Making an Expo “Work!”
September
greetings everyone!
I
have always loved the month of September.
Growing
up in Upstate New York, September signaled the end of summer (quite literally).
There was a crispness in the air in the morning. The trees would
start turning their magnificent array of colors and the sounds and smells in
the air were quite different than the months prior.
Obviously,
living in Houston, Texas, September is more like an extension of August, with
the exception of the anticipation of the fall home & garden shows, craft
shows, and (of course) business conferences and expos.
Several noteworthy conferences for small business owners and aspiring
entrepreneurs in September and October are the Houston Minority Supplier
Development Council’s Business Expo 2014 ( www.hmsdc.org), September 24th & 25th, the Transportation
Diversity Council’s 1st Annual Southwest Transportation & Infrastructure
Summit ( www.tdc-ntl.org ), October 10, 2014, and the Houston Small Business Expo (www.HoustonSmallBusinessExpo.com),
October 11th. Small Business Today Magazine is indeed proud to
be a media sponsor of all three of these events.
Whether
you are an attendee or exhibitor at one of these or other business conferences
this year, I don’t have to tell you that these conference and expos are huge
investments for everyone (often requiring travel/lodging expenses, man hours,
exhibit costs, promotional costs, etc., not to mention the price of attending
the conference. They can be a huge waste of time and money or be a major
catalyst to growing your business; it just depends on what your purpose of
being there is and your goals for the conference. I am a veteran of
hundreds of these both as an exhibitor and as an attendee.
Here
is a list of some things that will make your attendance more profitable:
1. Set
your goal as to what you would ideally like to accomplish.
2. Your
pre-conference preparation will play a major role in your ability to reach
those goals that you want to achieve while you are there.
3. Connect
through social media with those individuals who you are counting on meeting
there. Possibly arrange a pre- or post- meeting appointment.
4. Take
the time to visit with all the exhibitors. Each are experts in their
phase of your business and may have the answers to your immediate needs
and/or be an excellent source of referrals.
5. “Be
on a mission” while you are there. Take advantage of every opportunity to
connect with everyone. You never know who may be in a position to aid
your businesses growth into the coming year!
6. For
exhibitors, engage as many attendees in conversation as possible. Look and act
like you are there to do business.
Conferences
and expos can be an amazing source of business if you are committed to making
them so!
If
you are attending HMSDC’s Business Expo 2014, please come by our booths 525 and
624 and drop your business card in the bowl for a chance to win a $2,200
multi-media package. We’d love to chat with you and you might also get to
meet this month’s Cover Honoree, Martha Ceballos with ELP Enterprises Inc.
Martha is one of the recipients of HMSDC’s “Emerging 10” awards and is on
this month’s cover with that award.
It
is time to let you get started on this very special issue.
Steve
Levine
President & Executive Publisher
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