For trade show exhibitors looking to improve their results, the best place to start may be by educating their exhibit staff. However, education is often the last thing on an exhibit manager’s list, or budget. In 2012, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) issued a report on “How the Exhibit Dollar is Spent,” which stated that of the $24 billion used for U.S. trade show marketing, staff training comes in dead last at a measly 1%! (Another study reports that 31% of exhibitors provide no type of pre-show training at all!).
So as an exhibit marketing strategist and blogger, I wrote a post on “The Importance of Exhibitor Education,” thinking it was a pretty straightforward idea that exhibitors benefit from being better educated. Well, it turns out this is quite a hot topic because it sparked a firestorm of controversy online, first in an adamant rebuttal from another blogger, then a lengthy conversation on a LinkedIn forum, so I decided to compile this manifesto to explain what exhibitor education is (and isn’t) and why it matters.
If you believe your exhibit marketing could improve and you want to create the most successful exhibit team you’ve ever had, then go ahead and or by clicking on the cover below (right-click or control-click to download):
Now take about 10 minutes to read it (it’s only 14 pages) and you’ll learn the answers to these key questions and more:
- Why is exhibitor education necessary?
- Who needs to be educated?
- Who benefits from education?
- What should be included in training (and what shouldn’t)?
- What type of education is available?
- When should education take place?
- How can you join the revolution?
Feel free to share this with team members, show organizers, fellow exhibitors, industry vendors, or anyone you feel could benefit from being better educated.
About Marlys Arnold
With experiences as both an exhibitor and a show organizer, Marlys Arnold has a unique perspective on trade show exhibiting. She travels the country consulting and training both exhibitors and show managers, and is the author of Build a Better Trade Show Image (2002), host of the Trade Show Insights blog-cast and creator of the ExhibitorEd Success System and the Exhibit Marketers Café. To request an “Extra Shot of Exhibit Success” go to www.ExhibitMarketersCafe.com.
