Friends of Richmond Park choose Access Displays for Royal Event

Richmond Council and The Royal Parks teamed up to host a large community event, celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

‘Wild London’ was the boroughs first festival aimed at celebrating London’s woodlands, parks and gardens. It was held in the borough’s finest open space – Richmond Park, on 15 May 2012 in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Alexandra.

The event featured a wide range of activities in a variety of zones, and ‘The Friends’ elected to hire Access Displays Panel & Pole displays for the conservation and inspiration zones, to showcase their many programmes and activities.

The Modern Exhibitor Explores The Cultural Differences Whilst Exhibiting Abroad

Taking time to understand and appreciate the cultural and religious differences when exhibiting abroad could make the difference between success and failure. We all look at things differently and dress and express ourselves in accordance to the cultures that we are familiar with. And so here we explore some of the key factors to take into account when exhibiting abroad.

What we say and how we say it is always an important part of exhibiting but what and how we communicate through the exhibition stand itself when abroad is crucial.

Failures on human and structural levels to recognise and respect the culture of the country or ethnic group that you are trying to attract as customers could have devastating and long lasting consequences. A little bit of research prior to your event is essential.

Consider local styles, fashions and materials when designing your exhibition stand and be aware of local rules and customs. In the US many States have different rules regarding the use of local labour which is vigorously backed by their Unions. These rules could severely restrict the design and build time of your exhibition booth. Make sure that your team or contractor’s team have taken this into account for both the design and build process.

What Sort of Exhibitor Are You?

Generally there are three types of people that man exhibition stands can you tell which one you are?

The Exhibitor Expert

The Exhibitor Expert understands his objectives and knows how to engage with any visitor at any level. Confident in his own ability and social skills he uses positive body language to encourage visitors to enter into conversation and engagement. This allows him to establish potential prospect quickly and effectively ensuring maximum use of time. The Exhibition Expert’s primary purpose is to establish where the visitor is in the buying cycle. This will allow him to agree any follow up action after the event.
Carefully an accurately recording the visitors details he will make meticulous notes so that it is clear to see what the visitor was interested in and what further action is required. Before the visitor leaves the exhibition stand he will shake their hand and verbally confirm the agreed action by saying something like “Thanks for taking the time to visit our stand today. I am confident that we will be able to help you with your requirement and I look forward to discussing this project further next week”.

The Passive Exhibitor

The Passive Exhibitor is very polite and is always smiling. They are proud to promote their company at the annual exhibition. But as they have been exhibiting for several years they feel uncomfortable to ask their manager for advice on how to man the stand or what to do.
Instead they perch themselves on the corner of the exhibition stand and ask passersby if they would like a brochure or leaflet.
They work hard and at the end of each day they inform their team leader that they have been really busy and given out hundreds of expensive brochures”!
As far as they are concerned a visitor that smiles back is as good as a sale.
If they receive a really big smile they might even throw in a tentative one liner!
“Good morning are you enjoying the show?” or “Have you just arrived at the exhibition?”
What really throws them is when the visitor responds with a question about their company, product or service. In their mind that’s an answer for the Sales Director and he’s already talking to somebody so “Do you want a brochure?” is as far as they can take the conversation.

Exhibition Prisoner

We have all seen the Exhibition Prisoner. You know the one, that person that doesn’t want to be there and can’t wait to get out. They don’t value exhibiting. They knew even before the show started that the leads would be rubbish and the attendance poor.
They would sooner spend their time on their mobile phone than talk to prospects and don’t even think about approaching them when it’s lunch time, can’t you see that they are eating!
They’ve been to loads of exhibitions and it’s always the same every year.
They spend more time talking to other exhibitors about how slow the show traffic is than they do telling visitors about their products and services.
The only good thing as far as they are concerned is that they can go home early to avoid the traffic!

What sort of exhibitor are you?

Peter Bowen
C.E.O.
Access Displays Ltd

Are you addressing your exhibition visitor’s generation?

We live in an unusual time where our exhibition visitors could be made up of several different generations. With this in mind we need to be thoughtful of how and what we communicate and how this will effect our exhibition stand designs.

Let me explain in more detail.

