Business Expo Booth

The Fairfield, Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s business expo was held today. I had my own booth, #76. This booth happened to be right across from Universal Transportation Systems, a company that took the expo’s “carnival” theme seriously. These folks dressed up as circus ringleaders, the bearded lady, a lion, a tiger, a weight lifter, and jugglers. They had a popcorn machine, gave out cotton candy, animal crackers and peanuts, and won the “best costume” booth prize. It was fun watching them all afternoon, but a little annoying because I had to fight twice as hard to get visitors to turn around to see my own booth.

One of the guys at the UTS booth came over for a little chat. He said that the first year he’d participated, he “felt the same way” as he figured I felt, that his booth wasn’t dressed up enough to get much notice, that he sat there and watched people pass by.

Humph. I didn’t feel that way at all, really. I liked my booth a great deal – it had a nice banner with my logo, ten colorful inflatable monkeys (my theme…), and I had plenty of flyers and business card magnets. And I wasn’t sitting there watching people pass by, I was standing in front of the table passing out my flyer. It was a very respectable booth. Not nearly on par with the prizewinners, but fine for a sole proprietorship.

I don’t think the man meant to insult me. If anything, he probably felt sorry for me and saw himself as a sort of mentor. But I got to thinking about the whole competition vs. size thing. I couldn’t do what they did. I barely managed what I had, in terms of budget and staffing. There’s a limit to what one person can do at a trade show. But does that mean my exhibit wasn’t as effective?

I watched a lot of people pass by the UTS booth, smile, and take the snacks. But did the booth convey UTS’s message? How about the other over-the-top displays? Will potential customers remember the company behind the display?

I’d like to think my monkeys got a little bit of attention. My flyer also had a monkey, and my event tagline “don’t monkey around with your copywriting.” I played upon the infinite monkeys theory – you know, monkeys typing. It fit. I was comfortable with it. And as far as I can tell, it worked. It’s early yet to gauge results, but I’m optimistic.

Sometimes simple is better, even if simple doesn’t win prizes. I’d rather win clients.

Addendum:

Someone at my booth pointed out that the monkey thing had been part of a stand-up routine by comedian Bob Newhart. A lab tech monitoring the monkeys’ production noticed one promising piece: “To be or not to be, that is the gezortnplatt.”

I love Newhart. I giggled for about a half hour while I continued passing out flyers, so happy to see that someone “got it.”