Say it Better

Sensory Ways to Bring Others Closer…

… and enable them to gain bragging rights about their experience with you and your place or event.

Was it the butterscotch-colored walls, light coconut scent wafting through the door as I opened it or the cushy island of deep blue carpet under my feet as I stepped into the boutique hotel? I don't know yet I instinctively sighed with relief. And that was before I saw the the smiling doorman walking towards me, saying, “We’re glad that you’re safely out of that storm. Let me help you with your coat, if you like, and your bag.” 

The lobby was light with the soft, full-spectrum lights that store make-up counters have, making us all look and feel our best.

Hint: Positive sensory cues multiple their emotional effect when we feel more than one at once or in quick succession.

In fact, without my knowing it at the time, that doorman looked more handsome and caring than I would have experienced him if the entry to that hotel had shiny metal railings, an elaborately patterned carpet and/or a dark colored wall. Further, since the “closing scene” when I left the hotel the next morning was as a positive as the opening scene, I tended to forget the slow room service or  cramped bathroom, according to research on the power of the sequence of events within an experience - from a vacation to a colonscopy. 

That’s why it behooves anyone who wants their guests, customers, conference attendees or families at home to feel welcome, brag about their experience and act nicely to storyboard the sequence of multi-sensory experiences that those they serve or love experience in their “place.”

Even apparently small physical experiences make a big emotional and even learning difference. Adapt these multi-sensory cues to emotionally engage with others: 

1. Children “are better at math when using their hands while thinking,” found to Josh Ackerman, a MIT psychologist. Further, the weight, texture and hardness of objects we touch affects our opinion of the people and the situation.

2. Actors recall lines better when moving and we remember more when walking, gesturing, eating or physically working on something.

3. “People are more generous after holding a warm cup of coffee and more callous after hold a cold drink,” discovered Yale University psychologist John Bargh.

4. Patterns, whether on the walls or floor or upper part of one’s clothing, break up the observers’ attention span and, like ambient noise in a room from the heating or air conditioning system, make us more agitated and inclined to become irritated by each other’s behavior.

 5. Scent is the most directly emotional sense and thus a two-edge sword. If the evoked memory is positive it hits deeply and, if not….well, we are more likely to project bad characteristics on the scene and individuals around us.

6. Enable people to engage in the scenes or objects around them and gain bragging rights as a consequence. Have a “What’s next for you?” sign on a large bowl of positive sayings or fortunes near places where they must wait or pause, such as check-in areas.  Staff can encourage them to read theirs aloud. (The more actions we take on behalf of something the more deeply they believe in it, identify with it and will share it with others.)

7. Encourage colleagues to stand and walk side-by-side with those you serve this "sidling" is more likely to evoke a convivial  “us” feeling.

 8. Create a story about your region, place, interactive object or monument or event, hopefully involving humorous, heroic or otherwise emotional incidents and individuals, where you can invite those you serve to become a part of that story, as Peter Gruber suggests.

They may become a part  of "our" story when they can participate your custom ritual, receive your souvenir as a gift, eat the snack that’s part of the story or you take a photo of them in front of the scene on the wall that represents a highlight of our story – and email it to them after they leave.

9. Continue to keep them involved with “our story.” Use geosocial apps that enable them to connect with each other  - and your staff - as they walk through your store, hotel, hospital, sports arena or event. That’s what DoubleDutch did for TED conference attendees. And use augmented reality apps, as in Tuscany, yet to enable people to discover more about your area, place or meeting.

What multi-sensory cues have you used to involve people in your place, event or other experience?  Also let's share ways to say it better on Twitter. I am @kareanderson.

 

The Real Truth, Told in the Dark at Your Meeting

“Breakfast had just concluded and the one hundred and seventy (or so) executives slowly made their way into the posh conference room. Clad in crisp golf shirts and pleated slacks, this management team was in high spirits.” Read the rest of Michael Humphrey’s story and wonder. What would you say or hear if this was done at your organization’s meeting?

After all, Speaking Matters.

See more upstart ideas for making meetings more meaningful and memorable including …

An Engaging Way to Ask Your Group What They Want

Want More Sponsor Money for Your Member-Based Group?

When a Conference Audience Gets Ugly in Live Time

Keep Attendees Involved, Eager to Return Next Year…

Safe, Smart, Satisfying Ways to Learn From Each Other

A Natural Way to Network at “Our” Conference

Make Your Next Conference More Participatory ...

