Exhibitions are becoming a very important way to market brands for many enterprises. In the past in Zimbabwe exhibitions belonged to the realm of commercial business organisations such as those listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) but that set up has since changed. It is now common for church business associations or small and medium enterprises associations to organise their own local business exhibitions to showcase their brands to the markets around them.
This means that the organisation of exhibitions are no longer done by the traditional players such as the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS), the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company or the district or provincial agricultural societies only. This scenario is seeing those who were the visitors at major national and provincial shows increasingly becoming organisers of their own shows. The new role puts them in a position where they have to learn to organise exhibitions.
This is worsened by the fact that the country does not have a history of providing tertiary level training in event organisation and management either at polytechnic college or at university level. This leaves some of them depending on the services of professional event organisers but not many small associations can afford their services while others just wing it with various levels of success.
For those who find themselves in the role of exhibition organisers here are some of the crucial points which they need to consider when putting together their events.
- The nature of the exhibition
Exhibitions come in different forms depending on the objectives of the organisers and the target exhibitors. A show may be organised to bring together business to business (B2B) exhibitors and B2B buyers (a trade show). It may also bring together B2B exhibitors and business to customer (B2C) resulting in a consumer show. The type of a planned exhibition has an impact on the plans for the show. For example, the success of a consumer show depends on the quantity of visitors while a trade show’s success depends on the quality of the visitors.
It is becoming common for exhibitions to run parallel with an accompanying conference. This results in a confex which has its own planning demands such as the need to secure a venue which can accommodate the two without issues. It also demands the drawing up of programmes for the exhibition and the conference as well as securing presenters and speakers to address the conference.
- Venue type and size
Another major aspect of exhibition planning is a suitable venue for the event. The venue should not just have enough space to accommodate exhibitors’ stands and visitors but it should have necessary facilities such as toilets and food outlets where food is not catered for by the participation fee. The venue should have sufficient parking space for the needs of the organisers, exhibitor and visitors. In some cases a venue may be great in other respects but fall short on the available toilets. This means that additional toilets may have to be hired – a cost which should be borne in mind when budgeting for the event.
The cleaning up of post-event litter is another item which should be considered when planning an exhibition. Most organisers assume that the venue management will see to the cleaning up of the venue but is this always the case? Before signing the venue hiring agreement one needs to get clarification. If cleaning is the responsibility of the hirer then s/he needs to engage event waste management companies the payment of whose services must be budgeted for.
- Date and time
A well-organised exhibition can be spoilt by poor timing. In some countries which have business events associations timing clashes between events are rare as they ensure that no events coincide. Where these do not exist as is the case in Zimbabwe, organisers should ensure that their events are not held during major national or international holidays. People tend to treat holidays as such and would not want to forego them to attend a business event. Even an event which is held on the same day but in another province could turn out to be a counter-attraction to a planned exhibition thereby affecting its success.
Timing could also be viewed in terms of the season. In Zimbabwe most exhibitions are held during the dry season which makes it easier for people to travel without the inconvenience of wet weather. It also enables organisers to utilise outdoor exhibition venues such as the provincial show grounds without fears of rains.
- Financing
After considering all aspects of the exhibition which is being planned, the organisers should come up with a budget for the event. This should indicate the anticipated full cost of the event and revenue. In order to turn a profit the total costs should be less than the total revenue.
Sponsors normally come in to meet some of the event’s costs in exchange for opportunities to market their own brands during the event. The sponsors could be exhibitors or non-exhibitors seeking to benefit from the large gathering of visitors or exhibitors. Where sponsors are not forthcoming, organisers may have to draw up a list of potential funding partners and approach them. Actively pursuing potential sponsors assists in securing funders whose contributions decrease costs to the organisers thereby increasing their chances of turning a profit from the event meeting or meeting their objectives in the case of non-profit making organisations.
It is during the budgeting stage that organisers should come up with charges such as those for levied to exhibitors and visitors and the various packages thereof such as early bird, normal and late payment charges.
- Catering and beverages
Another key consideration when organising an exhibition is food and beverages. This is especially important for confexes where a concurrent conference delegates will need to be fed. If a hotel us being used as the venue for the confex, organisers need to find out the costs of the meals for the attendees. They also need to find out if the establishment permits other caterers to bring food to the venue as this is sometimes cheaper than the hotel food.
