Exhibitions

Zoe Grant, me and Katie Levett

On Monday I did something I’ve been meaning to do for *years*. I headed up to Top Drawer for a spot of inspiration, research and to catch up with some old and new friends. To be honest I didn’t really know what to expect, but having enviously listened to various people talking about the sheer range of companies there I decided to bite the bullet and go.

I spent most of the day reminding myself that I was resolutely NOT opening a shop and that I must not get carried away but the lovely goods on offer. But it was hard! There were some really inspirational, creative companies there and I know that if I ever find that eighth day in my week I am so going to open a lovely online gift shop… But I digress.

It was lovely to see some of our clients doing so well, including the fabulous What Katie Did Next who looked just on fire after an incredibly successful first day! It was also lovely to meet Gabrielle Treanor of the Green Gables in the flesh and meet people I’d spoken to on twitter like the lovely Snapdragon Jane, Dots and Spots and Cutture. All of whom had fabulous stands and were so nice!

I was also really excited to finally meet the lovely Zoe Grant, who I’ve been chatting to on twitter for years, but never actually met. Zoe is a freelance writer as well as a mum to five (!!!) so it was great to finally put a name to a face.

I’m a firm believer that inspiration is everywhere, and it certainly wasn’t in short supply at Top Drawer. The colours were beautiful, everything was exquisitely designed and I came away with a head full of ideas.

And most excitingly… I met a publishing company who liked the sound of my new book and invited me to contact the editor directly! How exciting is that?!

ps. As requested, the image of the beauty lab selection was designed by and for Trend Bible. You can find out more about them here.

Tagged as in Exhibitions

We’re well and truly into exhibition season again and many businesses are recognising the benefits of getting out and exhibiting. I’m evangelical about the power exhibitions can have on your business – so much so that I’ve written a book about how small businesses can make a success of exhibitions. Exhibitions can help you build your database, raise your profile and generate paying clients – but only if they’re planned and executed carefully.

I work a lot with exhibition organisers – running “How to exhibit” seminars for their exhibitors and last week I had the pleasure of talking to exhibitors at the Best of Richmond’s Richmond Business Expo to help them understand some of the steps they can take to make sure of success. Here are some of the things I got them thinking about.

1. Know why you’re going and what you want to achieve. What’s your goal? Your key message? How can you tailor your message to the show? How can you tap into what’s motivating the visitors to attend the show?

2. Think creatively about how you can bring your business to life. And don’t settle for boring when it comes to design of your posters or your giveaways. Be creative, imaginative and bold.

3. Run a giveaway to capture data but make sure what you’re giving away is both relevant and enticing to the visitors. Bottle of champagne giveaways won’t build you a targeted list – just a list of people who want to win a bottle of champagne. Useless!

4. Follow up on your leads promptly - before your competitors do! Write emails and follow up letters beforehand and clear your diary for a couple of days following the show so that you can deal with the follow up properly.

5. Have a robust and targeted marketing plan that helps you build relationships with your leads, position yourself as an expert and keep yourself front of mind over the year that follows the event. Exhibition success doesn’t happen overnight so be prepared to work hard and it will pay dividends.

The Best of Richmond group were a wonderful bunch of exhibitors to speak to and I just know that along with all of the hands on support the Best of Richmond give their exhibitors that this is going to be another cracking show. You are a pleasure to work with as always and I look forward to seeing you all on the 12th April (do come along lovely readers too, won’t you? 3pm onwards at Twickenham Stadium, it’s a great event!).

Jacqui very kindly emailed me some feedback from the event which was just too lovely not to share with you!

Very inspirational– she gave me lots of ideas – Victoria, Colour and Craft
Brilliant, going to see her next week, see Fiona a lot on the circuit and her stands always make you want to go up to them, Lovely – Gary, Milestone Experts
Very inspiring – you just know her work would be brilliant
Brilliant presenter – knows her stuff, will definitely visit her if I exhibit anywhere next year – Helen Oakwater
Really helpful, definitely thinking about what I could now do, Alex, Artisan Accounts
Brilliant – really helpful, Michelle Luscombe

Oh, and if you’re really stuck, come and talk to me! I run a very limited number of one to one strategy sessions and I’ll help you take care of all of this with bells on… Email me if you’d like to know more.

