Momentum Management welcomes new Vice President

Momentum Management is pleased to announce the promotion of John Knoska to vice president of field operations.  As you know, John has been our Chicago city manager for the past year and a half.  He will now work alongside our vice president of operations, John Ramaglia, continuing to enhance and support our growth.  John Knoska  Since John's arrival, Chicago has become one of our brighter spots among many others.  John's many years of growing organizations will allow us to continue to support you at the levels you've come to expect from us. To replace John's position, we have welcomed Dave Kennedy as the new Chicago city manager.  Dave brings 30 years of experience in the trade show industry to our team.  We are very excited about Dave's arrival as our new city manager.  Dave brings tremendous experience in the industry and in the short time he's been with us, he's become a huge hit with many of you who have met him. Please join us in congratulating John in his new role and welcoming Dave to the Momentum Management team. Sincerely, Your Momentum Management Team

Gaining Momentum - Tips from the Trade Show Floor Part 11

Welcome to October's "Gaining Momentum"!  In addition to our trade show list and city profile we send you each month, Momentum Management would like to help you to continue to "gain momentum" in the trade show world with our "Gaining Momentum" tips.  This email is just a short list of common sense solutions to everyday problems you may run into. We'll also be posting these on our facebook page so if you have any comments or suggestions in addition to our tips, please take a few minutes to comment on our page.  Send us your tips, we'll send you a gift card!  We welcome any tips from you that we can add to our "Gaining Momentum - Tips from the Trade Show Floor" email.  If we use your tip in an upcoming issue, we'll mail you a Starbucks gift card! Last month, Brian Keobke from Xibita received an gift card for his submission in the newsletter!  Thanks Brian! --Your Momentum Management Team

Vincent Tricomi - PFI Displays      Tip #22-26: Five ways to improve your trade show exhibit results at no-cost Do Your Pre-Show Homework:  Analyze last year's "A-Level" leads, and get a list of this year's attendees Have your sales team start calling weeks before the show to schedule in-booth appointments Consider other types of outreach, from social media to direct mail Strut Your Stuff:  Volunteer as an expert for the educational seminars at your trade show.  You won't be "selling" your company, but you will be building your credibility with the audience Improve Your "Boothmanship:" Consider the body language of you and your staff Avoid matching outfits that make attendees feel like they're walking into a used car lot Ban the use of cell phones in your booth space (that's right, BAN them!)   Practice an "elevator pitch" and make sure everyone working the trade show knows, understands, and can communicate your company's USP Social Media is Your Friend:  Use it to extend the show by building interest before, during, and after Special promotions during the show are a great way to drive additional foot traffic to your exhibit One great place to start:  typically, show organizers have a Twitter account set up for the show.  See who's following that feed and interact to let the audience know you're there Post-Show MEASUREMENT: This is the most important AND most overlooked way to radically increase your exhibit ROI.  If you don't know what works and what doesn't, how can you evolve your trade show program?  Within 2 weeks of the show's end, gather all the company's stake holders and discuss best and worst practices and what to target for next year Taylor's Twitter Tips Tip #27: Don't be scared away from tweeting something just because you want to include a long URL in the tweet.  Twitter automatically shortens the length of a URL in your tweet so that it only takes up a maximum of 20 characters, which leaves you 120 characters for you to use.  After you type out or copy and paste a link in your tweet, you'll see that your remaining characters left only goes down by 20, even if the URL is 100 characters long.  So tweet whatever you like and don't be frightened to include a URL every now and then.       To view our Gaining Momentum from previous months, go to the links below. June 2011  August 2011  October 2011  December 2011  January 2012  March 2012  May 2012 - Contest Announcement  June 2012 - Contest Winner    July 2012   September 2012

