Chances are you’ve said one of the following phrases about an ISSA/INTERCLEAN© or similar event in the past: “I went but didn’t see anything new” or “I didn’t get a chance to see everything/everyone I wanted.” Whichever end of the spectrum you fall into, what you thought you would accomplish didn’t match your experience. The good news is, this year, you can capture more value simply by using the Attendee Formula.
Exhibitors have multiple formulas to help them determine how to gain the maximum value out of a trade show, but few attendees crunch similar numbers to get their best return on investment. Since attending ISSA/INTERCLEAN North America 2010 is just as much of an investment for your organization, take a few minutes to review the following Attendee Formula. Then, think about how many people you send to the event, how much you get out of it, and where you may need to allow for more time.
The Formula
Time or People Needed to Reach Your Event Goals=
(Event Participation Time) + (Set Meetings Time) + (Mobility Time) + (Unplanned Meetings Time)
Total Available Event Time
Step 1: Event Participation Time
There are two basic event types at the show: seminars and networking. To calculate event participation time, simply add the number of hours the scheduled events (i.e, one-hour seminar, one-hour networking lunch, and 45-minute seminar = 2.75 hours)
Step 2: Set Meetings Time
Based on industry studies, the average visit to an exhibitor’s booth is about seven minutes, and the average ISSA/INTERCLEAN attendee bookmarks about 33 exhibitors in the online directory at www.issa.com/exhibitorsto visit during the show. Of these booth visits, some require more involved discussions, which may last 15-20 minutes, and others are more detailed business meetings that can range from 30 minutes to an hour.
To calculate your planned meeting time, add up the number of exhibitors you plan to stop by quickly at seven minutes each, those with questions you specifically want answered, count at 20 minutes, and then add in any scheduled meetings for their specific time. For example, let’s say there are 25 exhibitors you want to see for seven minutes; five you want to visit for 20 minutes; and you have three, 30-minute meetings scheduled. This means you will need six hours to see your 33 exhibitors (out of this year’s 650 exhibitors).
Step 3: Mobility Time
Just when you thought maybe you could hit all the companies you need in one exhibit day, you need to remember to calculate your mobility time. This is the time between meetings, which includes traveling between booths, asking for directions, hitting the restroom, picking up your badge at registration, and grabbing a bite to eat.
The average time it takes to travel between exhibitors or to a specific destination in a 250,000-square-foot ISSA/INTERCLEAN show is about five minutes. So if you plan to visit 33 exhibitors at five-minutes travel time each, plus one hour lunch the first two full days of the show, plus registration/restroom/direction stops (which we’ll conservatively estimate at one hour total), suddenly you fill another 5.75 hours of your show time!
Step 4: Unscheduled Meetings
But you still aren’t done until you factor in the last-minute stops you make at an event, which include stopping at an unexpected—but irresistible—exhibitor; running into a friend, customer or supplier; or coming across a show-floor demonstration or seminar that catches your eye. These are usually the “missed opportunities”—that you don’t want to miss!
If your day is so packed, that you can’t see something of interest, it’s a wasted opportunity. The same is true for the company you planned to talk to—but never saw—because someone you met along the way ate into your time.
To calculate this number, consider that if you make just eight unplanned seven-minute stops, and then you run into only five people you know (again for seven minutes), that’s 1.5 hours right there!
People who prefer to walk every aisle of an event to quickly see what’s new also need to factor in the time it takes to do so. Consider that the average adult walks at a pace of about five feet per second when they are moving in a straight and unobstructed line. Even at that pace on the busy ISSA/INTERCLEAN show floor, it would take one person well over 1.5 hours to walk every aisle within the 250,000 square feet of exhibitors without stopping!
Step 5: Total Available Event Time
Once you realize how quickly time adds up at an ISSA/INTERCLEAN, you need to determine how long it will take to accomplish what you’ve set as your goals.
The total of the example above is 2.75 hrs for events (Step 1) plus six hours meeting time (Step 2) plus 5.75 hours mobility time (Step 3) plus 1.5 hours for unplanned meetings (Step 4) for a total of 16 hours. That would make for a very long day—and this supposes that all your planned meetings and events fall on the same day—which is highly unlikely.
ISSA/INTERCLEAN show hours provide 18 hours of exhibition time (7.5 on the first day, 6.5 on the second, and four on the final day). Therefore, most people’s combination of meeting and mobility time can’t fall into a single exhibit day, especially given the unplanned meetings factor.
In our example above, an average attendee would need 13.25 hours just to visit 5 percent of ISSA/INTERCLEAN’s 650 exhibitors, which would require the attendee to start as soon as the doors open the first and second day of ISSA/INTERCLEAN and not leave the hall before it closes both days. And the almost three additional hours of events the attendee chose to attend could not overlap into these trade show hours!
ISSA/INTERCLEAN North America is a once-a-year opportunity to learn, experience new products, and meet with customers and suppliers Plan your time to make the most of it, but don’t cut it too close.
About the Author
Dianna Bisswurm is ISSA’s director of industry outreach.
