The Importance of Manning Your Booth

Recently our organization attended the Three Rivers Venture Fair (3RVF) in Pittsburgh. The 3RVF was launched as a place where service providers, investors and up and coming tech companies can come together, network and build the tech startup ecosystem. Held yearly, this event kicks off the spring tech community’s fairs and Demo Days.

This year (as in previous years) we sponsored the event and as a sponsor we were able to attend with our entire team and also have a booth to display our services. In a big room with 100 or so booths, I wondered how we would stand out, after all, we sell insurance and insurance is well, boring.

But as the day went on, I noticed our booth was packed! And not only did we have people at our booth we had repeat visitors. So what I want to tell you, potential event sponsor or booth attendee, is the key to having a successful booth is easy if you follow the below tips.

1. Always have at least 2 people at your booth. Having two people allows you to tag team your visitors. Having 2 company representatives gives you the opportunity to play off each other, or if you are busy, reach more people at one time. Having 2 people with slightly different job descriptions also helps because each visitor is going to have a different need so by offering employees with different positions helps for a well-rounded conversation.
2. Have your pitch ready. One of the things we noticed is with so much going on, our booth visitors didn’t have a lot of time to stop and talk to us. Having our 30 second elevator pitch helped us get our message out, tell the visitor what they needed to know and then allowed us to immediately figure out if this person was someone we need to follow up with at the cocktail hour.
3. Bring food, preferably something sweet! The saying “the way to the heart is through the stomach” is true! We had homemade cookies and they were a hit but they were also a great way to start a conversation. Having that one thing that gets people excited will get them to your booth.
4. MAN YOUR BOOTH. Lastly, the most important takeaway was probably the easiest thing but for some reason many people didn’t do, have bodies at your booth. There were so many booths that were empty. Leaving a business card and a flier at a booth and then leaving defeats the purpose of having a booth. People need to hear about your product and you need to engage them in your product. Promoting a product at the end of the day is all about relationship building and unfortunately even the most creative and eye catching marketing collateral can’t do this for you. Man your table at all times and make sure these people are engaging, outgoing and excited about what you’re selling and your booth will be successful.

To learn more about the 3RVF visit https://3rvf.com/ or to see pictures of our event check us out on Facebook or twitter!