walking down the aisles and looking at things. The clock moves quickly. It’s easy to run out of time before you accomplish what you need to do. Instead, use the show floor map to plot out your walking pattern so you can see the greatest number of vendors in the least amount of time. Schedule a certain amount of time to each vendor on your “A” list. Bonus tip: Avoid duplication of effort by allocating tasks among other people from your team or brokerage who are attending the show. TIP 3: TAKE CHARGE AT BOOTHS Deal with booth personnel efficiently. Determine early whether they are willing and able to answer questions that pertain to your needs. If the booth people can’t answer those questions then you have to smartly move on. Not all booth personnel are alike. A well-constructed booth has people at various levels. One person will be at ‘in depth’ level; others will be at beginning and intermediate levels. No in-depth person at the booth? You need to decide if you have sufficient interest to ask for an appointment with the right person. That can be smarter than using up your time talking with an individual who does not have the requisite knowledge. An alternative is to obtain the name and contact information of a person to call after the show’s over. That can be a prudent step anyhow. If you are serious about learning more about a product or service, you may wish to obtain the name and number of the local sales person in your area. Bonus tip: Save time by stating “I need to make a business decision” as you enter each booth. Then state the nature of the decision and ask how the vendor’s products will help. TIP 4: TAKE NOTES EFFICIENTLY Haphazard note-taking can result in a confused mass of papers stashed on a shelf back home. That means you lose information critical to business success, including the names of key contacts. Modern gadgets can come to your rescue, and old tech still has its place. Plenty of people still collect business cards and take notes on them. These can be great memory joggers to help connect the dots after the show. A pack of business cards provides an easy reference for making follow-up calls. Bonus tip: More attendees are entering information into iPads. Digital notes are efficient for later review and also for passing along key insights to people who did not attend the show. TIP 5: ALLOW FOR SERENDIPITY Plan out your time, but leave some open space. One of a trade FEATURE orlandorealtors.org/expo show’s strengths is a potential for ‘serendipity,’ or the discovery of unanticipated knowledge or connections. So leave time for random encounters. Everyone at the show wants to discover new things and meet new people. You may meet someone who does something similar to you but who is not a competitor. Find the opportunity to say hello to people. TIP 6: SHARE THE WEALTH Getting the most out of a trade show is a learned skill. Pass along the talent to the next generation. It’s good for a junior level person to accompany a senior level person as someone who can make introductions and put services in the context of business initiatives. Sharing such knowledge can lay a foundation for the continuing profitability of your business. > Adapted with permission from Aqua Magazine, aquamagazine.com. orlandorealtors.org 17
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