... so they'll want to come back next year.

How many conferences have you attended where you felt talked “at” by a series of speakers up on stage? Then you rushed between sessions to meet new people and catch up with friends in the hallways. Wouldn’t it be great to have a meeting designed to support you in exchanging ideas with the colleagues most helpful for you?

Well, next February many professional meeting planners will be attending a conference that’s designed to in a “Me2We” way – where attendees turn from passive to active participants - interacting more frequently and productively. Then they can celebrate together and to learn from each other. (Not a new idea - just one that is spread too slowly for some, including me.)

MPI Meeting DifferentlyWant your next conference to be more meaningful and memorable? Via Jim Louis, one of the adept More...moderators of a closely-knit online group to which I belong called MeetingsCommunity (MeCo), I discovered MeetingsNet’s coverage of the innovative formats for the conference, “MPI Meeting Differently”:

“To improve the trade show experience, MPI is changing the layout of the exhibit hall. One innovation is something MPI calls "conversation spots," freestanding circular plexiglass towers that are divided into quadrants and placed in high-profile spots around the exhibit hall. The idea is to provide a more intimate meeting area for exhibitors and attendees than they normally find on the trade show floor.

Organizers tinkered with more than just the trade show format. New concepts include:

a. The "Conversation Café"-a learning environment based on a coffee shop.

b. "Book clubs" - discussions led by book authors and subject matter authorities.

c. Wikis - each educational session will have its own wiki pages to encourage pre- and post-session communication and collaboration.

d. Educational sessions in "soft seating" or lounge-style meeting environments. Most of the 80 educational sessions will eschew a traditional classroom setting. Instead they will be held in the round to facilitate interactive learning and discussion.”

My faint hope is that this is the tipping point to make meetings even more interactive so attendees find in each other fresh ways to be mutually-supportive. Even as a "professional" (aka paid) speaker I'd welcome more short (20 - 30 minute) "meet the expert" sessions around 8-12 person tables, with a bell ringing so you could move through three sessions in a block. Then the mix and mingle times are more fun and valuable. That's because you've probably discovered some people who share your interests and gotten a sense of whom you might like and respect enough to talk further.

For an invitation-only gathering, have inclusive, action-inducing rituals like the TED conference or Rennaisance Weekend.

Plus why not let attendees vote on the topics, speakers and session formats they most want?

And why not ask all invited speakers to 1) submit in advance, three of the tips they will present, then 2) receive an email of all speakers' tips and be required to 3) refer to at least two other speaker's tips as they complement the speaker's message. Thus the conference would have more continuing threads of themes.

Also why not have lively panels of inside and outside experts (1. journalists or columnists, 2. researchers at investment banks, and 3. veteran, respected exhibitors) who see, from a different perspective, the sector represented in the conference. Give each panelist just seven minutes to offer their best two pieces of advice for attendees. Encourage attendees to submit written questions as they listen. Volunteers could gather the questions, sort for best mix for the strong and well-liked MC to present to the panelists to answer. As attendees leave the meeting room, they are given the handout with the written version of panelists' tips and their bios. Thus attendees see more candor and pertinent content - in a contagiously active way. Who knows? That may lead to more unconferences.

Speaking of partipatory, hear holiday cheer that's guaranteed to make you laugh with joy. My way of wishing you a (me2we) holiday you savor - with others. See more at http://www.movingfrommetowe.com

Storyboard Your Event Like a Movie Director

Did your opening scene get their attention and draw them in? Did your event attendees feel they had major roles in the "story" of "our" gathering? From humor, camaraderie, inspiration and new awareness, how many positive emotions did you evoke? Was there a build-up to a climactic point in which they played a part that mattered to them? Are they showing their friends their souvenir from the meeting? Have you made every moment count at "our" event?

From the first sight of your meeting location to the last moment when attendees step back out into the regular world you can make more moment matter by using the method called storyboarding. If it works for movie directors and political advance teams it can work for you, regardless of your budget or event planning experience. In an increasingly transient world, face-to-face gatherings where people are inspired to draw closer, instinctively help each other and celebrate together are precious. It means stepping into the shoes of the people who will walk through your experience, step by imaginary step. That's my message when I speak to meeting planners, hotel and convention facility managers and the vendors who support their success. MEET is hosted by the innovative firm, EMCVenues.

