Thoughts on improving the attendee experience where it matters. By John Toner

As we head into the fall Tradeshow season, the article below, from the Wall Street Journal, reminded me that all cultures love fairs. Trade events are a part of the fair industry. It is our duty, our calling, and at the end of the day our paycheck responsibility to keep that love alive for the event industry. We all need it and crave it. You can find the article here:

Our Love Affair with the Fairs

That brings me to the next article that I read in the retail industry trade press over the weekend. It talks about the front end of the store (think about our registration areas):

The Front-End Checkout: A Micro-Economic Model of the Store

What can we as young professionals do to challenge conventional wisdom and make the registration areas of our events the greatest place to be? I know I got my start in the Tradeshow industry working United’s registration desk, and still to this day it is where I like to hang out and greet everyone and say goodbye to all the important buyers at our event. I know we like to spend our time thinking about the exhibitors, but at the end of the day what are we doing to make the life of the attendee better and more profitable? We have scaled down so much the entrance to our shows (or some of us have) that we miss out on opportunities to sell/promote items that our industries are doing. And at the end of the day can we make badge pickup more fun?

John Toner V
Office: 202-303-3424
www.linkedin.com/in/jtonerv



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