New Expos Cover the Tradeshow Landscape - From The Exhibit City News

New expos cover the tradeshow landscape

The Exhibit City News

Written by Devanny Novak

Monday, August 27 2012 09:30

New tradeshows have been popping up across the expo landscape for the past several years. From cars and RVs to baths and spas, these new shows offer exhibitors a range of new venues to do business with companies for their products and services throughout the world. Based on the success of shows like EXPO PACK México, PMMI, the owner and producer of the event, has launched EXPO PACK Guadalajara. For starters, Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), the not-for-profit association for more than 432,000 industry professionals and 10,600 corporate members of the $17.7 billion promotional products industry, recently announced a collaboration with the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) to produce a new annual event dubbed The Motivation Show Las Vegas. The Motivation Show Las Vegas is sponsored by the IMA and will feature an exhibit hall and conference program open to all buyers and resellers of incentive and recognition products and services featuring brand name merchandise, gift card, and experiential reward suppliers. The event will be held January 15-17, 2014 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. “We are honored to combine forces with the IMA to fully realize the potential of incentive and recognition products’ strengths in the industry,” said Paul Bellantone, CAE, PPAI president and CEO. “This alliance will provide access and exposure to new markets in new ways while delivering greater value to our members.” Another new show that’s popped up is the ASSEMBLY Show, taking place October 28-30, 2013, at the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. The ASSEMBLY Show is the only event to focus exclusively on assembly technology, equipment and products. "We are 100 percent dedicated to assembly, and willing to do what it takes to deliver the most compelling event in the industry,” said Tom Esposito, Publisher, ASSEMBLY Magazine. “The main attraction for attendees at a tradeshow is the opportunity to view live demonstrations of new products.” To ensure a successful opening, The ASSEMBLY Show has eliminated drayage fees for the entire show floor, making it more accessible and affordable to exhibitors. “To encourage exhibitors to bring their large equipment to this working-product show floor, we are picking up all direct-to-dock drayage fees including surcharges and overtime," said Esposito. "Drayage fees are typically the largest expense at a manufacturing event, creating a huge burden for exhibitors who want to display a heavy product.” Among the industries looking toward tradeshows as a viable option for marketing their products is the food service industry, with the introduction of the Atlanta Foodservice Expo. This new tradeshow will serve the restaurant, food service and hospitality industries in Georgia and the general Southeast. “We are excited about the opportunity to bring a focused show to a major market that will not only bring buyers and sellers together, but will also deliver a unique package of service and value,” said David Audrain, president of Clarion Events, creators of the show. “This industry event will ensure that both the attendees and exhibitors achieve the maximum return on investment.” The expo will be held annually at the Georgia World Congress Center. The inaugural show is scheduled for Oct. 20-22, 2013. Although new shows have been joining the U.S. tradeshow landscape, even more new international expos will be making their debut in the next few years. South of the border, PMMI, the owner and producer of EXPO PACK México, PACK EXPO International and PACK EXPO Las Vegas, has announced a new, regional tradeshow that will be held biennially in Guadalajara, Mexico. PMMI will launch EXPO PACK Guadalajara Feb. 27–March 1, 2013, anticipating a more than 30,000-square-foot show floor with 100 exhibitors and 4,000 attendees. “Our decision stemmed from the continued success of EXPO PACK México, requests from current EXPO PACK exhibitors and market research data,” says Charles D. Yuska, president & CEO, PMMI. “We’re starting small and focusing our resources on high quality attendees and exhibitors to build a strong foundation for future events.” However, Latin America isn’t the only continent catching on to the growing tradeshow industry. NürnbergMesse, for example, has organized the Automotive Engineering Expo, to be held June 4-6, 2013, at the Exhibition Center Nuremberg in Germany. Engineers involved in the planning, development and production of modern car bodies, painting processes and assembly lines for international car manufacturers and system suppliers can source information on technology trends and innovations at the new exhibition. “Car body engineering is increasingly concerned with identifying technology and material innovations as quickly as possible and developing their suitability for series production,” said Franziska Moennig, director on the board of the Automotive Circle International in the Vincentz Network. “This is exactly where the Automotive Engineering Expo offers an ideal platform.” Messe Düsseldorf is also expanding its horizons to include the automotive industry. From August 10-12, 2012, the premiere staging of All in TUNING, Trade Fair for Professional Car Tuning, and All in CARAVANING, Trade Fair for Motor Homes and Caravans, took place at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing, China. The new tradeshow included more than 215,000 square feet, and more than 150 exhibitors presented innovations in car tuning, concept cars, personalized vehicle construction, racing cars and accessories. Over in the Middle East, Reed Exhibitions has been creating a new platform for the bath, pool and associated industries to tap into the emerging growth possibilities by organizing the first Saudi Bath Pool Spa Expo in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The new tradeshow, which will run from April 30 to May 2, 2013, at the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events, will provide an opportunity for dealers and manufacturers in the bath and pool industry to reach out to buyers from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries. "Saudi Arabia continues to be a major attraction for international players, not only for its vast petrochemical wealth, but also because of its increasing young population which is driving the economic growth in the country,” said Thamer Al Sheikh, CEO of Reed Sunaidi Exhibitions. “The new housing schemes are implementing contemporary design and building measures where water is smartly being integrated in the daily life of the kingdom residents.” The introduction of these new tradeshows is a positive sign for new economies and emerging industries. These new show floors will offer exhibitors more opportunities to market products, network with customers and generate business leads, which only means more overall growth for the tradeshow industry.

