| If you are a company looking to make a splash at a | | | | videos, photos, music from your PC to another room. |
| trade show, listen to the words of Woody Allen who | | | | The product is due out by March 2007. |
| said that 80% of success is just showing up. Same | | | | Another lesson is to aggressively market your |
| applies to trade shows. If you want a major presence | | | | company's splashy news. |
| at a trade show, your company needs to show up on | | | | Think big. Heavily market your news. The legendary |
| the trade show floor with a trade show exhibit. | | | | Steve Jobs kicked off his company's Macworld |
| Otherwise, you will be conspicuously absent from the | | | | Conference and Expo 2007 with not only a rousing |
| trade show arena. | | | | keynote address from San Francisco's Moscone |
| A case in point --at the CES show in Las Vegas in | | | | West, but he also has his self-promoting keynote |
| January, according to Forbes.com, Research in Motion | | | | speech on Apple's website for anyone to hear at any |
| had very little presence in Vegas, despite the fact that | | | | time. It is video on demand, and everyone can hear the |
| it seemed as if every one of the 140,000 people at the | | | | Pied Piper talk about his company's extremely |
| trade show had one of its products. By not exhibiting | | | | successful products and Apple's creativity 24/7. Jobs |
| with a trade show booth, RIM made it difficult to | | | | magically and romantically talks about the latest |
| believe its recent insistence that it was going after the | | | | developments and hottest products in the Mac |
| consumer market with its BlackBerry Pearl. | | | | industry. |
| Instead, it appeared that RIM had given up on the race | | | | It helps if you are a master of marketing. There is no |
| to get smart phones into the hands of ordinary | | | | shame in self-promoting your company and your new |
| consumers. The message that RIM had the premiere | | | | products. With little modesty, one week before |
| business phone, however, could have been reinforced | | | | Macworld, Apple changed the front of its company |
| to their core customers at their trade show display. | | | | website to an eye-catching Apple logo with the |
| But, since there was no RIM trade show exhibit, the | | | | promise: "The first 30 years was just the beginning. |
| message went unheard. | | | | Welcome to 2007." |
| The next lesson is to just do something! Or as Nike is | | | | Remember, in order to have a successful trade show |
| famous for its slogan -- Just do it. | | | | experience, follow the lessons of trade show |
| What Kodak did at the CES trade show was to | | | | marksmanship. They are: be seen, be active, and be |
| exhibit a soon- to- be released solution to digital photos | | | | heard. These lessons apply wherever you have a |
| that are most likely just collecting dust on your PC's | | | | trade show exhibit-whether it is at the McCormick |
| hard drive. Their answer is to have the EasyShare | | | | Convention Center in Chicago, the Kaiser Convention |
| Digital Picture Frames play a slideshow of favorite | | | | Center in Oakland, the Moscone Center in San |
| photos and video clips. Music can be incorporated into | | | | Francisco, the Santa Clara Convention Center or the |
| the slideshow. Models were shown in 8" and 10" digital | | | | San Jose McEnery Convention Center. |
| frames and they offer integrated Wi-Fi for streaming | | | | |