Workshops and Webinars

Workshops and Webinars

Mastering Virtual Meetings with Melanie Fox, Founder, Speech Fox

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Link to podcast found HERE Transcript to podcast found below: Bill : Hi and good morning Bill Kenny here from meet and this is the belly2belly podcast today we have a fantastic guest, Melanie Fox from Speech Fox, and Melanie, welcome today. Melanie : Thank you so much. Good morning. Bill : Good morning. And so you know one of the really interesting things about kind of where we are right now we’re you know, a year into roughly a year into this COVID crisis and you’re just so used to meeting online now but it it clearly, some are really good at it. Some are less good at it. And you’ve been working with folks about sort of optimizing their use of the Zoom platform, both from a technical standpoint, but also from a functional standpoint and what you know, what do they do and how do they do it? And, you know, I think this is a really interesting area to dive into, because we now have I mean, you see, you know, certainly there’s a lot less or almost no in-person meeting going on. Everything is virtualized, whether it’s trade shows, or people are doing more webinars and podcasts and all that, to try to find ways to interact. There are more virtual meetups, all different types of ways to use these virtual platforms. And but yet, you know, I think there’s still maybe it’s a variety of etiquette issues or, or, or technique issues that are opportunities for all of us that are using these platforms. So today, I’m hoping that we can talk through not just where the challenges are but maybe where some of the best practices are. Before we get into that, though, let’s take a minute and learn more about you. And do you want to just give us a few minutes on your background and your work and what you do at speech, Fox? Melanie : Sure. So, again, I’m Melanie Fox. I founded Speech Fox, about 20 years ago, it a little bit informally at first and then more formally and my specialty is coaching speech. So I’m a speech coach, but I specialize in a few things, accent production for folks from all over the world, including folks with regional accents in the United States that they feel like might get in the way and then folks who are second language learners or maybe, maybe it’s their third or fourth language, so folks who speak English as a new language that they learned right away as a teenager or older and so English is not a native tongue for them. So folks that need work on their accents are one of the primary sectors of my client base. And another function of what I do with my clients is work on presentation skills, which now is heavily virtual. I help folks with their presentation skills both on site and online. But of course, due to COVID. My work currently is exclusively online for everyone’s safety and it’s a lot of fun to coach people to use this not so new medium anymore, to really do their best work and be really engaging. So that’s part of what I do some other facets of what I do. I am a dialect coach, so I help actors change their accent. Maybe they want to speak Standard American English and maybe they want to sound like they’re from somewhere else in the world. So I do that as well. And most recently, I started work with a company called Mango Languages. It’s the language app that I’ve loved the most for years. And I was a fan of it. I met some folks at a conference got so excited about their product that a few years later turned out I wound up trying to spread the love of world language learning. And they have a we have an app and also light language lessons. So I’m the coach for English accent reduction and when I meet people who need coaching on other languages, I do that through my partnership with Mango Languages. So that’s sort of what I do in a nutshell and it covers everything from communication in English to presenting online to communicating and presenting in another language on in any medium. So I hope that sums it up. Bill : That’s fantastic. Now thank you so much, Melanie. So I’m thinking that it would be good for us to do it. Obviously there are a few different personas who are using the virtual platforms. And you know that maybe the first one that comes to mind is that person who’s hosting a webinar or some type of event like that, maybe an executive briefing or something of that nature. You know, let’s talk through some of the things that you’re seeing are important for that individual to consider maybe some of the challenges that you see people having in facilitating those types of meetings. Melanie : Sure. So one of the first things if somebody can ask me for my help in consulting on a presentation, the first thing I usually ask is, how big is the audience? What’s the goal? And you know, what, what do you envision this meeting or presentation to look like? And what the reason I’m asking this is to make sure they’re choosing the right tool or a tool that works well for that type of that type of online meeting or event. For example, Zoom is, I think, far and away I would guess, the most popular these days. And there are different flavors of zoom. There’s the regular Zoom meeting like the one we’re on now, which I think is very conducive for you know, up to could be up to 50 100 people if you’re really really skilled at manipulating zoom. And if you’re having a town hall or an event that’s large, it has people coming and going