Simply put, storyboarding is a handy tool for those who plan meetings or conferences and want to maximize the impact, moment-by-moment – as audiences experience it. Those in the media use it to organize their story.

From a store to a hospital, storyboarding any physical place enables you to make the experience more positive memorable for the people you serve. Those who want you to buy something dub this approach with loftier labels such as creating "moments of engagement" or "touch points" (no, not this kind). Often they call it experiential marketing.

It's not "just" the new technology we employ to make successful meetings but the fresh ways we enable people to get acquainted, learn from each other, collaborate and create a closer-knit community. I recognize that I'm just seeing the tip of the iceberg for this opportunity. Wouldn't it be fascinating for speakers and meeting planners to have a meeting where they could learn from other "experience-building" experts such as those who work in collective intelligence, lighting, improv, staging and, well - what experts would you like to meet to create palpably memorable experiences for your line of work or your special interest?

How an Online Social Network Could Steal Association Members

One of the biggest status-quo traps for associations is their cautious, iterative moves towards the use of the new social media tools. Fear of loss of control is big - just as in corporations. Yet, association leaders might consider crossing the chasm before a college drop-out does. The Nature Conservancy dove into the social media pool and you can too.

In brief, many associations are vulnerable. They can be co-opted by a member(s), exhibitor(s) or a complete outsider who chooses to launch an online social network to serve their kind of members. One might even launch one for free via Ning.

Beating out a national association, a small state could start with these low-cost and free tools. (Who knows? They might attract more participation - thus more sponsors dollars - than their national counterpart. That would spur social media tool adoption by more associations.)

Some social media tools could include a tagged directory of members and another tagged "community center" of member-generated tips, tag clouds (to see what topics are most popular and members most mentioned - in real time), a forum (where members start a discussion, propose conference topics or projects, form committees, get credible advice, recommend books, etc.), group and individual blogs (also tagged), captioned photo albums (from the conference, committee activities, etc.), listserves (using google or Yahoo groups (for quick bites of information and requests, compiled by and for opt-in individuals) and vlogs and podcasts. One day this group might even go for a made-by-us video channel.

Design your social media to let the cream rise to the top. The people with the most popular input become most visible (on the site and elsewhere) and rewarded. Here's one way to support excellent input. This association replacement entity could attract smart tips, video how-to's or e-booklets at the community center. Each month, contributors of the "Top Ten" best tips/content win prizes. Only registered members who joined the free network can vote. This attracts more registered members. Prizes are provided by contest sponsors that want credible, constant visibility in front of this niche audience. Some gifts can be provided via e-gift coupons. As the community grows, the number and value of the prizes can grow too. Thus everyone benefits form this social media model.

Once this solidified and thriving group attracts 25,000 members minimum, according to social media expert, Bart Barden, it will attract underwriters/advertisers. Some may come from the same pool of people who advertise in the association's publications and/or exhibit at the conference. Yet, via social media, other kinds of sponsors will be attracted to the niche market because of the demographics. Such sponsors could underwrite the cost of serving this peer2peer member-based community - and turn a profit for the people who founded it. As the community grows, the sponsorship revenue grows.

Over time, the owner of the online social network could organize MeetUps and/or sub-contract with a professional meeting planner to plan events and the annual conference and tradeshow (with, of course, yearlong follow-up via the blogs, etc. to keep the community converations going.) Alternatively, perhaps Federated Media Publishing might sell ads for it and turn this membership service into a revenue generator for the association - rather than steal its members. Which future do you want for your association?

I'd love to see more of these social media gurus (mashable, TechCrunch, PaidContent, Federated Media Publishing, etc.) in a MC-led panel at MPI, PCMA, ASAE and/or SGMP - or maybe sponsored by Primedia’s Betsy Bair. Give each panelist 10 minutes to rock our world with their best two pieces of advice. Suggest success scenarios that associations could adopt for "the Power of Us" to flourish. Then take questions (Twitter too?) from the "audience." Vlog, blog and podcast it all of course. As a non-geek who speaks at conferences I am eager to see ways that more organizations can support and deepen the community-building that starts at them. Let's involve the social media experts as partners to see how we can multiply the times, ways and places that members, vendors and others in the group can connect and collaborate.

See this magical toy

for conferences, demonstrated by Jefferson Han. I'd love to bring him to a meeting and co-present with him on creating multi-sensory experiences. He also showed it off at the TED conference - and it was captivating. We all wanted to try it.

