Trade show coaching: the system and support to boost your show ROI at full capacity
Have you ever walked out of a training knowing exactly what you should do, and then went back to your office and watched yourself go back to your old way of doing it?
And deep inside you knew it has nothing to do with the training. It's just that your environment didn't change with you, and so it felt out of place to be your new you, or implement the new process.
In between you and me that's why change is so hard. Sometimes it's not us, it's the environment. And its status quo can be powerful.
And with shows, it can be the same. No matter how much you'd like them to change for your company, you can't do that alone.
That gap, that need, is what The Activator is built to bridge.
Why knowing what to do and doing it on the floor are two different things
Learning the method to be successful at trade shows is the right starting point. Having a system for building a trade show strategy, a compass and a dashboard for what happens on the floor, and a way of reading visitors and turning conversations into cash is what most exhibitors never develop. Companies that have these are already ahead of most of their competition.
But visitors do not care what an exhibitor knows.
Solid preparation and good intentions are the basis of success. But the real trade show transformation starts when the new system is implemented. And if you ever heard the sentence "the map is not the territory" you know there is a gap between knowledge and experience.
And the worst is not the visitors that sometimes behave in unexpected ways. It is the team members who remain deaf to change that is the silent killer of your new method.
And this happens because implementing change in organizations is hard.
The distance between idea and realization is the story of human struggles. And change management is one of these struggles. It takes a vision, a method (not for trade shows this time but for bringing change to others) and orchestrating the change to bring the results everyone expects.
And much like climbing the Kilimanjaro requires a sherpa, tools and a good team spirit, being on a show floor, under pressure, in front of real visitors, implementing a new approach to shows requires more than preparation. It requires someone who has been on this floor before. Someone who has implemented the formula before. Someone to watch over the team and guide it towards the new results it's meant to achieve. Someone to correct mistakes in real time, before they become habits, and someone to keep the spirit high so no one gets discouraged when things don't work out as planned.
The Activator is built for exactly this. The system is the foundation. But it's the coaching and the on-site support that turn it into results.
What it takes to implement a method and turn it into results when the pressure is on
What this trade show coaching program helps you put in place before your show
Your coach spends one full day with your team on site. This is called The Prime. It's not a webinar, or a remote call. It's a full training day at your company, with the people who will be on the floor. The preparation that happens on that day is built around your specific show, your specific visitors and your specific pipeline goals. The conversations your team needs to have, the objections they will face and the visitor profile they will encounter are all rehearsed and locked before anyone sets foot on the floor. Because as Archilochus said it, when the pressure hits, you don't rise up to the occasion, you fall back to your level of preparation.
And to be ready for that day, your company benefits from private one-to-one mentoring with a trade show expert and this support continues after the show. This is called The Coefficient. You and your coach, working through show strategy, booth positioning, team assignments and every decision that needs to be made before the show opens, and after it has happened.
To do so with ease, you get full access to the M.A.G.I.C. Exhibiting™ Formula software. This is The Interface, the one source of truth for all your shows. It helps you structure the preparation, centralize the show plan, calculate the potential ROI, set the objectives for the show and the after show, and it gives you both a bird's eye view on your show and a precise magnifying glass when needed.
Now what about the show? Read on.
On the first day of your show, your coach is on the booth with you. On the last day of your show, too. This is The Injection.
Why the first and the last day? Because the first day sets the rhythm, the confidence and the habits your team will carry through the days in between. It's like taking off. Once at altitude, things get easier and your team is in flow. The last day though, teams get tired, and might reverse back to their old habits. To make sure you close the show at full capacity, and no bug gets installed in your team, your coach is with you, again.
Your coach works alongside your team. He watches the conversations. He sees what the team cannot see about itself from the inside. He corrects what needs correcting in real time. The visitor who is being lost. The pitch that runs too long. The qualifier being skipped. These corrections happen on the floor, in the moment, not in the debrief when it is too late to change the outcome.
And there is more. He also engages visitors, bringing you more business, generating conversations your team would have missed.
Last, the full show is also video recorded. This is The Trace. The footage is reviewed after the show for performance feedback and edited for social networks, so the show continues to produce content after the floor closes.
What a coach does on the floor to boost your team
Think about the last time you learned something well enough to teach it, and then had to perform it in front of people for the first time. A presentation, a difficult conversation, a new skill under pressure. You knew what to do. And in the moment, what you knew and what you did were not quite the same thing.
