Having spent the last few days at the NEC in Birmingham, I was surprised to see the varied quality of promotional staff and to be honest, I was quite shocked at the vast majority!

It was fairly evident that clients had requested promotional models to create interest in their exhibition stand. Whilst I must admit, these glamorous promotional staff (or as they are commonly referred to as ‘promotional models’ or ‘promo models’) did attract my eye, this attraction was however not converted into interest in the products or brands they represented. There are more effective ways of attracting customers to your stand. It doesn’t mean you have to spend huge sums of money on the design and build of your exhibition stand, rather think about the branding of your stand and keep the message as simple as possible. Assume people don’t know your product, and spell it out to them.

The most effective way of utilizing promotional staff is to employ great communicators and whilst they may not be eye-candy, they will convert your potential customers into new customers. They will represent your brand and create some form of connection between your brand and your customer. So in short, here are my top tips for creating impact at exhibitions:-

1. Employ communicators that are able to communicate at different levels
2. Training is vital – not on stand training, but rather structured training
3. Always have an expert on the stand for more technical questions
4. If the exhibition runs across a number of days, try to create a rota to give each of the staff a day off
5. Ensure staff are getting regular breaks
6. Supply chocolates and drinks – it’s a long day and hard work, so keep them energized

If you have any questions, please do give us a call at Activ8 on 08456800682. Mark Meurer