Here's how you can assess the impact of a trade show on your career.

In Business attending trade shows, I believe that the fact of simply being present and networking there is enough. Your presence alone will increase your awareness and visibility is key. A huge part of success is setting yourself clear goals and having the right mindset. Ask yourself beforehand what it actually is that you want to achieve there, set SMART metrics. What are your trade show goals and strategy behind? Do you want to generate more sales? or do you just want to boost your network? or do you want to raise your brand awareness? The opportunities can be endless roadmap if tackled meticulously

There's a lot of truth to the saying 'it's not what you know, it's who you know'. Networking with likeminded individuals and industry peers opens doors!

Networking is a cornerstone of trade show benefits. As you navigate the event, think about the quality of connections you're making. Are you meeting potential mentors, collaborators, or clients? After the show, assess whether these connections have added value to your professional network. This isn't just about quantity; it's about forming relationships that can lead to opportunities such as job offers, partnerships, or valuable industry insights that could shape your career trajectory.

Trade Shows give you opportunity interact the world at one place and explore the possibilities for future growth. It opens up load of references and ideas from the market leaders and innovators

You've paid the money, you've purchased the merch to woo your clients - DON'T WASTE IT! Be organised, the people you talk with, connect with them, tag them on LinkedIn! So you can personalise each follow up, make notes about what you chatted about. BE ORGANISED, easier said than done when you're (hopefully) inundated by prospects but it's really worth it.

Messen: Direkter Kundenkontakt in extrem hoher Schlagzahl Alle reden von Neukunden. Jeder will sie. Doch kaum jemand hat sie in der Anzahl und Qualität, in der man sie sich wünscht. Die Kunden sind überlastet von Anrufen, Mailings, Spamwerbung. Die Unzahl von Vertriebskanälen macht die direkte Kontaktaufnahme zur schier unüberwindlichen Herausforderung. Per Kaltakquise mit Entscheidern in Kontakt kommen? Das wird in vielen Branchen immer schwieriger. Wie soll man sie dann auf sich aufmerksam und sie in Interessenten und Käufer verwandeln? Die Antwort: Messen gezielt nutzen! Nirgends sonst hat man die Chance, so viele potenzielle Kunden persönlich anzusprechen wie auf einer Messe. Und nirgendwo sonst in so hoher Taktfrequenz.

Trade shows have huge longterm impact, but only if all leads are followed up correctly, relationships need to be built over time.

Nas feiras de negócios, consigo encontrar presencialmente muitos contatos que faço aqui no LinkedIn e também profissionais que acompanham nossa empresa. Aproveito todos os momentos para conhecer novos profissionais durante a feira

Networking is a cornerstone of trade show benefits. As you navigate the event, think about the quality of connections you're making. Are you meeting potential mentors, collaborators, or clients? After the show, assess whether these connections have added value to your professional network. This isn't just about quantity; it's about forming relationships that can lead to opportunities such as job offers, partnerships, or valuable industry insights that could shape your career trajectory.

Sem dúvidas, contatos nunca é demais. Abrem portas, parcerias comerciais e novos negócios. "Sempre" agregam valor, pois trazem consigo trocas construtivas de experiências e muitas vezes colaborativas em parcerias de projetos em comum.

Para mim, uma feira vai além de negócios. Busco participar de congressos, workshops, palestras e ainda conversar com profissionais que agreguem muitos ensinamentos e experiências para mim.

É muito importante mapear os setores do evento que mais se encaixam em seu perfil , participar de palestras e workshops. Em certos eventos, as empresas levam profissionais muito qualificados para demonstrar seus produtos é importante interagir e trocar conhecimentos e experiências.

Be a sponge and soak it all up! There's always amazing opportunities to listen, learn or see how others do it. Also it's always good to observe others in similar industries to see what they do well / do badly on the their stand. Seeing what's out there and what's being done differently is NEVER a bad thing!

If you're not visible ... you don't exist. Trade shows are analogical, back to basics hand shake and look into the eyes moments to meet and consolidate old clients and essential to create B2B brand awareness.

Acredito que as feiras de negócios são a melhor maneira de expor uma marca, não só porque o evento reúne em um mesmo lugar muitas empresas do setor com os mesmos objetivos, mas também para buscarmos nossa constante reavaliação de marca e ver novas oportunidades.

Your personal brand is your professional currency. Consider how your attendance at a trade show has elevated your visibility within your industry. Did you engage in meaningful conversations, participate in panels, or contribute insights that could position you as a thought leader? The impact on your career can be substantial when you leverage trade shows to build and showcase your brand.

Eu traço uma estratégia para três momentos de uma feira de negócios: antes, durante e após o evento. É incrível os resultados de cada momento. Já tive experiências em que, antes de acontecer a feira de negócios, eu já havia convertido negócios, e durante o evento foi para celebrar a nova parceria.

You've finished the show, you've got your (comprehensive & organised haha) prospects and notes and you're now going to formulate a personalised plan to contact these people. Keeping notes about what people were interested in / what you discussed is imperative to being able to fulfil a brilliantly crafted follow up. None of these cut and paste emails for you...

Em 1995 , com a internet se tornando mais real no dia a dia das empresas e pessoas, se acreditava que as exposições seriam engolidas pela tecnologia. Em 16/3/2020 veio o lockdown e a pandemia 2 anos sem eventos físicos as empresas se reinventando no digital, e novamente a mesma questão. Eu acredito que a estratégia é quem define o sucesso da sua participação, que vai desde como projetar seu estande, plano de ação e abordagem ao visitante e principalmente unir o digital para atrair seus compradores e o presencial para conquistar novos e futuros compradores.

Uma das tarefas mais difíceis é analisar o retorno do investimento, dado a tantas variáveis e principalmente as conclusões de negócios que muitas vezes só ocorrem no decorrer pós-análise. Independentemente disso, é importante participar das feiras de negócios, seja como expositor ou visitante.

ROI, as it relates to tradeshows is woefully underestimated—even today. Many companies looks at the hard numbers (cost and leads) and make a call from there, but if you're a new company, or an old company with a new product, tradeshows go a long way to; legitimizing your product brand, get early adopters engaged, and see how your competitors are representing their products in the real world. These factors have latent value that you'll reap down the road and as such should be considered to have value as well.

Para cada feira de negócios que participo, já crio um planejamento baseado nas lições aprendidas para analisar as oportunidades e a viabilidade de inseri-las nas próximas edições.

I always try to think outside the box and do something memorable that attendees will want to take with them and display all year. Once I attended a conference on National Corn Chip Day. I had a massive display of Fritos corn chips and my take-away was a calendar for the rest of the year of all the bizarre holidays with my contact info. Everyone, including other vendors, were coming over to take my flyers. Another trade show was the history of the pineapple, the symbol for hospitality. Everyone was taking pictures of it and taking my giveaways to display back home. My sales mission has always been in building relationships and trying to help people, not trying to sell them something. Result: People come to me for help, so I help AND I sell.

I think the goal is to pick up at least one new client. One, the show pays for itself, generally. More than one, even better. Exposing your brand to new eyes can pay off for years.

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?