Zimbabwe’s 2020 exhibition season is set to open this month with the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe (MAZ)’s Marketers Suppliers Expo (MASXPO) which is scheduled to be held this month in Harare. Many business people and consumers alike will be attending exhibitions throughout the year.
For some, it will be a matter of setting aside time off one’s schedule to drive to the venue in one’s town or city and visit various exhibition stands while for others it will involve booking for hotel accommodation and tickets to fly to the hosting city or town. This may be in Zimbabwe or elsewhere in the world – what with events like Dubai 2020 and the Intra-Africa Trade Fair (IATF) and other events being set to be held this year?
Whichever event you are going to attend or exhibit at what do you take with you on such trips? What would you advise other people to take with them as they prepare for such business events? Here are some of the items, apart from the usual items such as clothes, which you should remember to take with you for your exhibition trips.
- Your phone
Apart from its basic use a means of communication using its voice, short message service (SMS) and other applications such as Whatsapp, your phone comes in handy as a camera to record those outstanding exhibition stands some of whose aspects you may wish to incorporate in your own stand next time. You may need to take images of an important visitor such as a foreign ambassador or show’s guest of honour when they visit your stand. If you are a buyer, in addition to the notes on various aspects of the goods you intend to buy which you put down in your notebook, a photograph of the product may assist you to illustrate it to your colleagues back at your company.
- Phone charger
Your phone is only useful if its battery is charged. The moment it runs flat it ceases to be of any use to you and you would not want this to happen. This is why you need to carry with you a suitable charger. Experience has taught people to carry adaptors as well so that they can charge their gadgets off wall power sockets that accommodate square or round pins. You know everything that you need to do or use to get your phone charging – carry everything that you use to get it charged so that you will not be grounded by a flat phone battery.
- Power bank
Yes, your phone may be fully charged but this may not last the whole day. This is why you need to carry with you a power bank. Power banks can be described as portable batteries that use circuitry to control any power in and power out. They can be charged up using a USB charger and then used to charge battery-powered items like mobile phones that would normally be USB charged. A power bank keeps you going without having to rush back to your hotel room or motor vehicle to recharge your phone.
- A notebook
We are living in the digital age where every piece of information that one may need to recall in the future can all be recorded in an electronic gadget such as a mobile phone but there are times that you need to revert to the old notebook to jot some quick notes. If it is quicker or more convenient for you to write notes instead of using your phone or tablet do so, by all means, jot down the notes. If you are more given to using notebooks than modern gadgetry, do not be embarrassed. Carry your notebook and pen with you.
- Laptop computer
Just like the case of the phone and the notebook, some people prefer their laptop computer to mobile phones when it comes to sending e-mail messages to leads met during exhibitions or back to the office. A laptop is also useful for other things such as blogging and answering questions back at the hotel room at the end of each exhibition day. For some people, it is a question of being more used to the laptop than its smaller screen cousins such as the mobile phone or the tablet.
- Tablet phone
The tablet comes in handy for reading books in Kindle as well as those on portable document format (PDF) during flights. For some business people, tablets are a great middle of the road compromise to the unwieldy and large laptop computers and the small-screened mobile phones. To others it is a question of personal tastes and preferences. Where someone uses a laptop to check their e-mails at the end of the day, others prefer to use their tablet.
- Reading material
Exhibitions are generally characterised by busyness but some people find time to read especially during flights to and from the hosting city or town. The material can be in the form of physical books or magazines or electronic ones.
- Business cards
Business cards are very essential at any business event as they allow one to give other people their contact information without the recipient having to pull out a notebook to record the details. Exhibitions, like other business events, present business and networking opportunities where business cards come in handy. Giving out business cards is not just an act of pulling out the card from one’s pocket. Remember that business opportunities are also about putting one’s best foot forward as a professional and a corporate brand. This calls for the use of professional cardholders. Another necessity is the need for rubber bands to keep the cards in place in your hotel room from which you fill their cardholder.
Camera
Elsewhere in this article reference was made to the mobile phone as a means of taking photographs. This is alright but if one requires good quality images one should bring along a good camera. This is necessary especially if such images would be used for a brand’s social media pages or for other marketing purposes such as pamphlets and advertisements. Depending on the distance between the venue and one’s offices, one could also bring in tow a professional events photographer to take photographs of specific events during the exhibitions such as an important visitor calling in at the stand or one’s company winning one of the trophies.
Other things
Apart from the foregoing items, other things that an exhibition visitor or exhibitor should carry is a small bag to contain literature from various stands as well as free promotional products. It can also be used to carry the camera when not in use. Some exhibitors give away free branded tote bags that visitors can use as they go around the exhibition venue floor thereby marketing their own brand. If the given tote bag is made of strong material one can save their own bag from wear and tear by using the promotional product.
From your own experiences as an exhibition visitor or exhibitor, what other items do you take with you when you travel to an exhibition?
