Attendance Promotion Notions

Ideas for attracting and keeping attendees

By Jenny Tesar

Great attendance promotion ideas run the gamut from staid to wild, simple to complex, inexpensive to costly. The common thread is that they work, pulling in large, enthusiastic audiences of potential customers.

What works best for a specific show depends on many factors. There's no one formula that works for every industry, every season, every location. So show organizers are constantly tinkering, revising stale promotions, testing new media, changing timing or color and so on.

Here are ideas that have worked well for trade and public show organizers across North America. Hopefully, they'll get your creative juices flowing and lead to great ideas that will work well for building attendance at your next event.

We negotiate a deal with trade publications that will be exhibiting at the show. We insert either a blow-in or glue-in invitation to the show in the magazine, making the invitation courtesy of that publication. The publication's logo and booth number are on the invitations, which draws attendees to their booth. We just pay for the cost of printing.

This year, some 50,000 invitations are going out in trade publications. We've got virtually every publication that reaches our potential audience.

Dan Hamilton
Director of Marketing, Connelly Business Exhibitions

We bought a "Treasure Chest of Prizes" through one of the premium companies. The package included a large chest, a pirate's hat, and other items, including a certain number of keys that would open the chest and a certain number of bogus keys. We asked our exhibitors to donate coupon prizes, for things such as free shipping and 10-percent discounts on orders. The response was overwhelming. We got some 1,200 coupons from the 250 exhibitors.

Each attendee who pre-registered received a key. Often, a shop pre-registers several people. Since we could control the keys, we tried to make sure that at least one person from each shop got a real key.

People in this industry are somewhat reserved. But the friend of mine who played the pirate got them so excited. They really wanted to win those prizes.

We have all sorts of special events at our show, but it was this little gimmick that got written up in the trade press.

Betty Ann Pillsworth
Executive Director, The National Needlework Association

We have found that if you run an ad in a trade magazine once, you get a tiny response. If you run the ad a second time, the response is a little better. It is the third time the ad runs that the responses really pour in. We have found this to be true in every placement we have done, no matter what group of potential attendees we're going after.

Of course, by the time the third ad runs, you are closer to the show. But even on campaigns that we start really early, it is the third time that the phone rings off the hook.

Alex Dickey
Exposition Manager, Helicopter Association International

We offer each exhibitor six complimentary badges per 10-by-10 foot space. They may use these for either exhibitor personnel or customers. In addition, they can buy up to five more badges at a reduced rate. They can send the badges to their VIP customers or they can send us the list of names, and we'll send the badges with letters of invitation on the exhibitor's behalf.

In the past, we made this offer under a special tab in the service manual. But by the time exhibitors received the manual, they were too caught up with other things to pay much attention to that section. This year, we promoted the idea via our exhibitor newsletter, and we started much earlier. The response has been much better than in previous years.

Pamela Whitmore
Senior Director of Expositions, Florida Restaurant Association

Last week, we did a facsimile broadcast to prospective international attendees, asking them to fax back their correct mailing addresses, so we could send them materials on an upcoming event. Not only did this spark interest, it was much faster than regular mail. And it told us whether the numbers we had were correct. About 260 faxes went through, and we have already heard from approximately 30 percent of the people. Now we will follow up by regular mail, with a cover sheet in each prospect's native language.

Susan Schwartz
Vice President, Epic Enterprises

Recently, we have been concentrating on contests in which we give away merchandise provided by exhibitors. This keeps the contest tied into product, into our industry and its products. It also drives traffic to exhibitors' booths.

This past year we got Nissan to supply three cars. We asked each exhibitor who wanted to participate in the promotion to contribute three items and to tell us the retail value of each item.

Promotional mailings told prospective attendees that three identical product-filled cars would be placed around the show. The three people who guessed the closest to the actual value of the products in each car, without going over, would win one of the cars and everything in it. The mailings also promoted the exhibitors who contributed items, which helped give prospective attendees a sense of the variety of companies that would be exhibiting.

We distributed about 75,000 entry forms in pre-show mailings and in newspapers. Attendees could also pick up entry forms at the show.

