Have you ever been curious what happens behind the scenes to execute a show? Stacy McManus, Director, Corporate Alliances & Exhibition Operations at the American Thoracic Society shares an insider look in a recent interview of how the American Thoracic Society (ATS ) show prepares and collaborates with exhibitors to achieve success. The ATS show has 200 exhibitors and 14,000 attendees and you can find out super charged tips that will help exhibitors and associations alike boost metrics and retention.
5 Ways Associations Can Help Boost Exhibitor Results
- Offer Networking Environments on the Show Floor: Including networking areas inside the exhibit hall gives attendees and exhibitors the opportunity to exchange ideas and gets them to visit the show floor.
- Listen to Feedback from Exhibitors: ATS has an exhibitor meeting that includes all sizes of exhibits and categories who meet with leadership from the association to share feedback at the show.
- Use Innovative Technology: This year ATS is using Beacon technology which operates similar to RFID tracking where the attendee moves within the convention center and also eliminates scanning for CME programs offered at the show.
- Make Booth Selection Easier: ATS offers attendees a full budget overview from the space to material handling allowing exhibitors the ability to select a size that meets budget requirements.
- Offer Incentives To Increase Booth Space: Offering a special rate to upgrade by 10’ helps exhibitors see how many more meaningful conversations they can have if they go from a 10 x 10 to a 10 x 20 for example.
- Create a Relaxation Area: ATS offers their team and attendees foot messagers to use and it helps them recharge at the show.
Stacy shared that “it can take a village” to execute a successful show and associations like exhibitors also look to for their own metrics and success of a show. By listening closely to the exhibitor, offering new innovations and collaborating with exhibitors when they have a product launch or if they need to scale down when they have a product that may be going off patent, associations can also reach their goals. For ATS, success is retaining exhibitors and they do it through offering value and a very positive results driven experience.
Want to learn more about the ATS show or have a question for Stacy? Here is contact information for her:
www.thoracic.org http://conference.thoracic.org Smcmanus@thoracic.org
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You can also find Stacy in our LinkedIn Group-check it out! If you have a question or a topic you would like to learn more about-reach out to me, I love hearing from you!
Resource: Exhibitor Magazine-a great place to find information that can help exhibitors and associations alike.