Who’s in Charge of This Meeting?!

Here’s a new twist for the meeting industry in this Age of Engagement dedicated to the Power of Us. Imagine a site where people can not only post events but also (here’s the new part) collectively ask for a certain kind of event.

The site, Eventful, is currently aimed at serving individuals in “demanding” performances. Yet imagine that an activist or disguntled member of an association decided to ask other members to join her/him at Eventful to push for a different mix of programs and/or meeting site than the one planned by the association leadership.

Since there is a place on the site that lists the hottest locations to meet (and this is a new site) I can’t help but think that some of the staff at CVBs (visitors and convention bureaus) may be tempted to visit and vote… often. I don’t see my favorite (nearby) city on the list. This approach has the capacity to shift power among several organizations and towards the collective “us”, dubbed Crowd Clout by Trendwatching.

Coming Back to Our Senses to Create More Memorable Events & Meetings

What makes a meeting truly stand out from others? It's not necessarily how much money was spent but how many positively memorable experiences the attendee recalls. If you run a store, tourist attraction or other facility, some of the tips you read below may also help you enhance the experience you offer.

Many conferences involve a theme, reinforced through a logo, theme, events, and speakers to create an overall "feel" and value throughout the convention. Why not further reinforce your meeting content and mood by enveloping attendees in planned sequences of memorable moments that involve sensory combinations of smells, tastes, sounds, sights, and even ”touchable” experiences?

Few meetings can or should be able to compete with the sizzle of a modern amusement park or an action movie, but meeting planners and hotel and other site managers can multiple the number of positive exposures attendees experience and thus increase the possibility that those attendees will rave about their meeting.

Conduct a Sensory Exposures Audit

To make the most of the event, conduct a "Sensory Exposures Audit" of all the images to which your attendees will be exposed, from the pre-meeting mailings and other contacts, through the meeting itself and post-meeting reinforcements. Just as political campaigns have "advance agents" who walk through every step of an event ahead of time to consider all that might go right or wrong (from slippery steps to photo-opportunity backdrops), you can mentally visualize each "vignette" attendees might experience.

Ask hotel and convention center staff for photos of the actual colors and patterns most frequently used in their sleeping, eating, meeting, and gathering spaces, and take notes on the combinations during your site visit, so your theme colors and images are compatible and even complementary.

Ask the staff where you're going to find the most conflicting and comforting background sounds from piped-in music, other meetings, mechanical operations, catering procedures, or beyond-the-facility noises.

Where do the smells go from the cooking and catering areas?
Are the walkways carpeted?
Is the carpet plush or thin?
Is the facility signage large and easy to understand?
What do the chairs feel like?
Are there many comfortable places to relax and converse between organized activities?
Is there much access to natural light (to elevate attendees' moods) during daytime activities? In short, consider the impact attendees might experience on all the senses.

Drive and walk through the major and minor "paths" your attendees will use from the time they leave an airport (if they use one) to the time they arrive back at the airport and observe what sensory delights they might receive before they go or upon their return.

Storyboard the Meeting Experience

Borrow a storyboarding trick from TV advertisement creators. Write out the meeting "story" as a three-part series of sequences or "exposures" attendees will experience: pre-meeting, meeting, and post-meeting.

For each "exposure" that the attendee will experience:

1. Write a brief description of the exposure in chronological sequence, as the attendee is most likely to experience it, down pages of paper in one of three columns: positive, negative, and neutral (exposures).

Describe how the exposure is most likely to be experienced. For example:

* positive: Candid photos taken as they enter the opening-night mixer, placed in pressed-board white frames inscribed with the meeting theme and hung on fishline strings in the buffet breakfast room the next day for their take-away souvenir.

* negative: Inevitably long treks between certain meeting rooms

* mostly neutral: Conventionally decorated hotel rooms

2. Then write out what the potential attendee will see, hear, smell, taste, and/or touch. How many of the senses can you include in each exposure to make it more positively memorable?

Try creating more "low-tech" sensory experiences, such as more human touch. Increase the number of times an attendee is greeted by name or a handshake. Two studies were done in 1996 and 2006 in which two groups experienced the same public event, with the only difference that people in one group were safely touched (for example, shaking hands, touch on the top of the hand) just twice in a three-hour period. The so-called "touched group" described the people sponsoring the event as more intelligent, caring, and good looking than did the other group.

