how to get ahead in show business
TRANSCRIPT
Insight
We all know that a day spent out of the modern office is no longer the
junket it used to be. The emails and delegated tasks continue to pile
up in our electronic in-trays whilst we are away, so attending a trade
show has to be a truly effective use of one’s time.
Ah, you say, but whose time? Your business time? Your personal
time? Your employer’s time?
Let’s not beat about the bush here – we’re talking about the
effective use of your organisation’s money. But with a bit of forward
planning, you can also raise your game professionally, score more
than a few brownie points, and return to your office with your profile
raised and CV quality suitably increased.
Oh, and having completed a smidgen of worthwhile activity for
your employer.
Badges of honourExtracting the best possible value with the obligatory minimum
amount of effort from trade shows is something of a black art,
requiring the cunning abilities of a fox, the planning abilities of
a military commander and some of the bare-faced cheek of the
vendors who run amplified, non-stop sales presentations from their
stands – often apparently directed at their rivals on the stand next-
door as much as customers.
Planning is everything for trade shows. Check out the organiser’s
website and – most important of all – register yourself several times
under different titles, later using whichever one is most appropriate
for the occasion at hand.
You might, for example, use one badge identifying yourself as a
general dogsbody for patrolling the show floor. Sales piranhas will not
give you a second glance, which is good.
You might then use a badge identifying you as an IT manager or
analyst for gaining entry to the presentations that include free food
and drink on the itinerary. Remember that every hot (and cold, for
that matter) meal counts.
And you might also use a badge identifying you as John Smith,
managing director of Smith Industries, for gaining entry to the
organiser’s wine and cheese party at the end of day one. The fact
that Smith Industries is a one-man partnership you use for buying
electronic goodies on eBay is entirely irrelevant.
Badges, you may have realised, have a currency all of their own.
The age on the trainBack to the website. Check out the event dates and times, and then
look at the ‘how to get there’ option, which will include details of the
optimal methods of travelling to the show.
West London’s Olympia, home of Infosecurity Europe, is best
reached by rail. It has its own Underground spur-line – which is
much quieter to join at its starting point of High Street Kensington
than at Earl’s Court, if you’re coming around from Paddington. The
tube stop also serves as Kensington Olympia train station, which has
three trains an hour from Clapham Junction, and is also on a route
between Brighton and Watford Junction.
Over in Docklands, the Excel centre (used by Business Continuity
Expo and RSA Europe) may be more modern, but it is not blessed
with public transport links, and unsuspecting attendees can end up
paying £25 a day for the privilege of parking in the nearest car park.
But having a bite to eat at one of the many nearby hotels will
entitle you to reduced rate or even free parking, thus saving you from
the painful experience that is the Docklands Light Railway.
At the Birmingham NEC, having a meal at the Birmingham
Metropole Hotel, which is adjacent to the main halls at the far end of
the centre, will entitle you to a cheaper parking deal than if you follow
How to get ahead in show businessEver wondered, as you flop exhausted into your armchair at the end of another day’s visit to a trade show, whether you could have done things better? Let Infosecurity’s diarist Slack Alice maximise your expo efficiency
HANDY WEBSITES
www.laterooms.com – useful discount rates for hotels
www.biztradeshows.com – good site for trade shows
www.exhibitions.co.uk/xnetvenu.html – useful UK show venue guide
www.eventseye.com – handy list and URLs for worldwide trade shows
34 INFOSECURITY EUROPE 2008
the official NEC parking signs. It will also save you from the horrors of
the Birmingham NEC railway station with “fast and frequent trains”
(it says here) provided by Virgin Rail. Richard Branson eat your heart
out.
Talking of the NEC, if you haven’t parked at the Metropole Hotel
and are looking for a sensibly-priced meal – with a free shuttle bus as
a bonus – head towards Birmingham International Airport and take
advantage of the competitive range of eateries at this growing budget
airport.
This is much better value than scoffing a hideously over-priced
sandwich in one of the cramped ‘gardens’ in the hall complex
– assuming you can get a seat at lunchtime, of course. And it isn’t
raining.
Pay as you hearBack to the website, and use your printer – the office one, naturally
– to print out details of the free seminars and events at the show or
exhibition you are planning to attend.
Careful though. Many exhibitions,
particularly those at the Olympia conference
centres and halls in London, also offer a range
of expensive seminar streams for show-goers
to attend. The irony of the situation is that
many of these expensive seminars feature the
same people you will find in the free seminars
on the exhibition show floor.
The fact that you are paying for your
attendance does not always improve the
quality of the presentation concerned. The free
seminars, in fact, are one of the main reasons
that seasoned show-goers continue to attend
trade events. The information given is often
succinct and impartial – despite the vendor
branding – and the question and answer
sessions are a serious source of free advice.
But don’t forget to wear your
aforementioned relatively anonymous
dogsbody badge.
Speed walkingIf you’re planning to get around the event
quickly and efficiently, then engage brain
before using feet. At Olympia, head up to the
balcony level for speedy transit up and down
the hall. If balconies are tricky to reach, or the
event is a single floor exposition such as at
the Birmingham NEC, then move to the edges
of the show floor, map in hand, and use the
quieter side walkways.
Fighting your way though the main aisles
in a show can be one of the most dispiriting
experiences ever, as time-wasters meander in
and out of your path, doing barely one mile an
hour. These tyre-kickers, as they are known in
the US, are an expo hazard, with their propensity to change direction
on the spur of the moment and the damage their chock-full carrier
bags of trade materials can inflict on unprotected shins.
It’s also worth taking your lunch breaks at unusual times when
attending these events. This is because the show floors thin out
Register yourself several times under different titles... use one badge identifying yourself as a general dogsbody for patrolling the show floor. Sales piranhas will not give you a second glance, which is good
INSIGHT
35INFOSECURITY EUROPE 2008
noticeably at meal times, as the attendees and exhibitors – who
really should know better – head off for an overpriced sandwich and
beverage at the nearest show floor kiosk.
Having said that, and armed with your most importantly-titled
badge – selected from the multiple applications you made several
weeks before the event via the show website – you should carefully
examine the range of vendor presentations when you enter the event
for the first time, to verify the free meal events.
It’s worth peeking at the media section of the event website to
glean this information. The organisers rarely ID/password protect this,
for fear of alienating the press.
It’s also worth noting that the true expo sensi will always attend
the first day of any given trade show, as this is when the free food
vendor events and generous after-show parties are at their most
frequent.
Careful planning versus being cheekyIt’s at this point we should mention that there is a wide difference
between planning ahead to maximise the benefits and your time at a
trade show and being cheeky by blagging something you don’t have
any right too.
We’re not advocating that you socially engineer your way into
events to which you are not entitled. The exhibitor’s after-show party,
for example, is purely for exhibitors and their guests.
Try to gate-crash and you will almost certainly be asked to leave.
On the other hand, if you schmooze up to an exhibitor on the
show floor as a potential customer, there’s no harm in asking to
continue the conversation after the show at the exhibitor party – most
stand exhibitors have a limited number of complimentary tickets they
can give out to potential new clients.
By the same token, we don’t advocate blagging in any sense of
the word – with a little forward planning and analysis of the event
website, you can achieve a lot, including maximising the benefits of
your time at trade shows.
Which is why you read this feature in the first place, isn’t it?
Fighting your way though the main aisles in a show can be one of the most dispiriting experiences ever, as time-wasters meander in and out of your path, doing barely one mile an hour
INSIGHT
37INFOSECURITY EUROPE 2008