Keeping Them Coming Back Is the Name of the Attendee Game

Show managers are trying new tricks to keep attendees coming to their shows.

As part of the Society of Independent Show Organizers’ Travel Costs Survey, show managers listed different steps they are taking to combat the high cost of travel, including increased marketing to international attendees, discounts to exhibitors to continue their participation, emphasizing the value of regional shows and some travel incentives for early registration.

With the price of a tank of gas rising year over year for most of the past decade, Jo Ann Macek said she recognized two years ago that her show, the Specialty Advertising Assn. of California Show, which will be held Aug. 6-7 at the Long Beach (Calif.) Convention Center, needed to offer an incentive to out-of-state attendees who might be scared off by California’s notoriously high gas prices.

“It was all preemptive,” she added. “We were just being proactive.”

It was such a good idea, she even added a few twists.

Those attendees whose zip codes indicate they live somewhere besides Southern California receive an e-mail telling them a $50 gas gift card is waiting for them when they get to the show, Macek said. All attendees have to do is take a printout of the e-mail to the event and show their driver’s license.

“We don’t do anything more than that,” she added.

However, she also was worried that those who live closer, in the Los Angeles or San Diego areas, might decide to attend the show just one day instead of two to conserve gas. Those attendees are asked to fill out a card on the first day with their name, company and e-mail address.

“You bring that card back on day two, and you get your $50 gift card,” Macek said. The local attendees also receive free parking the second day.

While Macek admitted, “A $50 gas card is not the tank of gas it was last year,” she said she’s hopeful that it will keep the show’s attendance numbers steady.

So far, according to the pre-registration rate for this year’s show, it’s working.

“Our registration numbers so far are corresponding to the same period last year,” Macek said.

Macek isn’t the only show manager with the idea of giving away gift cards for gasoline.

The Columbus Jewelry Show, scheduled Aug. 23-24 at the Greater Columbus (Ohio) Convention Center, gives away a $25 gift card to every retail store attending the show, said Adriana Sfalcin, executive director of the Ohio Jewelers Assn., which owns the show.

She said the show draws retail attendees from as far away as Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and upstate New York, which means a lot of them are traveling quite a few miles to get there.

How many times have you raced through a hotel lobby, rental car facility or other travel venue, wishing you could just check the real time of your flight quickly on a digital display board?

It’s no longer a wish for busy attendees at the Donald E. Stephens Convention and Conference Center, but a real convenience, located right in the front lobby. Officials of the Stephens Center have had a TouchQuest FlyteBoard installed. It was developed by Flyte Systems, in partnership with digital signage software provider, Digital Minds Inc.

Trade Show attendees and exhibitors no longer have to scramble to figure out if a flight is delayed or canceled.  The Donald E. Stephens Convention center is bringing convenience and technology to their trade show and convention center audiences.

Hosting over 100 trade shows a year, bringing this technology into the convention center will help  exhibitors and attendees alike manage their time on the trade show floor.