Exhibitor Tips, Market-Entry, Workshops and Webinars

Digital Marketing Strategies for Market Entry How to Test, Gain Traction, and Scale

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Jeffrey Cohen, Vice President at Imageworks is interviewed by Bill Kenney, Founder and Client Advocate at MEET about Digital Marketing Strategies for Market Entry How to Test, Gain Traction, and Scale on the Belly2Belly podcast. Listen on iTunes or Spotify Watch on YouTube Bill : Welcome to the belly to belly podcast where we explore in-person business to business marketing. This episode is brought to you by MEET, the company that helps international companies exhibit at US trade shows. Check them out at meetroi.com Welcome, everybody. My name is Bill Kenney, and I’m here with Jeff Cohen from ImageWorks. This is the belly to belly podcast. It is a product of MEET and we help international companies exhibit at US trade shows. So one of the things that is so important with trade shows and really any marketing is is to have an integrated approach and to look at really a variety of ways that you can amplify what you’re doing and really nothing speaks to that more than what you can do today with in terms of digital media and we’re so excited to have Jeff Cohen here with us. That’s Jeffrey, welcome. Jeff : Thanks. Hey, everybody. Bill : So we have people, Jeffrey. So you know, we have people watching this from all over the world, what they’re concerned about is, you know, how do I get into a new market is effectively and efficiently as possible. And these are all b2b companies typically looking to attract, you know, that executive buyer who certainly is going to have specific needs they’re going to need, they’re going to have certain language opportunities and whatnot. So we’ll let’s get into that in just a couple minutes. But first, before we do, let’s make sure people know who you are your company, so that there’s context to your comments. So do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself? I know you’ve got a company called image works, but how did you get here? Jeff : Yeah, how long do we have for this? Bill : maybe a minute. Jeff :Very storied past I actually have two different degrees, because I made a career change 30 years ago. So I have a degree in graphic design and then I have I went back to school to become a computer programmer, because I wanted a career change, not because I was smart enough to know that well if you wait another 10 years graphic design and programming are going to merge and this thing is going to be called the internet. So yeah, I found myself uniquely qualified once the internet was born. Bill : Cool, thanks to Al Gore and all his hard work. Jeff : Yes, of course. Bill : So, let’s talk about imageworks you all and I’ve known you for many, many years now. And you know, it was originally a sort of web design firm. You all have you know, bolted on as the internet is developed as really digital media is develop, you have bolted on significant additional capabilities, but do you want kind of walk us through what you all do? Jeff: Yeah, Sure. So that’s that’s actually I forget how long we’ve known each other. But it used to be that probably for the first 10 years, we were in business and we’re in our 23rd year, just to give some perspective. launching the website was the end of the project, we would shake hands, we would get paid, we would launch the website, we’d all raise a glass and good luck and they call us once every whatever if they needed update to the site. The launch of the website now has become the beginning of the digital marketing process, not the end. So we sort of and I don’t want to diminish the importance of a good website, but that’s sort of the window dressing. And I can hear a lot of people in my industry groaning at me saying that, but you have a lot of options now for getting a simple website. Done. Especially if you’re in a small service business, if you’re a restaurant, you know, you need five pages, a map with directions, pictures of your food, your menus, how to order. simple stuff, you have a lot of options of where to go. Now if you want to get that website found, that’s a whole different discussion. And that sort of begs the question now what? So about 10 years ago, we started adding the now what services in those are it’s a huge array of paid search and inbound marketing and reputation management, social media, and search engine optimization and retargeting and remarketing. It’s a really big bucket. But that’s sort of, that’s our growth area. That’s what we focus on online lead generation getting people’s phones to rank. Bill : And how long have you been working with international companies? I know you’ve worked with Many over over several years long, Jeff : yeah. Um, so I would probably say maybe 15 years. Hmm. And that has changed even more dramatically than our industry. But yeah, there’s there’s It comes with certain complexities. But yeah, for a long time, we had companies who came into the US or opened up the North America division of a German manufacturer for quite some time. Bill : Hmm, cool. So let’s then that’s an awesome segue to really hop into our topic. So I know that you’ve seen some sort of the good, the bad and the ugly of market entry with regard to digital media. Let’s talk about some of the challenges that you’ve seen. international companies have when they’re when they’re entering a new market, and Kind of pitfalls that maybe have happened on the way? Jeff : Yeah, so, um okay, so there’s the language and cultural barrier and these are in no particular order. But really having someone on your

