Tradeshow Stands

[Dj Dunc]

Hi All.

 

Im currently developing a new product for the entertainment industry, and Im currently interested in taking on a small stand at a few different tradeshows to conduct some market research, pre-sales, promotions and marketing. The product is aimed at venues and freelancers alike, and only needs a small stand (for example a 2mx2m would be adequate depending on price), however for a new startup company, taking a stand at plasa at upwards of £1200 is prohibitively expensive. Are there any other tradeshows that people could reccomend that I look at that would give me a good spectrum of the industry? How do other companies go about gaining an idea of interest before spending a large amount of money on production?

 

I did consider taking a "briefcase exhibition", and just arrange informal meetings with prospective customers whilst at a show, however I feel that this is a) a bit backhanded to other people who pay out for the space, and b) not going to give me a very good idea of the interest in the product.

 

Any suggestions on breaking into this very tough market would be much appreciated.

 

many thanks

 

Duncan

[Jivemaster]

It's vital to get the right trade show, is your product really PLASA style. There are DJ shows too. It's also common to rent a bit of a larger stand off a friend or prospective reseller. Doing the stand without paying for the stand can get you into bad repute with the organisers, though people still do it.

[Dj Dunc]

Thanks for your reply Jivemaster, regarding your first point, its very much aimed at people that have show control software (lighting / sound / video) in the theatre / musical theatre / corporate/ live entertainment areas.

 

Its nice to know that people rent bits of the stand out. I assume its a case of ringing around people to try and see if they would be interested in doing something like that. Hmmmmmmm (Tm Ynot)

[Junior8]

I think start-ups should be very wary of trade-shows, especailly the bigger ones.

 

I cover trade shows all the time indeed there is not a month in the year when I am not at either Olympia or Earls Court or both or Old Billingsgate or that dire effort Excel. The plain fact is that trade shows fall into two types IMHO - the must-be-seen-at and the others. Each sector has one of the former where all the significant players attend.

 

The Toy Fair is one of these and it's a good example of the breed in that it has a significant presence of big names who buy massive spaces at key locations of the floor and these are surrounded by little shell spaces for the smaller firms. The kind of pitch you are interested in. After years of experiencing the Toy Fair I simply can't decide whether the rent for these smaller pitches is worth paying especially if they are miles away from the main entrance - a lot of the exhibitors seem to be doing little business and many are one year only standees.

 

But at least with the Toy Fair the organisers are strict about admissions policy and there aren't masses of the general public wandering about. With some other shows, and I certainly felt this about PLASA the last time I went, there are simply too many non-buyers about. OK they might have a serious interest in the field and be engaging and interesting figures to talk to but they aren't going to spend any serious money. The Pure clothing show also falls into that category. Trouble is PLASA and Pure fall into the must-be-seen-at category!

 

The other thing to remember is that in most cases for your £1200 all you'll get is a shell with some power. Making that look anything at all will also cost you money. There is nothing sadder than the newcomer who's attempted to make a bit of a show in a shell space with some home printed POS and bluetac. Then there is the cost of accommodation for you, transport etc. plus someone else to cover for you when you need to eat, some flyers, business cards etc. Overall you should probably double the £1200. Only you know how many sales you'd have to make to break even.

 

Don't try the briefcase exhibition idea - you will be escorted off the premises, as all shows have a strict no-canvassing rule.

[Dj Dunc]

Thanks for that Junior8, I had already discounted the briefcase idea for exactly the same reason. Is it worth investigating the smaller shows like Plasa North, or perhaps just avoiding tradeshows and going about it in a ddifferent manner?

 

many thanks

[TonyMitchell]

Without wanting to offend, £1,200 for a small stand at a national trade show and another few thousand for display/pos material seems very little investment for potentially a lot of exposure to a very targeted audience. If your R&D or marketing budget can't swallow a tiny cost such as this, then your innovation is unlikely to ever progress beyond an embryonic stage.

[timsabre]

Without wanting to offend, £1,200 for a small stand at a national trade show and another few thousand for display/pos material seems very little investment for potentially a lot of exposure to a very targeted audience. If your R&D or marketing budget can't swallow a tiny cost such as this, then your innovation is unlikely to ever progress beyond an embryonic stage.