Gaining Momentum - Tips from the Trade Show Floor Part 10

Hi Hillary, Welcome to September's "Gaining Momentum"!  In addition to our trade show list and city profile we send you each month, Momentum Management would like to help you to continue to "gain momentum" in the trade show world with our "Gaining Momentum" tips.  This email is just a short list of common sense solutions to everyday problems you may run into. We'll also be posting these on our facebook page so if you have any comments or suggestions in addition to our tips, please take a few minutes to comment on our page.  Send us your tips, we'll send you a gift card!  We welcome any tips from you that we can add to our "Gaining Momentum - Tips from the Trade Show Floor" email.  If we use your tip in an upcoming issue, we'll mail you a Starbucks gift card! Last month, Rena Patton from Exhibit Options received an gift card for her submission in the newsletter!  Thanks Rena! --Your Momentum Management Team

Taylor Fogg - Momentum Management Tip #21: Using Twitter has endless opportunities for advancing your business, but did you know you can quickly choose certain Tweets to also send to your Facebook page?  If you simply include #fb at the end of your tweet, it will automatically go to your Facebook page as well!  Brian Keobke - Xibita     Tip #22:  Some exhibitors have a few shows in Europe and often ask about the best way to deal with the voltage change. Unless they have several shows that would justify the expense of European modified lights that accept the 220 volt currency it's easier to get a couple of power bars and voltage converters to go with them. Just make sure when you purchase the converters, that are in fact VOLTAGE converters. I once made the mistake of getting PLUG converters which do not compensate for the voltage change, just the shape of the plug. Let me tell you, my wife will never let me forget about the hair dryer and curling iron that went up in smoke!

Gaining Momentum! Tips from the Trade Show Floor - Part 9

Welcome to July's "Gaining Momentum"!  In addition to our trade show list and city profile we send you each month, Momentum Management would like to help you to continue to "gain momentum" in the trade show world with our "Gaining Momentum" tips.  This email is just a short list of common sense solutions to everyday problems you may run into.

We'll also be posting these on our facebook page so if you have any comments or suggestions in addition to our tips, please take a few minutes to comment on our page. 

Send us your tips, we'll send you a gift card!

We welcome any tips from you that we can add to our "Gaining Momentum - Tips from the Trade Show Floor" email.  If we use your tip in an upcoming issue, we'll mail you a Starbucks gift card!

We'd also like to say another quick "thank you" to all of you who participated in our contest this summer!  Brian Keobke from Xibita is loving his new iPad valued at $1,000!  We hope to have another contest again - but until then - keep your tips coming in for a chance to win a Starbucks card! 
--Your Momentum Management Team 

Kaci Bledsoe ~ Momentum Management Tip #19:  It's a good idea to pack two inventory lists with the booth so that all pieces and parts are accounted for at the install AND at the dismantle.  Furniture items often get scooped up by the show labor or a furniture rental company before the dismantle even begins.  An inventory sheet is just a quick and easy way to make sure all things are accounted for when both installing and packing up the booth.  Rena Patton - Exhibit Options     Tip #20: At your next event, have an additional power drop placed in your conference room or by  your reception counter and offer attendees a place to charge their mobile devices while you meet with them. Chargers for the major brands like iPhone, iPad and blackberry are inexpensive and can be easily packed with your display materials. This creates an excellent opportunity for you to spend a little extra time talking up your product lines while the attendee gets a quick charge, and is shown great customer service!"

Winner of our $1,000 Apple Giveaway Revealed!

Brian Keobke

Yes!  A very lucky person DID, in fact, win our tips contest!  Congratulations to Brian Keobke with Xibita for winning the contest.  Brian bought the latest and greatest 64GB iPad with Wi-Fi and 4G capabilities with his $1,000 gift card!
Thank you to everyone who participated in our contest.  We received some very helpful tips that we hope will save you time and money!  Many of our tips were too long to list on Twitter, but most, including the several that Brian sent in, are listed throughout our Facebook page and many more will be featured in our future Gaining Momentum emails.  Our next email with more useful tips is scheduled to be sent out on July 18th. 

Thank you again for all who participated in our contest! 

--Your Momentum Management Team