Quick Summary: Ideas for handling leads, getting value out
of trade show sessions and good posture.

I spent my first three days as a member of the ideaLaunch team attending the SES
show in New York. The show was a great experience to understand the company and
talk to customers. The ideaLaunch team is now following up with the people we connected with at the show, and nursing our
sore feet!

Whether you are on booth duty, standing all day or walking
the halls talking to vendors, trade shows hurt your feet and back. Dr. Romanov,
an athletic training expert, gives you some tips on how to avoid sore feet, but
what to do about aches and pains after the show?
I tweeted the question “how to recover from a trade show,” and the majority of
tweeters responding recommended a massage or a hot tub.

Once you’ve taken your dip and recovered, take a look at two tips I
wrote about handling leads and getting the most out of a conference.

When do you call your
trade show leads? – Demonstrate you can be relied upon and follow up with
leads immediately after a show.

However, be aware that people will be recovering from the show and
respect their time. Rather than a telephone call the next day, follow up with
email, twitter or other social media outlet that you use to connect with your
contacts. Within the first few days after
a show, mail thank you notes and post cards.

After your initial outreach and you’ve given people a few
days to recover from the trade show call to engage your lead contact.

Brain storm for your
job and the next trade show – Brain storm ideas based on the sessions
you’ve attended, people you met, and sights and sounds you’ve encountered.

In these tough economic times you’ll want to get the most
value from a trade show. Demonstrate to your colleagues and team that you were
paying attention and develop actionable ideas that will ramp up your business
or professional skills.

Did you see a piece of collateral that worked? Trade show
giveaway everybody wanted, or a booth promotion that drew in crowds? The next
trade show might be four months away, but now’s the time to take the ideas you
gathered from this trade show and put them into action.

Hat tip: @kristen_okla

@verywendy

@dtheus

John Cass wrote this blog post.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.