Exhibitor Tips, Workshops and Webinars

Leveraging LinkedIn for Market Entry How to Create Your Future Advocates

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Bill Kenney, Founder and Client Advocate at MEET interviews Laura Hannan, Co-Founder and Director of Client Success at Pitch121 on the Belly2Belly podcast. Listen on iTunes or Spotify Watch on YouTube Bill: Welcome to the belly to belly podcast where we explore in-person business to business market. This episode is brought to you by MEET, the company that helps international companies exhibit at US trade shows. Check them out at meetroi.com. Welcome, everybody. And this is belly to belly, our podcasts for MEET. And we’re a company that helps international companies exhibit at US trade shows. And the whole goal of this podcast is to really help you get the most out of your marketing and leverage, really all the resources you have. And we’re so delighted today to have Laura Hannan with us from pitch one to one. Laura, welcome. Thank you very nice to be here to see Bill. Oh, it’s wonderful to see you. So when we got started talking. It sounds like you had a bit of a role change. And now you’re the director of client success, and you’re a co-founder of the company. So what is the director of client success? What’s your job? Laura: Ah, all right. Well, let’s you know, when you’re a business owner, you’re doing everything I do. I am lucky to have a co-founder, Fergus Parker, so I lead on well, it says on the tin, it’s the director of client success. So I do have an account manager who is managing sort of day to day tasks with clients and I get to have the wonderful job of overseeing the strategy and just making sure that they get ROI. You know, it’s, it’s as simple as that. So all that we’re aiming for is for our clients to be happy and delighted and never cancel. Yeah, so obviously, the job gets bigger and bigger over time because we’re now in the beginning of our third year of business. And you know what the great thing about having this overview across lots of clients is that ideas come from everywhere. So you can really sort of them the platform changes, LinkedIn changes the way that people are using and consuming content changes, and I get to do the innovative stuff, you know, seeing what other people are doing, testing things, seeing what’s working and moving our product on. Bill: So cool. It sounds like you think a lot like we think and that is, you know when we think about serving our clients, it for us, it’s, it’s really what our job is to assure that our relationship matures and it’s successful enough for the client to where they’re a wonderful advocate for our services. And so that you know, with that as our sort of true north, it becomes very easy to make decisions. about what your service should be. It’s very, obviously very aligned with the right outcomes for your client, which Laura: I bet your network is full of future advocates and current advocates, Bill: Hopefully, and we’ll get into that, for sure. And certainly talking about your methodologies. But before we do, and just so everybody knows, so, you know, the real goal of this podcast is to help give you very useful information. And obviously, to do that we want to have context in terms of the information we’re sharing. So you all you and Fergus formed pitch one to one how many years ago Laura: And just over two years ago, cool. Bill: Excellent. And so what was the original impetus? What was it that caused you to do it? Laura: Okay, so I’ve been in sales for years and years as a sales practitioner and Ferguson I used to work on the same sales team. I’m looking at the date now. Let’s find out how many years was 14 years ago? And Bill: You were just a teenager then? Laura: Yeah, yeah, I was just, you know, thing. And what have we we’re in a content marketing agency. And I think that what you see in pitch One to One is the mix of burgers and I salespeople. But, but selling inbound marketing products, you know, we were selling content before content marketing was a phrase and you will see those influences coming in to pitch one to one. I think the thing that we discovered when we were working there, Fergus, by the way, ended up you know, working there for over a decade and becoming CEO of the company. The thing that was really overwhelming to us nothing because I went and worked for digital agencies and after that is then a tech startup after that is the time I worked at this content marketing agency was when I was the most effective at selling in terms of every quarter hitting my results. Why? Because we had telemarketers that would set up the meetings, then I’m not concentrating on lead gen, as well as closing as well as delivering a client and there is this. There’s a book called Predictable Revenue, which I’m sure some of your listeners will know. And it’s, you know, it’s absolutely convincing that you shouldn’t have your expensive salespeople, the salespeople are expensive, doing 360 sales. Obviously, telemarketing used to be effective and became less and less effective and you know, the, you need to adapt to how you’re doing lead gen. And but actually, the principle remains the same. That if you have your salespeople focused on just that part of the funnel, you’re going to help them to avoid that roller coaster of a great, great quarter. You’re so focused on closing that you haven’t done any legal so the next quarter is awful. And so that’s basically what pitch One to One is, is based on is, you know, working with in house teams to make sure they’ve got a predictable funnel, you know, got new opportunities coming in. Bill: And so your

