Dynamic Demos: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about a great demo I loved, called "The Dissolve-A-Way Derby". If you haven't read about it yet, you can still access it here. Today I want to show you two other "activities" I've seen --- and continue to see --- at trade shows all over the place. They're not so good.

It seems so rare to come across a really great activity, one that hits home, gets its brand message across, has some fun, and appeals directly to its target audience. Usually, I see activities that are too much like the two examples below.

I'm sure you've seen many like these: a putting green; a pop-a-shot contest; a wheel of fortune; a cash booth (where you step inside a clear plastic box and money flies around you like mosquitoes in a Louisiana swamp). 

Now I'm sure activities like these have their place (a grade school carnival comes to mind), and they definitely attract a specific target audience (just look at the participants in the two photos above). But really folks, can't we do better than this.

In my opinion, a good exhibit activity needs to at least have the following elements:

Reinforce the brand message. The activity should not be some random carnival game, but rather spring directly from the brand attributes of the key message being delivered by your trade show presence. The Dissolve-A-Way Derby did exactly this by demonstrating the product's key benefit, dissolve-ability.

Engage the target audience in a memorable way. When I worked at Viewpoint Datalabs (many moons ago) for our Siggraph show, we created a twist on the "Guess the number of Jellybeans in the Jar" contest. Instead of beans, we asked visitors to guess the number of "polygons" (the basic 3D modeling unit of measure) in a 3D model of a mountain bike. Our target audience was "3D Animators" who were using polygon based models like the one below in their everyday work. We challenged their primary skill set, namely, to look at the model and guess its complexity. The winner rode home on the bike. By honing in on their passion for models and animation, we engaged them immediately and deeply, and winning our contest became a matter of personal and professional pride.

Be fun & interactive. This is the easy part. Today, there's no shortage of choices when it come to making things fun and engaging. But, beware the slippery slope of "coolness". Don't sacrifice your brand message and your target audience's key drivers for the sake of "the latest thing".

I'm sure there's many other important attributes that a good booth activity should have. What's tops on your list?

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Bob's Best Bites

I'm heading to New Orleans soon, and that means a stop at my favorite condemned bar & grill, The Corporation (I don't know if it's really condemned, but it could be). It's one block from the Convention Center next to the Hilton Garden Inn. It's the kind of place where you have to wear long sleeves so your arms don't stick to the tables. But, boy oh boy, are their po-boys good -- and CHEAP.You'll spend between $5-$10 for lunch, and it's just terrific. This is where a lot of the work force eats while setting up shows. Get there before 12:00 noon if you can, otherwise it's tough to get into the place. Shrimp, catfish, roast beef, ham, oyster and even gator po-boys are served along with great muffalettas. However, if you go there during a rainstorm, bring your umbrella inside, cause the roof leaks a bit.

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