That is what first contact with the real thing feels like for everyone. That is how we all learned to swim or drive. And we were only let loose on our own, once the new skill was acquired and turned into a habit.
And if it feels weird, think about this. The best players in every sport have one thing in common. A coach.
What another show missed costs your company
The booth, the location, the design, the travel, the accommodation, the samples, the team off the road for three days. A trade show investment sits between fifteen and fifty thousand euros per event. Often more.
When the show misses, the cost is not just these invoices.
It is not even the pipeline that did not get built. Not even the conversations that qualified and then turned into nothing.
It is the discouragement that hits the team. The lassitude to go again to these events to come back empty handed. The morale of your troops gets affected. It's called learned helplessness, it's a psychological phenomenon. And it is extremely hard to uproot once installed.
That's why most exhibitors don't even try to make their shows profitable. They've learned through repetitive failures, to give it up.
And it is not only them, the trade show team. It's the rest of the company who see them come back defeated or giving blurry answers like "we went for branding, or they loved our tote bags, they were gone in 3 hours" who stop believing in shows and in them. It's the CFO who starts asking whether trade shows still make sense. And that conversation gets harder every year when the answer stays uncertain.
What is missed at a failing show is not just a revenue number. It is the credibility of the people going and that of the person defending the budget.
Testimonial to come
“Testimonial to come“
Christian NSHIZIRUNGU
Ceo, Pilim
Testimonial to come
"Testimonial to come"
First Name Name
Job, Company
The program built to make every show pay
What you get
Everything in The Catalyst:
The Igniter: three-day online intensive workshop with workbook.
The Antidote: six Q&A calls, one per month, chosen from twelve available over the year.
The Mixer: unlimited WhatsApp community access.
Plus:
The Interface: M.A.G.I.C. Exhibiting™ Formula software, twelve months of access.
The Coefficient: private one-to-one mentoring with your coach through the full preparation phase.
The Prime: one full day of on-site team training at your company, before the show.
The Injection: your coach on the booth on the first day and the last day of your show.
The Trace: full video recording of the show, reviewed for feedback and edited for social networks.
The Booster: optional greeters to extend your team's presence on the floor.
What this is not
This is not a remote coaching program you work through between calls. It is a real training of your team at your company and on your booth at your next show.
It is hands-on practice, not advice. Everything is built for your show, your team and your pipeline targets.
It is not a replacement for your team. Your team does the work. The coaching and the support make sure the work is done well, so it can pay.
This program gives support, but requires commitment. If you cannot or do not want someone external pushing your team to a new high, then this is not for you. So if you only want the knowledge and external support, go for The Catalyst. The door to come back for more is always open.
Who this is not for
The Activator is not the right fit if your company does not have a show in the next six months, and it's not for you if your show is in less than sixteen weeks. The system is built to be applied, but it also has a timetable built into it. The coaching is built around real show management, it's not just theory. So without one on the horizon, or with a show too close to the windshield, the engagement either has nothing to land on, or it needs emergency help. Coaching is not CPR.
Who this is for
The Activator is for companies that already exhibit and know their shows are not returning what they should. Companies where the next show is within six months and the investment needs to produce a measurable pipeline. Companies where management has approved bringing in an external expert and the person responsible for shows is ready to work closely with him, not just hand the problem over.
It is also for companies where someone is already running shows competently and wants to reach a level of performance they cannot get to alone.
Expected results
- A team that walks onto the floor with an on-site training day behind them and a coach ready to step in when the pressure rises
- Conversations qualified in real time and tracked before the last visitor leaves the booth
- A pipeline built during the show, not assembled two weeks later from a pile of business cards
- Footage from the floor that becomes content for your next campaign
The Activator is here to put a trade show expert in your team
With The Activator, companies go into their next show with a method built for their specific event, a coach to prepare their strategy, build up their team, and be by their side on the floor when it matters the most. And since the show starts when it ends, he's also here after the show to make sure the system you designed for the aftershow harvest is implemented and pays off.
Because your success is our reputation. We want your shows to stop being a cost you defend and start being a channel you build from.
Haven' t watched the Exhibitor's Edge masterclass yet?
It covers how the M.A.G.I.C. Exhibiting™ Formula works, the mistakes most exhibitors make, and whether The Activator is the right next step for your company.