At showtime, we placed a product-packed car in each of the three buildings we use for our show: the Georgia World Congress Center, the Georgia Dome and the Atlanta Market Center's Inforum. The cars had moon roofs, so attendees could peer inside. We lit up the cars and provided information on the participating exhibitors, which encouraged attendees to visit those booths and see the products.

The contents of each car had a retail value of $10,000, though no one knew this. Each day we would go through entry forms and pull out those estimates that were the closest. Then, at the end of the last day of the show, we announced the winners. Surprisingly, one winner was from California, one from New York and one from the South, which was great, because it showed that the show has a national draw.

Nissan got great exposure, plus we gave them the list of some 30,000 contest entrants, so they could solicit these people. Participating exhibitors also received the list.

Another year, we held a "Stock Your Store" contest. We gave out 100,000 magnetic keycards -- the type used to open hotel room doors. Only one card was activated; the others were blanks. The person who held the active card received $20,000 worth of merchandise donated by the exhibitors. There were 16 locations around the show floor where people could try to open a door. If a key didn't work, the attendee could write his or her badge number on the back of the card and enter it in a daily drawing for $100 worth of merchandise -- this pulled in a more than 50,000 entries.

Stanley Schwartz
Show Director, The Super Show

Prospective attendees who have not been at a recent assembly are sent coupons with a total value of $200. The coupons, which are designed to look like real checks, provide $100 off the pre-registration fee and the opportunity to attend two continuing education courses at no charge. We set the coupon dates to expire about one month before the actual registration cut-off date. This gets people to register early so that we can spread out our processing activities. Each year an average of 600 to 700 people use the coupons.

People who have attended recently receive a $50 coupon for one course. To take advantage of this, they too must pre-register by the early deadline.

Mickey Schaefer
Director, Meetings & Conventions, American Academy of Family Physicians

We held a reception for international attendees at the close of the first day of the show. We offered exhibitors the opportunity to sponsor the event for a certain fee; 23 of them accepted. Each of these exhibitors could buy two tickets to the reception -- we limited the number on the philosophy that people who are limited in what they can have always want more.

Approximately 2,100 prospective international attendees were notified about the reception, and about 1,400 attended. It's difficult to judge how effective the effort was in actually building attendance at the show, but it was very successful in building awareness among exhibitors of the presence of international attendees.

Debbi Bassett
Convention Manager, National Spa and Pool Institute

We have found that giveaways are very effective in drawing attendees to our Home Improvement and Remodeling Show. Last year we gave away a home theater, consisting of a Mitsubishi big-screen television, four speakers, a video cassette recorder and other components, all provided by an exhibitor who had worked with his suppliers to donate the equipment. The total value was $7,000.

We ran ads about the show and the giveaway, but the most effective promotion was with a local TV station. We went to the station, told them what we had put together, and worked a deal with them. We had to spend a certain amount of money at the station on our own paid advertising. We spoke with Mitsubishi, and they agreed to share this cost with us.

In return for our paid advertising, the TV station produced a 30-minute program on the show. They filmed for 12 hours the last day of move-in, then pieced together the program and ran it on the opening night of our show -- immediately following their broadcast of the World Series game. It was a great time slot and gave us really good coverage.

Karen Fisher
President, M & M Productions

We print up "complimentary guest tickets" for large exhibitors. Each ticket is numbered, has the exhibitor's name imprinted on it, and has a place to write the recipient's name.

An exhibitor has to order at least 1,000 tickets, and there's an up-front charge to the exhibitor to cover the cost of printing the tickets. After that, the exhibitor pays for a ticket only if it actually comes through the turnstile. Our event has a $7 entrance fee. We discount that 50 percent for the exhibitors, who thus pay $3.50 for each guest ticket that is actually used. After we audit the tickets, we return them to the exhibitors so they know who came to the show.

Several exhibitors asked for 2,000 tickets, and some of them got back more than 1,000 of the tickets they handed out.

Robert Zimmerman
CEO, Southern Shows

Retailers are very interested in new products -- products that have been developed since our previous convention. We send out a form to exhibitors asking them to send us a list of three new products. Then we send out a "New Products Preview" to prospective attendees, alerting them to what exhibitors will be featuring in their booths.