Try higher-tech sensory moments, such as scenting a general session in keeping with the speaker and convention theme, gradually changing the scent three times, from lemon to lime to suntan lotion during the course of the 40-minute, midwinter, pre-lunch keynote speech. Lightly scent the handouts to match. Technology does now make it possible to scent to refresh, relax, or renew ñ without allergic reactions.

You'll begin to see your meeting as a theatrical production, considering the attendees' every waking moment. The possible payoffs? You'll find ways to move more of the exposures to the positive side, often not through more costs but through changes in planning.

Inflame Their Imaginations

For a "negative" exposure such as a long, boring walk between meeting rooms, you could "Burma Shave" the build-up of interest and excitement in the trek with a sequence of messages on stands or on the walls, like the old highway signs of rhyming phrases car passengers passed on long stretches of road. The messages could build suspense toward the identity of award recipients, an entertainment event with a surprise guest, a contest they can win with the right answer for a vendor, or a trivia contest that encourages attendees and exhibitors to talk.

Messages could also be placed in sequence around corners and on the way into meeting rooms, some with cryptic instructions to look under their chairs for more.

Related messages can also appear on the backs of meeting leaders at the podium, who turn for attendees to read them, followed by some of the waiters who appear to serve each other "back" messages. Other messages and clues and teasers might appear under attendeesí hotel room doors while they sleep, next to their plates at lunch, or on the seminar handout on their seats.

Prior to the meeting you might send a "Burma Shave" series of postcards (sending them with increasing frequency as the event approaches) offering more reasons to attend and to sign up early. For example, the first postcards for a midwinter meeting in a sunny locale might be a series with images of blue water and yellow sun, messages to come prepared for warm sun and sizzling topics, and scented with coconut suntan lotion.

Send companion messages via e-mail, directing attendees to your web site for a convention preview and contest.

Use the Suspense-Building Tricks of Blockbuster Movies

As in a blockbuster movie, the most important exposures are the "opening scene”, the handling of potentially slow times, the climax, and the ending. Many meetings have a slow, unexciting beginning (hotel check-in, meeting registration, dead time before the first meeting).

Make Attendees Feel Coddled and Cared For from the First Moments of Their Arrival

Consider having a team of people greet arrivals at the hotel door(s), perhaps in costume and certainly giving them a welcome gift. Make the gift fun to see, touch, and taste. Have a second gift waiting for them in their room, perhaps a contest announcement. The more cared for attendees feel up front, the more they will perceive subsequent meeting experiences in a positive light, want to participate, and forgive later mishaps.

“Move” to Emotion and Playtimes

In all waiting times, from registration to coffee areas, plan amusements that catch the eye or that people can hold or play with or hear. For example, have modern clowns or ventriloquists or magicians roam the gathering areas around registration areas to build movement, excitement, and involvement. Or mimes might follow and imitate attendees in gentle fun, perhaps giving mementos provided by exhibitors that make them eligible for a drawing if they visit the booths.

Let Them Literally "Picture" Themselves Having Fun

Create ways to get attendees involved and interested soon after they arrive. The best ways are to get them in motion and to let them see motion around them, because motion literally increases the emotion people feel. Here are some examples:

1. A videographer can capture attendees' responses to the interactions for later use in a continuous-feed loop shown on TV monitors at eye-level in gathering places between meeting rooms.

2. The videographer can interview people for their opinion on a meeting topic and/or comments on a favorite co-attendee. Let the resultant video run as a continuous-feed loop on eye-level TV monitors for future waiting times.

3. Several photographers with digital cameras can photograph groups and individuals. These can be shown in rotation as a "Meeting Montage" on a central wall that attendees see frequently.

Eavesdropping on Conversations Along the Way

Consider adding "localized sound" along the "paths" attendees will walk. At strategic times and in excitement-starved places, put portable audiotape and CD machines. Obviously the security of needed equipment is a consideration, so you'll want to place equipment where staff or volunteers can see it. Consider the registration area or inside the doors people enter for banquets.

The "sounds" can be music, related to the meeting theme, or sound bites of attendees who have been interviewed about their advice or praise for their peers, or an "Eavesdrop": lively conversation between meeting leaders about the meeting high points. Change the tapes sometimes so attendees can look forward to new experiences.