When the hotel option has been agreed to organisers need to ensure that the hotel will be able to fully address the needs of all delegates and exhibitors in terms of diet. A venue which can accommodate the needs of people with special dietary requirements such vegetarian are a better choice than ones which are not sensitive to such issues. An organiser may also wish to establish whether or not the chosen venue, especially it is a hotel, has a liquor licence. While business and drinking do not mix, post event mingling, mixing and networking requires alcohol for some of the delegates and exhibitors.
- Event programme
The planned event needs to be organised and reduced into an event programme detailing the various activities which make up event and what time each would be held. It itemises activities such as stands tour by a guest of honour, exhibitor promotion draws and award ceremonies among others. The event programme also provides sponsors with an opportunity to bankroll the design and printing of the copies of the programme which is handed to attendees and visitors in exchange for an opportunity to include their brand thereon.
In the case of a confex, putting together a programme should also be a reminder to address the issue of securing speakers and presenters for the concurrent conference. Speakers should be chosen on the basis of the value they provide to delegates as well as their charges.
- Co-ordinating and supervising the preparations
Organising and preparing for holding an exhibition is a project that requires teamwork. This calls for breaking the team into sub-teams dealing with various aspects of the preparations. For example, some could deal with securing a venue and related issues, others could deal with the finances and engaging potential sponsor and another group could deal with the marketing and publicity aspects of the project. The groups need supervisors who would be answerable to the project manager.
The project leader should ensure that all members of the various groups are fully conversant with what is expected of them and how each of their individual efforts contributes to the final team effort and the visitor and exhibitors’ experiences during the planned event.
- Timetable
As part of the preparations for the event, organisers need to set goals and deadlines as means of monitoring and ensuring progress. This means prioritising activities. Those preparatory activities which are time consuming need to be allocated more time by starting them early. It also means that big and important tasks are carried out first.
This calls for the drawing of a timetable indicating activities and their expected completion dates. It should be noted, however that timetables are documents and in the absence of a hands-on team leader, they can gather dust if they are not utilised to ensure that progress is being made and deadlines are being met.
- Event floor plans and layout
One of the key aspects of organising an exhibition is the drawing up of the event’s layout based on the venue’s floor plans. This means the drawing up of the locations of exhibition stands and other facilities such as food stalls, toilets and emergency handling equipment such as fire extinguishers as well as parking.
This necessitates the organisers to work with the event venue management. In fact, venue owners are one of the greatest sources of learning in terms of organising exhibitions especially for first time organisers. This is because they have worked with many different event organisers of various disparate events from which they have gained a rich store of experience and expertise.
The venue managements and teams know almost all the areas which organisers need to consider and get right. Most important of all, they know the ins and outs of their venue and this is important as no two venues are alike. They know the locations of power points and other important utilities and the unique needs of the venue such as lighting and ventilation when an exhibition is in progress.
- Marketing and Publicity
Once the date(s), venue and time for the exhibition have been set it is time to plan for the marketing and publicity of the event. If the exhibition is new, it needs an event brand logo to provide the basis for its visual identity on the market. An event brand logo comes in handy when crafting marketing messages for the exhibition. It becomes the visual reference point around which marketing messages are crafted.
An event website has become a norm in business events marketing. This is because of its quality of being able to market the event around the globe and round the clock. The website should have all the frequently asked questions and provide all the information that both exhibitors and visitors need in order for them to decide whether or not to participate in the marketed event.
Printed posters are also useful in marketing and publicising the planned exhibition. These should be professionally designed. The market takes very seriously brands which take themselves seriously. The poster should provide the following information: event brand name and logo, dates, time and venue as well as the exhibition theme. Copies of the poster can be printed and pasted up on noticeboards in public places such as shopping malls and bus termini. Soft copies of the same can be posted on the event’s Facebook page and sent out to the market via other social media such as Twitter and Whatsapp groups.
Some venue organisations assist in publicising their customers’ events on the basis of the fact that the success of organisers’ events is their own success too.
Exhibition organisation may not be perfect the first time around but with practice awkward corners are rounded off and valuable experience gained putting organisers on a sound footing in terms of dealing with future events.