Hearthlist Digest #130 - Sunday, April 5, 1998 HPA Show-St. Lewis & Hearthlist by "Timothy James Nissen" <[email protected]>
(back) Subject: HPA Show-St. Lewis & Hearthlist From: Timothy James Nissen <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1998 01:30:41 -0400 I have very much enjoyed the discussion about the trade show, pro and con. When I met Craig Issod close to three years ago (through tracking him down through his store's web site) this is exactly the kind of information and opinion interchange that he and I envisioned when we set up hearthlist. (Please recognize that Craig has done all of the hardware, software, and administrative work for which he deserves our collective appreciation and thank you.) A problem with hearthlist is that hundreds of people lurk, very few participate. Those who do participate have been more cautious in expressing their candid opinions as they can come back to bite you when whoever you offend retaliates. Obviously hearthlist will be more beneficial if more people participate. As always, well thought out civil discourse is of more benefit than flames. Elaborating on Larry James comments (by the way, nice job with the Windows 95 pc networking seminar), every year I am reminded of one of the best seminars I've been party to: Alan Zell at an early WEIW Reno show on displaying at shows and fairs. In a nutshell: 1. Never put chairs in a booth because if you sit in them, people will be much less likely to want to talk to you. You give them the impression that they are going to inconvenience you by forcing you to get up to talk. 2. Forbid the salespeople to talk to one another. Like Larry, I often had the experience of walking into an empty booth with two or more sales reps talking to one another, obviously too busy to talk to me. And my impression is that upper management sets the worst example of all. 3. Be proactive. Smile. If someone is walking by say, "may I show you our new?whatever." This is a far more effective line than "may I help you." Check it out at the next show. You will see a bunch of booths with grumpy looking people sitting down in their booth, which they spent a lot of money on, mad because no one wants to talk to them. You'll see others with rep conventions centerstage and prospects wandering through unattended. Sue Kalish, maybe it's time to look up Alan Zell again.