Is Technology the Answer?
“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around.” – Steve Jobs
It seems a meeting doesn’t go by in either our retail or tradeshow businesses where a customer doesn’t ask for a “touch-screen interactive,” or some other kind of “cool, new technology” to be incorporated into their program. Wanting to capitalize on the possibilities created by technology is good, but the place to start is not with any particular gizmo or technology itself, it’s with a specific business objective. Here are a few sample objectives for tradeshow & event programs:
– Build pre-show excitement
– Visually attract targeted attendees from across the floor
– Tempt targeted attendees to come in and “engage”
– Better qualify prospects
– Test what products or messages prospects respond to most
– Demonstrate products
– Share what’s happening at the event with others who couldn’t attend
– Allow prospects to send themselves product information
– Easily change messages from show to show, or even moment to moment
Once you know what your specific goals are, the choice of the right supporting technology becomes much easier. And you may also find the best solution may not even involve technology at all.