Producing your own event isn’t easy and requires forward planning. It’s vital to decide what you want to achieve and who you want to attend. Be realistic about your objectives and set a budget – costs can quickly escalate.
You may be able to borrow good ideas from established exhibitions for your own event. If you need ideas or assistance, the International Confex exhibition is the place to meet experts and suppliers from the events industry.
It can be hard to attract visitors to a small event. You could run a joint event with a complementary partner to make a bigger impact and bring in more visitors. Alternatively, you may decide that it would be more effective to take your products to your customers rather than expecting them to come to you.
The success of your event certainly depends on getting the right people to attend. You need to make your event attractive and convenient for your target audience. Send personal invites and customised direct mail with compelling reasons to come along. Exclusivity is a good incentive and holding a private sales event or an invitation-only launch can be a good strategy.
Sending invitations should be part of your promotional strategy even if your event is open to all. You should send special invitations to key decision makers and local VIPs as well as loyal customers, new prospects and the media. Distribute a press release in advance to get coverage of the event.