Max your ROI

What I love about these sort of expo’s is that some exhibitors get it right, some get it wrong and some get it royally wrong… it begs the question;

• Why do companies exhibit?
• What’s the objective?
• And do they measure their return on investment? (ROI)

There were lots of lovely give-aways including stress balls, sweets, pens and even ice creams, but what are these companies trying to achieve? I met two lovely chaps on a decent size stand with a couple of very drab pull up banners. They were launching their brand-new recruitment software into a highly competitive market. Their excuse was that they have been working on the software for 7 years and the recruitment show was a ‘last minute’ decision so they threw something together. (If I had a buzzer I would have pressed it right now!)

Their software could have been the most intuitive, fabulous software I’d ever laid eyes on, but it was unlikely that anyone would have got that far to see the demo as the look and feel of the stand made me feel like it was going to be dated and clunky… probably not a fair assumption at all! But we all do it, it’s human nature.

I spent a bit of time bending their ear from a ex-recruiter and new business point of view… surely their main objectives should have been;

1. See what the competition are up to
2. Engage and chat to end users / gain some insights
3. Collect data to build a list of contacts to communicate with post event

Overall, there were some great ideas at the event; basketball hoops, racing games, free LinkedIn head shots – all these activities required the participant to pass over their contact details and they were more than willing to do so when there is something in return.

I attended a few seminars presented by some very engaging speakers (and some very poor ones!)  who talked about the art of recruitment advertising and how to be the most memorable in the marketplace. I even bought a recommended book which, so far, is worth the investment; ‘Made to Stick’ by Chip & Dan Heath. The reason I bought the book and listened to the speaker was down to how he made me feel. I trusted what he was saying, he was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and their brand screamed professional.

What really stuck with me from the day was a very famous saying, which goes;