In our earlier post on the issue of Participating in Fairs, we had talked about the lack of clarity amongst most exhibitors about their objectives in participating in fairs.  In this post, we will look at some of the ‘misguided’ expectations and dealing with that.

If one wants to solely Network, he does not necessarily need to be an Exhibitor but can manage it better as a business visitor because being an Exhibitor actually pins the staff to their own stall and hence they would not be in a good position to circulate and meet others.  It is indeed a very common and a pathetic sight to find some stalls totally deserted while those responsible are found elsewhere.  There can be nothing more heinous than this, given the investment that goes into the hiring of the stall and taking part in the Show, including decorating the Show space, the teaser ads to be inserted in a couple of the local dailies and Industry Journals, Printing of the relevant Brochures and Leaflets, etcetera !

As to the Visibility Factor, the moot question that arises herein is,  ‘Visible to Whom?’, which is seldom asked, rarely answered and often remains a blurred issue.  For example, if a Company offers Software Solutions for the Insurance Industry, what is the point if being visible amongst the players in other sectors like FMCG, Manufacturing, Retail, et al ?  And normally in generic shows, the crowd is normally not the commercial ones but often the office-goers whose intent is more on collecting brochures, bags and other freebies, and not to mention the student community who are  looking for projects and jobs.  This is not to say categorically that none of the visitors will come from the industry.  But when they do come, there will be hardly anybody in the stalls to attend to them properly leave alone address their requirements.  And unfortunately, even the several reams of expensive brochures brought in for the Show would have been exhausted by then.

Likewise, Creating awareness of the Products and Services offered by an Exhibitor is indeed a very noble objective.  But when one asks some deeper questions such as the market-readiness of the Products or Services, the ability of those manning the stalls to give an interesting account of the Product or an effective demo is found wanting many a times, and the answers are often in the negative.  So, by taking part in an exhibition with a Product or a Service that is unready or by deploying novices to talk about the products, one is certainly creating an awareness but not of the beneficial kind !!!  In fact, the participation can even lead to virtual closure of the Prospects’ doors subsequently and ruin the possibility of making any decisive impact of the positive kind in the market place, if not playing a havoc and wrecking the company’s chance of succeeding in future.

Similarly, it is observed and strongly felt that for gathering market intelligence again one does not need to be an exhibitor.  A visitor will be able to elicit better information from competitors than an exhibitor will and there is a high possibility that the employees from the competitors will no doubt pry and get more information on your weaknesses.  Is that really desirable ?

On the aspect of ‘necessary evil’, the question arises ‘necessary for what?’ and if it is evil why spend so much of money on an evil event.  Given the kind of returns of every kind as we saw above, is it worth taking part in an Exposition however exciting such a proposition may be ?

On the other hand, there are companies who expect to sell multiple units of their product at the exhibition itself and make the (un)necessary preparatory work in vain.  They are normally very disappointed at the turn of events during the fair and this creates greater disillusionment in them. As such, not much business gets transacted at the venue of the exhibition itself and is generally not to be expected, other than at the most creating a minimal presence felt in the market circles and rarely in terms of creating a stir in the market place.  In other words, one cannot just like that think on the lines of making an impact in the Industry arena of the positive kind vide one’s mere participation in an Exhibition and thus attracting the attention of the Industry folks to some extent, which seldom happens frequently.

So, finally to get going on this issue, one needs to ask oneself as to whether Participating in Fairs is totally a waste, worthless and unremunerative ?  Not at all.  If a Company has an innovative and ready Product or a very revolutionary technology to offer, then it would be really worthwhile launching it in such Fairs as it would garner better attention.  The value for the investment is higher in Industry-specific Fairs given the quality of the audience that would normally come in, and would be commensurate to the kind of reach one would be getting in terms of visibility.

But to take part in a Fair merely for the availability of budgets or as a means to cater to the whims and fancies of the Top Management is certainly undesirable.  I am not at all suggesting that companies should not take part in such exhibitions but only cautioning them against reckless participation without any clear objectives or with undue expectations in their minds.