Exhibitor Tips, Workshops and Webinars

MEET 2019 Webinar Schedule

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  January 24 Issues and Opportunities When Entering and Endeavoring to Scale in the U.S. Market with Blair Parks, U.S. and Canada Business Manager, Mayor’s International Business Programme at London & Partners February 25 The Top 5 Mistakes that Exhibitors Make at Trade Shows and What to do About It! March 14 Reviewing “Question the Question”, Octopus Ventures treatise on the Keys to U.S. Market Entry with Priscila Bala, Head of Octopus’s New York Office April 9 A/B Testing to Validate Your Trade Show and In-Person Event Strategy May 7 May 14 Setting the Table: Creating Your SelectUSA Success Plan Assembling Your SelectUSA Toolkit June 20 June 25 SCALE NOW: Entering the U.S. Market through Trade Shows and In-Person Events What You Don’t Know Can Kill Your Business: Nailing Market Research for U.S. Market Entry July August September October November December

Return on Investment, Workshops and Webinars

Getting U.S. Market Entry Right the First Time Around

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The phrases “fail fast,” fail often,” and “fail better” abound the literature on successful entrepreneurship. Yet regardless of one’s exposure to the idea of failure, it’s never easy, particularly for entrepreneurs who have already experienced the feeling of starting a successful company. One of the greatest challenges foreign-based firms face with U.S. market entry is the fact that they’ve already succeeded in building a successful company at home. Internationalization is not simply more of the same. It requires a localization strategy that calls into question every assumption about your existing business model. To explore this topic of localization and getting U.S. market entry right the first time around, we spoke with Priscila Bala, Head of the New York Office for Octopus Ventures and the driving force behind Question the Questions, a comprehensive resource guide on U.S. expansion. Here’s how Priscila’s recommends starting the U.S. market entry process. Understanding true costs The first step Priscila recommends is to “sit tight at home and set up a little SWAT team” to tackle localization. This team must operate under the assumption that your existing business model and value proposition will not work in the new market. Everything must be tested and analyzed. The task of localizing your business strategy for a new market requires immense resources, particularly the time and energy of this team. “It’s critical that clients are aware of the cost on those people’s time and energy. Even if you think you’re not spending extra money to hire someone to do this work in the U.S., you’re taking these resources away from somewhere else.” Market-testing Similar to that first time you went to market, the first step to localization will be to validate your product with real U.S. customers. Priscila advises that getting these first few customers is critical to proving that your pricing model will work in the U.S. market. Business models do not always transfer A common pitfall among firms endeavoring U.S. market entry is the belief that because they are successful in one market, they’re going to be successful in another. Priscila recounted many cases where the scaling business model falls apart because the economics and value proposition between Europe and the U.S. are different, as is the shape of the industry and size of the competition. “We had one case in which a company that was doing super well in Europe managed to fundraise $10 million from a U.S. investor only to die on the beach because the business model simply didn’t work.” Localization means understanding the market, the industry, and the unique value proposition for entirely new early adopters. It also means reallocating your budget. Entering the U.S. market is not only going to cost more than you anticipated, but it’s also going to require you to allocate your budget from a localized perspective. As Priscila explains, “the U.S. spends a lot more on marketing than other markets. Plus it’s going to be more competitive.” As a result, she recommends “leaning in on external resources—service providers, consultants, contractors, part-timers—to test your go-to-market strategy and figure out how to gather feedback from real customers. Setting goals and a deadline As we’ve referenced in a previous post on determining when is the right time to scale, exploring U.S. market entry is similar to sand in an hourglass. Time does run out.  Money, investor support, employee retention: all are limited resources during a high stakes expansion. This is why setting goals, milestones and a deadline for your U.S. market entry is key to getting it right the first time. Even more important, don’t sink the whole ship on your journey out to sea. Metrics may include the number of conversations with potential customers, key service providers secured, and strategic partnerships formed. “Agree to a set of milestones for the next three months at which point the team reevaluates if it’s working. If not, you have to be willing to walk away.” Redefining U.S. market entry success Deciding that now is not the right time to scale to the U.S—before you’ve over-invested time and resources and strained your existing infrastructure—may be your best definition of success. The process of exploring U.S. market entry may also lead you down another path you never expected. “We’ve had a number of situations in which the process of U.S. market entry led clients to think about other markets.” Firms often take learnings from an initial scaling exploration and apply them to smaller, more centralized markets where their strengths are better appreciated. Two years later, with one successful scaling venture under your belt, you may be better prepared to tackle the U.S. market. In essence, getting U.S. market entry right the first time may mean going for it the second time around. To hear more from Priscila about the challenges and best practices to U.S. market entry, check out our full interview: Reviewing Octopus Venture’s Treatise on U.S. Market Entry: “Question the Questions.” For access to all of MEET’s webinar content on how to successfully scale your company in the U.S. market through trade shows and in-person events, subscribe to our YouTube Channel. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a free, no-obligation consultation bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips, Workshops and Webinars

