Steve Friar, on Tue, Feb 28, 2023 @ 02:49 PM
In-person events are making a huge comeback. Whether it’s pent-up demand following the COVID-19 lockdown or simply an effort by companies to leverage every possible opportunity to find and engage with prospects and customers, we’ve seen a significant uptick in requests for event assistance.
Steve Friar, on Wed, Feb 01, 2023 @ 11:52 AM
It’s a new year. Time to start preparing for the various events, conferences and tradeshows on your marketing calendar—not to mention all your other projects and priorities.
Unfortunately, adding headcount right now is difficult if not impossible. Current economic conditions are forcing businesses to tighten their belts. Even if you could find and hire the right talent, building a full-time team to handle spikes in activity surrounding individual events doesn’t make financial sense.
Riley Friar, on Thu, Jan 26, 2023 @ 10:52 AM
PPAI Expo 2023, held in early January in Las Vegas, attracted the country’s biggest promotional product providers and distributors to showcase what’s in store for the coming year—everything from new products and apparel to event material and order programs.
As with the previous few years, 2023 includes a host of uncertainties that will impact this year’s buying habits. Post-pandemic behavior continues to influence decision making, forcing companies to be cautious about spending. Couple that with an increasingly fragile economy and it’s clear that budgets will suffer.
Steve Friar, on Tue, Dec 27, 2022 @ 09:49 AM
After two years of COVID-related shutdowns, events—conferences, seminars, tradeshows and the like—are coming back in a big way.
Weekly, if not daily, organizations are asking us to help them ramp up their marketing event support activities. They want to get back out there and start meeting with customers and prospects again. Only now, they’re facing a host of new challenges.
Remote workforces. Reduced staff. Depleted or non-existent marketing closets. It’s like learning how to plan, manage, and execute events all over again, with fewer people and resources.
Steve Friar, on Sun, Sep 25, 2022 @ 09:38 AM
So you’re exhibiting at an upcoming trade show, where you hope to attract a ton of high-quality prospects. You’ve got a table or a booth, be it large or small. Forgetting for a minute about what you did PRE-event to promote your event participation, think about what kinds of “swag” you should have at your display to give to passersby.
Swag, in PG terms, is short for “stuff we all get.” If you’ve been to trade shows before, you know you’re going to have salespeople foisting various and sundry objects upon you. And if it’s a major show (think hundreds of exhibiting sponsors, not just one or two dozen), be prepared. You’ll be like that neighborhood kid with a too-small paper bag on Halloween having to face four dozen homeowners tossing candy bars and popcorn balls in your general direction. With luck, that’s what they’re tossing – as opposed to apples or boxes of raisins. (Come on, who among you hasn’t received unappetizing “healthy” snacks on Halloweens of yesteryear, only to pitch them in some darkened neighbor’s yard before you ever reached home?)
