Question

Topic: Strategy

Trade Show Vendor/customer Game Ideas Needed

Posted by Anonymous on 3/13/2006 at 5:16 PM ET 250 Points
Good day,
Each year at my company we have a trade show and always provide a "fun" game for our customers to play to get them to interact with the vendors on the floor. In years past, we have had customers visiting each vendor to collect a sticker to place on a card. The customer with the the most stickers received the quickest would receive a prize. We have also had customers obtain trivia answers from the specific vendor booths and the customers with the best/most answers would receive a prize.
This year we are hoping to get a game going that will have the customers visiting the vendor booths proactively, but also do not want to have the game become an annoyance for the vendors who truly are working.
Does anyone have any thoughts on game activities with minimal cost, low annoyance levels, and great reasoning to visit the vendors (beyond learning about products)??
One other thing, our customers get pretty stocked up with freebies, etc. so their arms are loaded throughout the show- we will need a low-maintenance game for them.
Thank you so much in advance for your input. :)
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 3/13/2006 at 5:29 PM Member
    I ran a couple of shows where we had attendance from 300 to 2000. For each show we gave the attendees a card, and the vendors a unique stamp, usually an A-Z letter. All the attendee had to do was give the card, the booth stamped it and it was their choice as to whether they forced a pitch or not.
    They had a deadline to turn in the cards - usually the start of the final day on a break. We did a drawing for a prize. USUALLY everyone was there for the drawing - that pushed up booth attendance on the last day (a good thing) and let us make announcements as well). We also gave out t-shirts at that time to everyone - they had a card to turn in to get the shirt.

    The prizes varied by the revenue we collected for the show. A high revenue show we did 2x a year, we gave away a Harley! Lower revenue - a vacation package sponsored by the chain of hotels who were hosting the event next year (so they comped the room, all we paid was airfare!)

    WORKED very very well. Vendors and attendees loved it. Let me know if you need more help.
    Becky
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 3/13/2006 at 5:30 PM Member
    I personally have used a customer card stamped by each vendor. In order to qualify for the grand door prize, usually something worth a couple of hundred dollars, (TV, Portable DVD, IPod, Etc) the customer had to visit all of the vendor booths.
  • Posted on 3/13/2006 at 6:23 PM Member
    A fun thing to do is poker. Decide how many decks you need. Give each person 5 cards. Best hand wins.
    If there is a tie, break open a new deck and do hi/lo card for winner.
  • Posted by narthur on 3/15/2006 at 10:05 AM Member
    Wiglaf makes a great point...quality over quantity makes for a much more effective trade show effort.

    One approach is to promote a show-only sweepstakes with select non-competing sponsors sharing a big-ticket item (Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Canyon Ranch Spa vacation, diamond jewelry, etc). Qualified attendees (job title, 1-3 qualifying questions) must have each sponsor stamp their entry card to enter the drawing to win. They visit the booth and their contact info can be captured for post-show followup...two touches by someone ready, willing and able to buy.

    Benefit to you is little to no out-of-pocket expense for a marketing effort that generates lots of attendee buzz; exhibitors get lots of drama with an attention-getter they generally couldn't afford alone; attendees get a great prize.

    In the interest of full disclosure, we have a division that produces turnkey events like this for B2B shows with 500+ exhibitors. You can contact me offline (see profile) if you would like to brainstorm this for your show.

    Neil
  • Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 3/16/2006 at 11:09 AM Accepted
    silence_do_great,

    how are you today. I've got a couple of ideas which ever one you don't like just don't use. If you like one let me know and we can talk further. Here they are...

    GUESS HOW MANY...M&M's are in the jar.
    Your business card could be used as entry fee or use any method for entry. Provide each one of your 50 vendors with 50 exotic or use simple shaped glass containers to do it. When the person wins they receive a special prize from the vendor or a special discount card of some nice value.

    BINGO...
    Place the names of the Vendors on the BINGO card in a unique way inside each square. As the person moves from vendor to vendor they get to have their card stamped by the vendor or use a sticker if you like. You can require that the person provide the vendor with a business card or have them fill out a short & simple information document. When the person finally obtains enough filled spaces for Bingo they will receive a prize from the last vendor they are with when BINGO occurs.

    I've got several more you can do with Tic-Tac Toe and a host of other common simple games that most of us have played. Let me know what gives. Thanks! Is there anything else I can do for You?

    Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)
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