Planning for an event is a thorough and exhaustive process and all aspects of the event need to be considered. It is important when planning for an event to put a lot of consideration into your event staff, no matter how much budget and thought goes into your stand equipment, if you do not have the right staff and prepare them accordingly, you will find it difficult to connect with visitors.

Here are our tips on how to ensure your staff are equipped for your next show.

 

Ensuring you Bring Right Members of Staff

When considering event staff, it is wise to choose people who best represent your business and your business’ values, as this will need to be conveyed to attendees who approach your stand.

Staff that are trained in sales are an easy choice as they are already selling your services/products in the day to day, but it is not crucial that all staff attending are trained in sales. Any staff member that knows your company and brand and is out-going would make a great addition to your team on the day.

If you don’t have the staff you think you’ll need internally, you can also consider hiring temporary help to assist with the event, but ensure that you give them the enough time to learn about your products and services before the day.

Remember that staff don’t have to stick around for the entire event. If you’re stand is on the more complex side or you are planning to attend the event alone, you may want to consider bringing additional people to help setup.

According to Expocentric, a good number of staff for an event would be 3-4 employees.

 

Set Expectations

Now you’ve chosen the right staff for the event, you need to set out some expectations and objectives for them. A good objective would be to set how many sales you want to make at the event. Around 10% of leads will turn into sales, so if your target sales for an event is 5 your staff will need to have at least 50-60 informative conversations.

Also set the objective of correctly collecting lead information, whether this be collecting business cards or using a lead capture form so they can follow up after the event. Encourage staff to book follow up meetings with hot leads at the event straight away, as this will strengthen the likelihood of a final sale. 

It is important they are aware that they represent your brand and will be the face of your company to many visitors, so you should set some outlines for how they should dress for the event, particularly if your office dress code is usually more relaxed.

Communicate your expected dress code for staff to follow or provide them with a uniform such as branded shirts or polo shirts. If you are ordering any customised items for staff to wear, ensure these are ordered in good time for the event and allow for any delays in delivery or returns if needed.

 

Define Roles

With your team of event staff assembled, it is important to define roles within the team so the event runs as smoothly as possible. You should play to everyone’s strengths when assigning roles, you may wish to have these 3 types of roles for your staff:

  • Front of house: Assign your friendliest staff to greet potential visitors and customers over to your event stand. They will attract initial interest for your more technical and sales staff to follow through the selling.
  • Experts: The expert takes the qualifying information the front of house staff provides and creates targeted dialogue with the attendee. They will be the selling experts and be aligned with the event goals to maximise selling.  
  • Networkers: you may wish to assign 1 or 2 staff to go network with other exhibitors at the event, their main purpose will not be strictly selling, but engaging with other attendees at the event, creating business connections and checking out competitors.

 

Train your Staff

To help to prepare your team and settle any event nerves, practice sales pitches and role play conversations as attendees. This will help staff to remember key points for conversation and keep the pitch less scripted, as this will lose emotion and may put off potential leads.

If you can, try to ensure staff are familiar with the event venue and floor plan, get them to download the event app if there is one, go through health and safety for the event and fire evacuation points if these are known.

 

Consider any Additional Costs/ Bookings

Depending on the location of the event, you will need to consider how your staff are going to get to the venue. If the event is a multi-day event or far away, be sure to consider their travel arrangements.

When considering travel arrangements for staff, also think about their day at the event and expenses they may accrue. Communicate with your staff what you will and won’t reimburse them with so there’s no surprises after the event.

 

Following this guide on preparing your event staff will help increase the confidence of your staff, therefore increasing your success of attending the event.

For more helpful tips for exhibiting and event planning, visit ExpoBeacon Insights and news.