Abstract
People-at-the-booth skills is an area of exhibition management which has been seriously neglected both in theory and in practice. Research by Susan Friedman (2004: 23) shows that half of all companies say they provide training only immediately prior to an exhibition. At the same time, there are significant differences among companies’ lists of dos and don’ts (Pitta et al. 2006: 162). Research also suggests (Tanner 1994) that booth staff training is inefficient. Another finding suggests that current training leaves a great deal to be desired, which comes to much the same. In other words, this is an area with great potential for improvement.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The flipside of this is formation of cartels. This term refers to cases where competitors collude to fix prices to the disadvantage of their customers, which is illegal.
- 2.
Luckily, the number of entrance passes for staff is often rationed by the show organizers.
- 3.
For the record it should be stated that the author of this book has received no financial support from any source in exchange for favouring or disfavouring particular organizations or industries. The book has been made possible through a number of standard annual Swedish government research grants to the University of Halmstad, a special grant by the Knowledge Foundation, and in particular through the patience of my family.
- 4.
See Everett M. Rogers (1962). His theory was built on those of German scholars like Friedrich Ratzel and Leo Frobenius. The same basic ideas in macroeconomics were used by Raymond Vernon as a response to the failure of the Heckscher–Ohlin model to describe changes in sales from international trade.
- 5.
This book does not contain chapters on negotiation techniques, beyond some simple advice about the actual face-to-face meeting, since they are considered a separate area of study with their own expertise and corresponding literature.
- 6.
The author was a consultant for the Sweden Rock Festival at a time when it was still relatively unknown outside of Sweden. Much of the success of the festival came after the organizers decided to take event marketing more seriously, continuously improving their logistics, studying traffic flows, and developing new catering facilities and larger-scale toilet capacity.
- 7.
Trade Show Marketing Manual, 2006, MFV Expositions.
- 8.
Modified version of Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) (2003). The role and value of face-to-face interaction, Chicago, Ill.: CEIR. CEIR has now merged with the International Association of Exhibition Management; see http://www.iaem.org/
- 9.
For a longer explanation of the evolutionary approach to the study of economics and management, see my previous book entitled “geoeconomics”, available for free on the internet, cf. Solberg Søilen (2012).
- 10.
In fact, many economists think nowadays that it was a mistake for the study of economics to part company with evolutionary science and biology after the Second World War in order to follow the model of physics (equilibrium theories, neoclassical economics, the marginalist school), but a new superpower was demanding a new social-science paradigm. (Please bear with my digressions!)
- 11.
Marketing as it developed after the Second World War, especially after Wroe Alderson, has been lacking in relation to the study of psychology, which has been quite unfortunate for the former discipline. The tendency towards specialization has in this case led marketing further away from the very reality it aims to discover and describe. This is particularly apparent in connection with trade shows.
- 12.
“Noise” in communication is anything distorting the original message. At a trade show the message is defined in the strategy. Anything which does not contribute to attaining that goal is classified as noise.
References
Bello, D. C. (1992). Industrial buyer behavior at trade shows: Implications for selling effectiveness. Journal of Business Research, 25, 59–80.
Bello, D. C.,& Lohtia, R. (1993). Improving trade show effectiveness by analyzing attendees. Industrial Marketing Management, 22, 311–318.
Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). (2003). The role and value of face-to-face interaction. Chicago, IL: CEIR.
Ford, D. (1980). The development of buyer-seller relationships in industrial markets. European Journal of Marketing, 14, 339–354.
Friedman, S. A. (2004a). The guru reports: Survey reveals most exhibitor staff training is hit or miss. Critical Social Policy, 23.
Gesteland, G. G. (2005). Cross cultural business behavior. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.
Godar, S. H., & O’Connor, P. J. (2001). Same time next year – buyer trade show motives. Industrial Marketing Management, 30, 77–86.
Hill, M. (1996). Trade show survival guide: A tongue-in-cheek sales handbook. San Jose, CA: Hill Group.
Hoyle, L. H. (2002). Event marketing: How to successfully promote events, festivals, conventions, and expositions. New York, NY: Wiley.
Levinson, J. C., Smith, M. S. A., & Wilson, O. R. (1997). Guerrilla trade show selling: New unconventional weapons and tactics to meet more people, get more leads, and close more sales. New York, NY: Wiley.
Li, L.-y. (2006). Relationship learning at trade shows: Its antecedents and consequences. Industrial Marketing Management, 35(2), 166–177.
Miller, S. (1999). How to get the most out of trade shows. Chicago, IL: NTC Business Books.
Pitta, D. A., Weisgal, M., & Lynagh, P. (2006). Integrating exhibit marketing into integrated marketing communications. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 23(3), 156–166.
Rogers, E. M. (1962). Diffusion of innovations. Glencoe: Free Press.
Solberg Søilen, K. (2012). Geoeconomics. London: Bookboon.
Tafesse, W., & Korneliussen, T. (2012). Identifying factors affecting consumers purchase incidence at retail trade shows. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19(4), 438–444.
Tanner, J. F., Jr. (1994). Adaptive selling at trade shows. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 22, 15–23. Spring.
Tanner, J. F., Jr. (1995). Curriculum guide to trade show marketing. Bethesda, MD: Center for Exhibition Industry Research.
Tanner, J. F. Jr. (1996). Book review. Exhibit marketing, second edition by Edward A. Chapman Jr. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Winter, 16(1)
Tynan, D. (2004). Tricks of the trade show. Sales & Marketing Management, 156, 27.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Søilen, K.S. (2013). Booth Staff Behaviour. In: Exhibit Marketing and Trade Show Intelligence. Management for Professionals. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36793-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36793-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-36792-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36793-9
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)