If your typical customer was born in the 1940’s or 1950’s then it is likely that they would have certain morals and values. This is a generation that was brought up at a time where money was tight and resources scarce. This generation values customer service, loyalty and professionalism so they might prefer to be sold to and communicated to in a traditional way and probably face to face.

They might prefer a handshake to an email, and to speak to a person not a voicemail.

In a generation where you get what you pay for and give as good as you get, gadgets and technology could be viewed with caution.

This generation is frugal and works in a matter of fact way. Brought up in a time when waste not want not was the order of the day, they might not want to see complicated or over designed exhibition stands with expensive giveaways and technological mumbo jumbo.

Customers that were born in the 1960’s would have a different perspective on things. This is the generation of prosperity, enterprise and achievement. After all they won the world cup and put a man on the moon so anything is possible!

Known as the baby boomers they were the first generation to take advantage of package holidays. They invented Tupperware parties, experienced Beetlemania and watched Opportunity Knocks on the very first colour TV’s.

This generation is open to ideas and challenges and is used to coping and experiencing change through technology.

Born in the 1980’s generation X was the first to fully engage and interact with modern technology.

From the release of pac-man video, mobile phones and faxes this generation's world became smaller and easier through technology. It has more concerns over environmental issues and sustainability by discovering a hole in the Ozone layer.

Capable of solving the Rubik’s cube puzzle this generation is used to interacting on exhibition stands through simulators and graphical user interfaces.

Generation Y or “I want it now”, live and expect a completely different visitor experience.

This generation’s mobile phones have always had cameras. Members belong to groups that have followers and virtual friends that like them! They would sooner tweet than speak in person and have found out more about your company and its products or services before your exhibition than any other generation. They can SHOUT about you or castigate you to thousands of others in a moment. They look for referrals and gather information in forums and chat rooms where they share ideas. They expect an interaction between the real and virtual world and can live comfortably in both. They don’t know what a record is and have never heard of the Berlin Wall. If they want something they can download it or order it online. If they want to try something before they buy, they can watch it on YouTube or discuss it on Skype.

This generation expects to be interactive and entertained through technology. It thinks that augmented reality is yesterday’s news and that everybody has a 3D TV in their home. 

Taking the time to analyse and appreciate the demographics of your exhibition visitors will help you with its design and layout. It will assist you on how and what you communicate to your audience, pre and post exhibition, to ensure that you realise a better return on your investment.

Access Displays Ltd Shortlisted For National Award

Exhibition specialist Access Displays has been short listed in the “Best Supplier to Exhibitors” category in the 6^th  annual ‘Exhibition News’ industry awards.

The EN awards recognise outstanding business performance across the exhibition community and Access Displays’ CEO, Peter Bowen is naturally delighted by the announcement. “We are very proud of being short listed, given the incredibly fierce competition in this category” and adds, “I think our submission highlighted the key reasons why our clients keep choosing Access Displays; our specific knowledge of the industry, our expertise and understanding of our customers needs and our high level of service and personal attention – here’s hoping we win!”

This announcement continues the company’s excellent start to 2012, coming on the back of several major contract gains.

The Exhibition News Awards 2012 will be held at Olympia’s new-look West Hall on Thursday 29th March.

Peter Bowen, CEO of Access Displays Ltd

Exhibitions are a waste of time?

Like most middle aged grumpy men I hate shopping. So on those very rare occasions when my wife manages to drag me out to purchase an item that needs a “joint decision”, I want to make it quick and easy. I’m very busy so I haven’t got the time or patience to go into shop after shop looking at televisions or laptops. I want to speak to an expert who knows the products inside out, someone who understands my requirement and somebody who can explain the options available to help me make my purchasing decisions.

But how often do we get the customer service, sales skills and product knowledge we deserve in the high street?

Isn’t it time you had a Double Decker Exhibition Stand?

Many of our clients need a specific area within their exhibition stand to entertain visitors or have private meetings away from the busy exhibition floor where product demonstrations and general enquiries are taking place. One of the ways of doing this is by adding additional floor levels. 

Double Deck Exhibition Stand for Chicago Pneumatic

 
Double Decker or even Triple Decker exhibition stands can increase floor space dramatically. There are obviously budget implications as well as numerous technical issues to over come; in fact some exhibition venues or show organisers won’t even allow this type of exhibition design.