 

I disagree, as one who has started a small business from nothing, £1200 is a lot when you're starting out, and in my experience being at a tradeshow is not as targeted as you might think it would be. There are better ways to spend the money.

 

There is no quick way to build up business for a new product. Word of mouth is everything. If you can get a few people enthused about it, they will recommend you.

I would be looking for some potential users in the industry and see if you can get them interested in using your product for free, in return for beta testing and getting the product out there.

Also get yourself on the web. Trade mags like L&SI will often run a free press release for you if you can make it an interesting story.

[Junior8]

You are right Tony - but the operative word is 'potential' and if no leads are achieved the expenditure is a dead loss - and I have seen some floorplans recently which simply didn't give some of the smaller stands a fair chance at all. Earls Court by its shape is especially problematic in my view. OK maybe I was being a tad pessimistic and painting a black picture but the plain fact is that by the sound of it the OP would have spent the whole of any marketing budget on one effort - and it's a well to be warned. Maybe if the OP was to give a bit more deatil on the product?

 

Also get yourself on the web. Trade mags like L&SI will often run a free press release for you if you can make it an interesting story.

 

From the opposite point of view always enquire about 'editorial support' when taking ads and don't write the press release yourself find somebody who knows what they are doing to help you.

[Dj Dunc]

Cheers for everyones replies.

 

Regarding the expenditure of marketing / tradeshows and general business startup, I agree that from my point of view £1200 is a lot to be spending in the very early stages, however if I get a couple of beta demo units made up and passed around a few people after all I.P rights are finished, then it may be worth doing a tradeshow if the outlook is promising.

 

In regards to timsabres points, I am already in the process of designing a website, and have already acquired the domain names for the .co.uk and the .com. Ill certainly investigate the L&SI further if its something they might be interested in featuring, but again ill have to get all IP rights done first.

 

Looks like Im going to need to get some physical items into the world, and spend some money protecting the design and technology, and take it from there. Does anyone know any useful places to start with regarding writing patents in "legalese" I have seen lots of patent lawyer types that will probably charge the earth, but is there any that are based around the entertainment industry, or small companies that do similar activities?

 

many thanks

 

Dunc

[Junior8]

Businesslink is always a good place to start try this but if you think marketing is dear you wait till you see what protecting IP costs usually to fail entirely in that aim!

[Brian]

Looks like Im going to need to get some physical items into the world, and spend some money protecting the design and technology, and take it from there. Does anyone know any useful places to start with regarding writing patents in "legalese" I have seen lots of patent lawyer types that will probably charge the earth, but is there any that are based around the entertainment industry, or small companies that do similar activities?

 

Patents are a complete waste of time.

 

Expect to pay £10k upwards for getting one.

[timsabre]

Patents are a complete waste of time.

Expect to pay £10k upwards for getting one.

And 100K+ defending it if someone decides to copy the product.

The only value of patents is to big companies with large legal departments who can make money by forcing smaller companies to pay licensing fees to them, as Color Kinetics used to do to LED manufacturers.

[musht]

Remember Steve Watts of Abstract selling the Rave out of a 2m x 2m tent PLASA Olympia(?), first rotating dichro prism, think it came out same year as the first Golden Scan, the Rave was a bit more affordable, must have sold loads.

 

Unfortunately the early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese...

[Jivemaster]

A patent is a few dubious right s in exchange for full disclosure and lots of people study patents on line as cheap research. If you disclose in a patent than others can make the Mk 2 model using much of your research. Probably it's a better plan to get some product on the market and some money back in, before the copies come in from abroad at 10% of your price and the Mk2 version appears from another company.

[Doug Siddons]

From my experience, the money invested in a trade stand is better spent on shoe leather, press releases and telephone calls. Profitable sales are what counts to grow a business and once you've taken the cost of a stand out of what you've sold at show it becomes a gamble, which I'm sure you realise. If the product has legs then it is highly likely that one of the big suppliers will put ot on their trade stands at the relevant exhibitions.

 

With regards to patents as everyone says, great idea but not financially worth it in this day and age unless your loaded, and in this industry it is likely that the cost of defending it compared to what your earning out of it is not likely to balance. You've only got to look at the Peavey V Behringer spats to work that one out!