What trade fair services does it make sense to outsource?

Placing certain services for exhibiting at trade fairs in professional hands can save time, money and often also nerves. This approach that will normally also serve to make things more efficient.

Photo: Angelica and Thomas Stäbler
Photo: Angelica and Thomas Stäbler

Experts:
Angelica and Thomas Stäbler
Management Perfect Meeting
Seefeld / Munich

Hotel services
Searching the well-known online booking platforms provides exhibitors with a rough overview. On the downside it is mostly not possible to book more than nine rooms there. Details such as travel time to the exhibition site may be correct but this doesn’t always hold true for rush hour times or arrival and departure times at the fair, where it can often take much longer. In contrast, Perfect Meeting has checked out the hotels and routes and offers qualified advice – based on previously queried client needs. It’s definitely worth paying a higher price per overnight in this case. A hotel with a restaurant nearby will put the exhibitor’s staff in a better mood than a hostel in a remote industrial site. Plus: Due to special early arrangements with hotel chains we can offer large room blocks at the best rates. Due to the scale of our purchasing we can negotiate with hotels at eye level. 

Participant management
The fundamental question to consider is: Does the exhibitor really want to “burden” himself with all the administrative work and perhaps even a lot of stress? As an alternative, our team allows you to enjoy a fast, efficient and professional participant management. This includes constant updating of registrations, cancellations and changes as well as online registration and administration. In addition, we send individual confirmation mails with event details and will process and format customer data taking account of individual client wishes. The client can access the online-based tool at any time for status checks: Have all staff members already been invited? Who has sent a reply? Have bookings been made?

Transfer services
Does the client want a CEO to be picked up on the tarmac by a limousine? Or send a shuttle or coach for the stand team? We can provide all kinds of transport from and to the fair or evening event. Because we work with experienced partners the client will benefit from superior knowledge and one-stop coordination. What is the fastest way to get there now, for what time do you need to order what kind of vehicle? The latter can really be a cost saver. If you order a coach to arrive punctually at the end of the fair, although the exhibitor’s staff needs 25 minutes to get to the departure point, it’ll be standing there idle. But with the right knowledge you can avoid wasting time and save costs.  

Concierge service
This is a free service that is available to the client – during his stay – 24 hours a day. The advantages are obvious. For example, during gigantic trade shows like Bauma in Munich all of the suitable restaurants are already fully booked several weeks beforehand. That is why we book blocks at restaurants long in advance. Using lists displayed at the booths we ask exhibitors for their requirements until a specified time of day. If individual seats are no longer required, the restaurant can release them at short notice. We can even organise city tours and tickets for events. Constant updating of room lists is another example. This is to avoid that Mr. Smith doesn’t get a room because the reception desk is unaware that his colleague Mr. Brown has cancelled his overnight stay. This also saves you “no-show costs” because the hotel can re-sell any rooms that are not used. 

A contact is always reachable during the fair. (Photo: Perfect Meeting)
A contact is always reachable during the fair. (Photo: Perfect Meeting)

Trade fair event
This includes location search, invitation and registration processes as well as on-site implementation. Once again you can choose between a full package of services or individual service modules. Of course, any trade fair host can organise events himself. But it often takes a lot of know-how, time and experience for a B2B event – therefore outsourcing makes sense. 

Further services
Catering: We screen the market. Ultimately, the client decides whether our partners’ offers are more attractive or his own caterer is the better choice. Personnel: We have been working with hand-picked multilingual and qualified trade fair hostesses for many years. Booth construction and photo services are also available. Pooling different services minimises communication issues because the client has a single contact for everything. Our company values apply to our interaction and cooperation with exhibitors: openness, fairness, partnership and long-term relationships.

Perfect Meeting works for over 1,700 clients and is, among others, an official partner of GHM Munich for The Smarter Europe (formerly Intersolar) trade show as well as for TSS Worldwide (the representative agency for Messe München and Messe Essen in the USA).

This article was published in TFI issue 3/2018

 
 

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