At the show, we give exhibitors signs to identify their new products. We also affix balloons to booths with new products. A balloon says "new" on one side and has the convention logo on the other side.

Carolyn Johnson
Marketing & Communications Manager, International Mass Retail Association

Everything But the Car -- our new automotive aftermarket consumer show -- debuts in January 1995. We are printing 20,000 "Passport to Savings" books that will hit the streets on November 1, just in time for people to buy them as Christmas stocking stuffers.

Each book will sell for about $25. It will contain a coupon for free admission to the show -- a $5 value -- as well as coupons from exhibitors for $300 to $400 worth of automotive services. We're charging an exhibitor $150 to put in a double-sided coupon ad.

As an incentive to get exhibitors more involved in the show, they will get a $5 rebate for every book they sell. Some exhibitors even are talking about giving books away free to customers who come in for car repairs.

If some of the books aren't sold before the show, we'll sell them at the show itself.

Sandra L. Morrow
President, Trade Show Managers

We hired the Ontario Rodeo Association to perform twice a day at the 10-day Toronto Sportsmen's Show. Each hour-long "Wild West Rodeo Revue" filled the 6,000 seats in the building's arena. The revue included a mother-daughter duo doing rope tricks, clowns, calf roping, a trick rider, a parade, cowboys riding broncos and a brahma bull. We hit the jackpot with this. We spent $100,000 on it, but it really made the show. And our attendance was up about 32 percent over the previous year's show.

Admission to the show, including the rodeo, was $9. Seniors and juniors paid $7, and children 5 and under were free. We also had a $20 family pass.

Val Nogas
Manager of Public Relations, Canadian National Sportsmen's Shows

We operate extremely high-tech shows in the computer and telephone marketplace. We felt that some people were hesitant about talking with exhibitors, for fear that the conversation might almost immediately get over their heads. So three or four times a day during the course of a show, we have guided tours of the exhibit hall led by an outside consultant who is very knowledgeable about the industry.

The tours are promoted in the conference brochure as well as at the show. We have a model holding up a sign indicating where and when the tours start. She then walks around with the consultant, holding up a sign saying, "guided tour in progress." For 45 minutes to an hour, the group stops at strategic locations around the hall to talk about what exhibitors are showing.

Groups have ranged from 6 to 150 people. Exhibitors love the large groups, because they bring a high level of energy to the hall. Attendees prefer the small groups, because they then have opportunities to ask a very high-priced consultant questions.

We have also put on free application seminars. We get 5 to 10 of our exhibitors to set up second booths in a conference-type facility. Over the course of a 2- or 3-day show, we'll shuffle several hundred attendees through hands-on demonstrations of equipment found on the exhibit floor. The attendees spend an hour or two actually using the equipment to build applications.

Ernie Rapp
Group Manager, Advanstar Expositions

Association members in the region where we are holding our show are sent special registration forms on which they can register their plant people for complimentary one-day passes to the exhibit floor. We also offer this to our exhibitors; they can bring in people from local field offices.

Roughly 1,000 of our attendees at last year's show in Chicago came as a result of this program.

Jacqueline Wolfe
Manager, Expositions, National Solid Wastes Management Association

If you sort a trade show's registration by company, it's not unusual to find that half the audience is part of groups of, say, 20 or more people. And you'll find that over time, it's always the same companies that bring large groups to the show.

Just as we do with exhibiting companies, we have key contacts with companies that send large groups of attendees to a show. We send out a special flyer to these key contacts, offering to do things like streamline the registration process, get everyone housed in the same hotel, arrange for meeting or hospitality function space in the hotels, and coordinate extracurricular events with speakers from our educational programs. We'll share leads, such as contacts with shuttle bus companies, caterers, and special events coordinators. If the group wants to visit a facility such as a factory or store, we'll make the introductory calls.

These are all things that you would be willing to do if someone called you, so it's not as if you are doing anything you wouldn't do anyway. But by actually offering to do it, you are able to build great relations with that relative handful of people who are responsible for coordinating virtually half of your audience.

And perhaps that key person says, "of all the shows in which we've participated, this is the most fun and the easiest for me to coordinate. Let's forget about those other shows and let's pull everyone to this show."

Michael S. Muldoon
President, Convention Management Group