Commonalities between Christmas and Trade Shows

by Dec 29, 2024Lastest Posts0 comments

What if I told you there were ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐ŸŽ„๐—–๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„๐˜€?

You probably would tell me “what the heck man?” ๐Ÿค”

Well, stay with me for a minute; I’ll explain…

๐—›๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ด๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„๐˜€?

I mean, why not stay at the office and ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜„๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฏ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ instead of going to these big hangars?

Think about it, it’s ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, and you’ll get manipulated by marketers in the same way. ๐Ÿ’ผ๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ•ต๏ธโ€โ™‚๏ธ

So why go? ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ

๐—•๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ the… ๐—ฆ๐—จ๐—ฅ๐—ฃ๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—˜ you might have!

Kind of like when you open presents at Christmas. Or like Forrest Gump with his box of chocolates. ๐ŸŽ‰๐Ÿซ

Because ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ (๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ) ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€

Whether you’re hunting a mammoth, a dress in a shopping mall, or mustard in the alley of your supermarket, human brains have a special reward for (good) surprises; it’s called dopamine. ๐Ÿง ๐Ÿ’ฅ

And this is why trade shows are… complicated. ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

As an ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ, ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€, but make sure you surprise them positively and not negatively which will cause a reduction in dopamine (like I see too many exhibitors do on trade show floors). ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿ› ๏ธ

But How?

And on what specific elements of your trade show strategy should you introduce the element of surprise?

We’ll go into specifics in another post. ๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ“ข

More than a tip, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ to prepare ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„, ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ. โœจ

This “emotion” is at the heart of the event, tourism, hotel, and restaurant industries. It’s also how social media companies keep you hooked. ๐Ÿ’ผ๐Ÿจ๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ“ฑ

Surprises convey a sense of creativity and innovation

In a sense, it’s a form of… hope! (You’ll think about it next time you vote for someone). ๐ŸŒŸ๐Ÿ—ณ๏ธ

So when you catch attendees off guard with surprises, it ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ’๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ, ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ. It also ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ that you’re not just another exhibitor but a ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ in your industry, that you stand out from the pack, which means you’re ๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ. ๐ŸŒŸ๐Ÿš€

The key is to ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†, ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด “๐˜€๐˜๐˜†๐—น๐—ฒ” (more on that in another post). ๐Ÿ’ผ๐Ÿค๐ŸŽฉ

Now I’ve got a question for you: Have you experienced the magic of surprise at a trade show? Was it a good or a bad one, and why? ๐ŸŽ‰๐Ÿค”

Feel free to share your experience in the comments below and spark up the discussion. ๐Ÿ’ฌ๐Ÿ‘‡

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2 other posts people liked

Recession and trade show, to go or not go?

(AI free post) Recession... Touchy subject, right? No business owner wants to hear this world, but as the sun is not always shinning, there are times in business when the lights can turn red. In which case, what to do with your trade shows intentions? (for budget you...

Trade shows are like Discotheques

(AI-free post) As itโ€™s time to take a summer break for most of us, I leave you at your vacations with a little observation to be made that will help you understand the dynamics at stakes on trade shows for when the fall/winter season will begin. When quantity AND...

Want to receive our upcoming posts?

Leave us your email and name, we're RGPD, your data will never be sold or used by anyone else than us.