So today I will release some statistics about our participation in the ExhibitorLive 2015 event. If you remember in Tradeshow Planning Part 8 we set a goal to sign-up 200 to 300 people per day. The ExhibitorLive show floor was only open for 4 hours each day of the 3 show days, so that meant that we would need to sign up literally 1 person per minute. I know, that is a pretty lofty goal.
Now there were only two of us working the 10 x 10 exhibit so we created multiple sign up strategies. The attendee could use a front counter laptop, a sign-up sheet, or just drop in a business card. We only wanted their first name and email address, so using a show scanner was not important. Even more challenging was the fact that one of the exhibit workers conducted scheduled and unscheduled interviews during the show on a regular basis, which took time away from working the sign-up counter.
So did we reach our goal? In reality we came up short of our goal. We actually signed up 121 new subscribers during the three day period. We also interviewed and signed up 34 individuals who were attendees, vendor partners, associations, publishers, other exhibitors, and manufacturers from the show.
So if you divide 155 signups into 720 show minutes we actually signed up about 1 person every 5 minutes. Not too shabby if you look at it from our perspective. Now we did only sign up 20 to 25 percent of our goal. We knew our goal was high but we planned for it, which helped us accomplish the return that we did get.
The best part is that we are still getting residual effects from the in-booth interviews we did during the show. It took Exhibit Edge about 3 weeks to edit and post all 34 interviews. We have emailed everyone to let them know where to find their interviews on YouTube. The people we interviewed are excited about telling their clients, friends, colleagues, and who-knows-who to go on YouTube and check out their interview. We are now seeing additional sign-ups as a result. So if you count these subscribers also then our subscriber base will continue to grow long after the show.
As the subscriber base continues to grow, after the show, we also expect some initial show subscribers to opt out and we’re ok with that. It is a free service and just a giveback to the Trade Show community from Exhibit Edge. It is our way of saying thank you for 22 years of business and sharing what we have learned.