Sweet Smell of Success

At an association conference designed to strengthen member unity and celebrate success, our theme was "Success is Sweet." Hereís how it goes:

When participants enter the opening evening "Five Heavenly Chocolates" mixer in a ballroom, they are enveloped in the enticing, wafting scent of chocolate from the AromaSys-designed scent machines. As they arrive, they are given scented "player cards" with the name and "stats" of a person's accomplishments, printed in brown ink in the format of a baseball card, and invited to find the person who matches the accomplishments. Huge enlargements of the cards are projected on the walls and constantly changing.

When attendees find their person, they can return to get a new card for a different person. The ten people who find the most matches win chocolate player-card prizes and chocolate "MVP" statues later in the evening. People can use roving mikes to ask for help in finding their person. As attendees mingle, a singer's song list naturally features chocolate and athletic themes.

Continue the Story Through the Meeting

At breakfast the next day, all attendees receive two forms: one to fill out their own MVP player accomplishments and another to fill out for a colleague they admire, who is attending the convention. All attendees who fill out forms are eligible to have their photo taken for their own two-sided MVP Player card, enlarged to poster size. The poster of the attendee who is most written up by his or her colleagues is blown up to wall size and mounted on a wall the last day of the convention, when the person's name is announced with game music in the background and a rally squad dancing to celebrate.

Make Memories Palpable in a “High Touch and “High Tech” Way

Before the convention even starts, lay out a post-meeting newsletter filled with comments the speakers will offer, awards announcements, and news of important dates. Include actions such as signing up for the next meeting or volunteering for a committee.

Leave places for photos and attendee comments you gather during the convention. Place them in the holes left in the newsletter, and then quick-copy and label the newsletter on the last day of the convention so attendees receive this unexpected "Meeting Memento" very soon after returning home. Send an e-mail version of the newsletter, too, with a "Thank you for participating" message.

Make Meeting Memory Reminders, Sent Home

A week later, send a gift pack of gifts provided by some exhibitors, along with their product offers, and your message, again thanking attendees and reminding them of the calls for action on their part. Few meetings include immediate follow-up to attendees. Fewer still follow up more than once, soon after a meeting. Stand out in their senses and their minds, so they'll step forward for your next meeting.

Tips for Exhibitors

If you are an exhibitor or work with them as a trade show manager or supervise them, then some of these tips might be helpful.

Q. What's the single, biggest change exhibitors can make to move more prospects closer to a buying?

A. Exhibiting firms can make their most credible, "main differentiating benefit" the most obvious, prominent message in everything they display, give away, or discuss.

Problem: Exhibiting staff rarely get to have a pivotal role in creating their exhibit, “uniform” clothing or collateral material.

Consider these questions:

1. Are you giving your prospects the single most important piece of information they most need to know to buy? How easy is it for them to see that information, and how credibly is it stated.

2. Exactly how can you help attendees make an informed choice and act sooner?

3. How many steps do even "warm" buyers take to complete the sale, from signing to delivery through possible training on the use of the product or service? How can you reduce that number?

4. Specifically, how do you help your buyers become obvious heroes to their significant decision makers at their work place, from their boss to the people they sell to and/or serve?

Don't bury the key reason to buy.

After walking through over 100 trade shows prior to speaking to exhibitors, I've discovered that the exhibitors' message is rarely the key headline prospective buyers most need to know. That essential message is the main differentiating benefit between an exhibitor's product or service and that of the top two or three alternative vendors, as the prospect most probably views their options.

Instead, exhibits and promotional materials usually give more prominence to the name of the product and/or the company.

Attendees rarely see or hear about an exhibitor's main benefit first.

Benefits rarely "jump out" at attendees from the booth or collateral messages or the staff's explanation. Thus, exhibitors inadvertently hide their biggest benefit.

In most cases, features (how a product is constructed or its "capacity" or how it is operated) are still promoted more heavily than benefits (what the product does for the customer). This is not customer-centered, thoughtful marketing. The prospect has to do more work to make a fair comparison.

Exhibitors can offer succinct, specific, and easy-to-follow comparison sheets that do not insult the competition. One comparison sheet might "headline" the major benefits. Other back-up sheets can provide more detailed comparisons. Put a "human face" on the facts by providing customers' situational examples to illustrate the benefits.

Plus, exhibitors often attempt to build traffic to their booth with contests, drawings, or giveaway gadgets that don't relate to their main, differentiating benefit or even their product, so they don't get closer to their hottest prospects.

