business is slow, dont be afraid to get out there and mingle.

Look popular. This is an oldand effectivetrick. Make your service look in-demandand it soon will be. Put up a few strategically-placed sold signs on a few of your itemsor leave a few empty spaces on your literature display rack to make it look like youve been too busy to replace it. Be sure you really do have enough for everyone, however.

Be interactive. Build an automatic draw into your trade-show display. Have an interactive computer game for customers to play, a scheduled demonstration (post the times in a visible area on your booth), or a survey for customers to fill out for a free gift.

Sign em up. Make a business contact at every opportunity. If youre holding a prize drawing, ask the contestants to fill out their name and contact info on their cards. If youre holding a demonstration, pass a mailing list around at the end. Have a clipboard with a mailing list sign-up in prominent view on your table, with pen included. Bring plenty of business cards.

Follow up. This is crucial to your trade-show success. Follow up with the contacts you make in a timely manner. Be sure you have a system in place before the day of the show for tracking, recording, and following up with new prospects.

Not everyone has an ideal trade-show experience the first time. But whether youre new to trade shows or a veteran exhibitor, youre sure to have a fun and profitable time at your next trade show with these helpful tips.

Graham Green is managing director of the banner stand and exhibition supplies company http://www.justdisplays.co.uk For more information on exhibition stands and a wide range of banner stands visit http://www.justdisplays.co.uk/banner-stands.asp

For information about how to effectively customize your message for your audience, check out this exerpt from Robert Lane's book Relational Presentation: A Visually Interactive Approach.

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Dont want to be known as the Power Point Murderer? Five pointed decisions will power your presentations. Youll notice that these five techniques require only the basic features of power point.

1) Graphics (illustrations, graphs, processes [NOT clip art]): these will be powerful when used to illustrate a point that is not expected. We dont need confirmation of what we already know. We need to see a visual representation of what we dont know or what is surprising. Are you advocating something totally new? Show a picture of it and talk about why its an idea that will make a difference.

2) Pulling people together: using logos or other icons of various team members helps the audience visualize the breadth and depth of a team comprised of different entities. This is obvious in a prime-subs situation. It is also useful when a multi-department internal team is convened. Show each department surrounding the central goal. People then see at a glance who their partners are, and how they will work together towards the goal.

3) Photos: Using photos of your own people, your own locations, and your own successes is stimulating and energizing. People like to recognize places and people, and are drawn into the content of the presentation when they do. While many companies have professionally made photos of their headquarters or products and equipment, presenters should snap a few pictures that will be meaningful to their specific audience. For example, take a picture of a person who won an award when youre talking about goals for the coming year. Everyone will imagine themselves holding that award next year.

4) The Future: Capture and illustrate visions and goals for the future. These are some ways that are very effective:

Show a photo of a competitor that you are planning to beat

Use a high-level graph to depict an increase from current numbers to future achievements

Show the results of a process you are implementing. Results may be higher customer satisfaction ratings, fewer complaints, increase speed of technology enhancements. Heres where your understanding of why you do what you do can be turned into a visual. The presenter who does this is going to be memorable and inspiring.

5) Use the toggle off key: When youre showing a visual to make a point, show the visual for a few seconds only, then toggle off while you elaborate the point. Getting the important information from the presenter rather than from a slide gives the audience a feeling that theyve gotten a high return on the investment they made coming to listen to you. There is no law that requires you to leave slides on for the entire presentation, no matter how many times and for how long youve been doing that. Just stop!

There are many very positive uses of power point slides and I coach my clients how to identify them and incorporate them into their presentations. The emphasis is on the power of the presenterand thats the point.

A time-pressed business presenter can create and rehearse a 30 minute presentation in only three hours using Trivers Communications Groups Start Fast and Finish Strong system. Three hours is about 25% of what it typically takes people to go from blank slide to receiving applause from the audience.

Start Fast and Finish Strong is for CEOs, Sales Teams, Oral Proposal teams, Business Development professionals and all individuals who want to take steps to reach their next level. Send a request more information to susan@susantrivers.com

Susan G. Trivers, MBA, President of Trivers Communications Group, is a long time member of the National Speakers Association (NSA) and the Washington D. C. Chapter of NSA, where she served on the Leadership Council. She has been a popular speaker for Women in Technology. and is in demand as an Orals coach.

She is the author of The Red-Hot Guide to COOL Speaking Craft and Deliver Presentations that are Creative, Original, Outsized and Liberated. It may be purchased from Susan's Store at http://www.susantrivers.com

In this article, Microsoft writer Joy Miller explains that, to create color-coordinated slides with matching fonts and backgrounds in your next PowerPoint 2007 presentation, you should understand the difference between PowerPoint 2003 and earlier design templates and PowerPoint 2007 themes.

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