Tagged as in Exhibitions

Gareth Palmer has literally just set up Playscene, a company that specialises in creating fun and imaginative playspaces for children. We met Gareth at this May’s Grow Your Business exhibition and he loved the Flourish stand, so when he booked the EcoSchools show in Peterborough he approached Flourish to help him create an engaging and memorable stand.

Gareth and I worked through an exhibition planning session together and helped him establish what his key angle was going to be for the show. We focused very much on the fact that there was a mix of teachers and pupils in attendance, and Gareth’s focus needed to be on engaging both, but it was the teachers who were likely to become potential customers.

We explored how we might create an impact, and Gareth had some fantastic ideas and together we whittled them down into a cohesive idea that would make sense to visitors. Gareth created his own graphics for the back wall and he and his girlfriend worked incredibly hard painting furniture, baking cakes and creating goody bags.

Gareth had also commissioned a fabulous Storyteller’s Chair which proved to be a real talking point and had also obtained hundreds of seeds to give away to the children which reinforced his ecological commitments.

You can also see plenty of his products on show – and we made sure that we kept them all rustic and natural to make sure that the impact was cohesive. I love the grass green floor and the vibrant backdrop. And how fabulous is the garden planter with all it’s fresh vegetables growing?

Gareth picked up well over 90 entries into his compeition and he’ll be announcing the winner shortly. Then he has the hard job of following up. But a jubliant Gareth was delighted with how the day went. The show organisers were so impressed with his stand they told him it was the best at the show and even used the stand as the backdrop to MP Lord Henley’s press shoot. Not a bad accolade! And proof that you don’t have to be a big company to have the best stand at a show – it’s all about your imagination.

Tagged as , educational show, exhibiting to teachers and pupils, exhibition stand planning, gareth palmer, playscene, schools exhibition in Case Studies, Exhibitions, From The Studio

Have just received this glowing review from a local publication, Guildford Means Business from Ezie Publishing and as it’s so lovely I thought I’d share it with you. Over to you John Hines and John Ashcroft… (and thank you. My mum is delighted The exclamation mark is the most overused – and misused – pieces of grammatical [...]

Tagged as in Exhibitions, Fiona's Book, Flourish Stuff

There aren’t many things that really make me cross, but people who attend an exhibition with the express and sole purpose of selling to the exhibitors is something that really winds me up. I suspect they see it as a big opportunity: “All those businesses in one place? I know! Let’s go and tell them [...]

Tagged as in Exhibitions

Just thought I’d give you a bit of a rundown of the Flourish stand from yesterday’s Grow Your Business. We put a lot of time and effort into creating a stand with instant wow factor and that, importantly, would evoke an emotive reaction. I think that this sense of emotion is something that we put [...]

Tagged as in Case Studies, Exhibitions, Flourish Stuff, The Flourish Identity

(above: the fabulous Gallery Rooms at the show) Mr H and I visited Grand Designs Live at London’s Excel at the weekend. It’s a really well run, well put together show (I especially liked walking down the tunnel to the sound of the Grand Designs music!) and the standard of exhibition stands was very high. [...]

Tagged as in Exhibitions

Excuse me a little moment of self indulgence here… My book, Exhibit!: The SME’s Guide to Using Exhibitions to Grow Your Business is now available via Amazon. It does exactly what it says on the tin: shows you how you can plan your next exhibition much more effectively to significantly improve the result you get [...]

Tagged as in Exhibitions, Fiona's Book, Flourish Stuff

Just a quick one to let you know that the Flourish and Guildford printing.com sponsored Grow Your Business event is back. It’ll be a veritable extravaganza of expert speakers, inspiring seminars, free one to one clinics and more than 70 exhibitors. Held at the Guildford Spectrum the event is now in it’s third year and [...]

Tagged as in Exhibitions, Flourish Stuff, Workshops

If you’ve met Flourish at an exhibition recently or you attended our launch party then you’ll most likely have a packet of chard seeds. Why? Well more on that later… The point is that it’s time to plant them. I threw mine in last weekend in a rare moment of sunshine and I’m waiting expectantly [...]

Tagged as in Branding, Case Studies, Exhibitions, Flourish Stuff, The Flourish Identity