Further, staff's icebreaker comments are often general and not relevant to the reason to buy ("Having a good time?" "Want a free..?").

Unfortunately, those who staff an exhibit seldom get to be involved in the design of their exhibit or promotional materials - or even what they wear. They must accept the setting in which they sell, attempting to engage prospects as they pass with involving comments that state the main benefits verbally to attendees in a brief, involving way to pull them in rather than turn them off.

When companies don't make their main benefit easy to see and hear quickly, attendees must be deeply motivated to look and ask for the essential information they want.

Credible benefit statements increase the chances for a sale. A credible brand name then reinforces the reason to buy, not the other way around. Good benefit statements are vivid and specific examples, facts, and comparisons. Passersby are in one of three buying modes:

1. Seeking information to buy a certain kind of product for the first time and trying to select the best product

2. Considering changing vendors if they find a better product

3. "Trolling":
a. not buying now but seeing what is new for future reference
b. or without the budget or need and will never buy

Serious buyers most want to see and hear information regarding:
a. the main reason to buy at all and, if they do buy
b. the main reason they should buy from you over your closest competitors, as they see them.

26 Ways to Attract Serious Buyers to Your Booth and Move Them Closer to Buying
(Don’t forget to see the last two tips, now made possible by free technology)

1. Draft and memorize a one-to-two-sentence top "differentiating benefit" statement, relative to your two closest competitors and without denigrating the competition. When you can weave it into conversation, you have created a shorter path to their buying process. Get tips on how by reading “Grab Their Attention.”

2. Start with the specific benefit rather than building up to it with general background, so the listener will listen sooner and longer. The specific detail ("Product with the fewest parts that need replacement") proves the general benefit. The general statement ("We are the people who care") is less credible and less memorable.

3. Multiply attendees' positive exposures to your benefit in everything you say, display, point at, stand near, or offer.

4. Condense further to intensify attention. Be able to reduce that benefit to its essence in one vivid phrase, motto, slogan, or sentence. Get more ideas by reading “Speak English Like it Tastes Good.”

5. Make your phrase sufficiently interesting and brief so they feel they're in charge. They'll be more likely to stay and ask you enough questions so you can recognize their main interests, level of knowledge, hot buttons, and decision-making process.

6. Offer "real life" situational examples. Cite relevant and diverse customers' experiences. Tell them what your customers actually said and did with your product or service that helped them, how.

7. Give no more than three supportive benefits.

8. Express each supportive benefit like a headline, a "billboard message" of no more than five to eight words.

9. Use everyday, non-jargon, and non-industry-specific language, even if the attendees might know the jargon. Could and would the disinterested spouse of the attendee or conference hall maintenance staff understand it?

10. The most credible proof of your benefits are third-party endorsements of three diverse customers who have little else in common other than their adoration of your product and their similarity with your prospect.

11. Display a satisfied client's quotes under each benefit on the booth and in promotional material -- preferably each in a different color and type face. When endorsements relate to a specific situation, change, vivid contrast, or improvement, their words are most credible and will be most memorable.

12. Yes! Remove all graphics and words and materials in the booth that do not relate to either the main benefit and (not more than three) supportive benefits, so attendees will be able to take in the information within 12-15 seconds, their average pause-to-scan time in such conditions. Really! Try it and you’ll become a believer in brevity for more selling power.

13. Display your main point and supportive points on the booth above the heads of the booth staff and attendees, so attendees' views are not blocked.

14. Booth visuals and words should guide attendees' eyes down a "path" from one message to the next.

15. Again, this is controversial except to those who’ve given up these unhelpful habits. Avoid opening references to weather, "Having fun?", freebies, drawings, or other non-benefit-related topics that distract and dilute your relationship with your prospect.

16. Verbally and visually make a "Conference Offer": more information; a time-limited or bundled product order price; consultation; or other vivid benefit to move them closer to a sale.

17. An attendee's attention span is shortened if you wear patterned or very detailed clothing or accessories (pin, necklace, tie, earrings) or other busy "body signage," especially on the upper half of your body.

18. For those who know your product (and you know that they are familiar with it):

a. Hand the person a gift (preferably one that does not prominently display your company or product name), while asking them: "May I give you this small gift for taking the time to answer two questions for me?"

b. Then ask, "What do you like best about our product or (service)?" Whatever is said aloud is then believed more deeply by the speaker.

c. Be a complete and supportive listener as they explain. Give uninterrupted eye contact, nod, or offer other responsive gestures that are natural for you.

d. When they have finished, ask, "Tell me more about that." As they elaborate, they move the topic closer to the top of their minds and they also become more:

- articulate and vivid
- deeply convinced about the reasons they've stated for liking your product.

The result? You've moved them closer to being fervent and articulate fans. They are more likely to talk themselves closer to a sale and voluntarily tell others why they like your product.

19. When you first meet a prospect, find the quality in them you can most like and admire and keep it uppermost in your mind as you talk with them. You are more likely to bring out that aspect of their personality when they are around you and less likely to react to their behaviors that irritate or otherwise bother you.

20. When you stand opposite someone, you are more likely to literally oppose them. Instead, "sidle" whenever possible.

Men instinctively "sidle" when together, shaking hands and then standing more or less side by side. Women instinctively continue to face each other or a man. When standing side-by-side, people feel more comfortable with each other, themselves, and their surroundings. They listen sooner and longer and are more inclined to agree with each other.

21. Do people sometimes stop listening before you stop talking? Here’s help. Get people to remember what you say, even if they are not trying to. Here are two successful ways to "lodge" your message in their minds, even if they were NOT actively listening:

A. People remember more and feel more intensely -- for good and for bad -- when they are in motion. Say your main points while you're turning, shaking hands, demonstrating a product, or pointing to something, when a part of the booth is in motion, and/or while the visitor is reaching for something.

Here are two guides to the kinds of motion that are most memorable:

a) Things are most memorable when you're both in motion, next most memorable when the other person is in motion even if you aren't, third most memorable when you are in motion, and fourth most memorable when you are both watching something or someone in motion.

b) The more dimensions of motion involved (up, down, left, right, forward, and back), the more memorable the experience. Ways to involve motion to reinforce memory include exhibit demonstrations, staff gestures and walking, video vignettes, and parts of the exhibit.

B. Relate your benefits to THEIR three "core life experiences":
• family (theirs, yours, or a metaphorical family of services or products)
• where they work or have worked, or
• where they live or have lived.

Here’s the steps:
a) First refer to one of their currently pressing interests (not your product).

b) Then refer to how you two share a common interest in the topic.

c) And then to how it relates to you and your product's main benefit.

This method is called the "You-Us-Me" approach. Here's an example:

1. "I gather you are the expert in... "YOU"

2. and that by discussing this with you... "US"

3. I'll get more ideas about if and how our products can best serve people in your situation.... "ME"

22. To maintain rapport, use specific, emotion-laden language when stating the positive, and report the negative neutrally -- "just the facts." Your instincts are to do the reverse, by the way.

23. Begin your comments with a direct response to the prospect's last comment until they feel heard instead of working up to your response with other background information they might not want to hear. Characterize your benefits in direct response to:

a. A specific, negative "hot button" or problem they've expressed, which you can make better or solve, or
b. Some strong positive preference the prospect has just expressed.

24. Offer the tradeshow-related map they’ll want to keep and share.

Beginning in the Summer of 2005, google began offering the technology tools for you to “mash-up” or overlay one of their maps with the key points of interest for people, including your kind of customers. For example, you could overlay a map with the customers’ sites that use your services or key locations that matter for that meeting’s members. What’s hot about this new option is that you can mention this free service in your promotional material, attracting prospective and current customers to your web site, to which you’ve linked the customized map. Learn more here.

25. Make your customers the stars of the tradeshow who can attract others to your Web site

While we’re talking tech, you might ask your customers, as they visit yoru booth if you can interview them regarding what they most like about your product, and offer those highlights as a downloadable podcast from your web site and as part of your story on your blog about how you enjoyed seeing customers at the conference and what they had to say.

And, since people love to see and share photos of themselves and their friends, why not take digital photos of customers, store them for free in Flickr and link to each one as you describe each customer in your blog, then send them each featured person an email with “See your photo at (name of tradeshow).”

26. Closing Tip: Familiarity Breeds Acceptance
Continuously nurture your best prospects, seeding in their minds your main and vividly stated differentiating benefit and providing ideas and help at "non-sales" times.

Make every aspect of your behavior, booth, and promotional material repeat, reflect, and reinforce that benefit before, during, right after the conference, and later, again to your hottest prospects.