Nail the Follow-up: Close More Sales, A Conversation with Scott MacGregor – Part 1

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In late July, our team at MEET launched an exciting new series: Coffee and Conversation, periodic live-stream interviews with experts and veterans in the trade show, event, and marketing industries.  Our goal with these conversations is to share the wisdom that comes from work on the ground and to identify common challenges and simple solutions. On September 19th we connected with Scott MacGregor, Founder and CEO of SomethingNew. After 17 years as a marketing and sales professional, Scott felt frustrated both by the overall quality of candidates he received from recruiting agencies, and the dearth of knowledge around how talent acquisition, arguably the most critical factor to a company’s success, could be done better. Scott started SomethingNew in an effort to transform the talent acquisition experience for large and growing companies. Using unique, proven strategies, SomethingNew helps companies identify, select and onboard marketing and sales professionals, and change the way they approach talent acquisition in the future. We chose Scott for the topic of trade show follow-up because of SomethingNew’s uniquely effective approach. For Scott, effective follow-up begins before the event ever takes place—a practice that sounded very familiar to us. (Check out our post Winning the Race Before it Begins to learn more about MEET’s approach to event preparation.) The role of preparation in a follow-up strategy Laying the groundwork for our conversation, we began by asking Scott to describe what type of events SomethingNew typically attends and how he approaches these opportunities. Scott described a diverse range of large and small events where marketing and sales professionals convene like Dreamforce or Hypergrowth put on by Drift.  In approaching these opportunities, he works to ensure they are maximizing ROI through preparation. He shared, “a lot of companies wing it and that’s dangerous. You’ve got to have a plan, you’ve got to have goals, you’ve got to know what your follow-up is going to look like before the event even happens.” How you execute on that plan becomes the next most important step. What can we gain from really good follow-up? Every action we take in business has a purpose. Imagining that we’ve self-actualized our follow-up precisely as planned, we asked Scott what is the best reaction or ultimate outcome we might see. In essence, what can really good follow-up earn us? “Sales is a process,” Scott replied. Really good follow-up gets you to the next step in your sales process. It is typically not the case that you meet someone and sign a contract on the spot. “There is discovery and a lot of listening that you need to do. It is critical that you understand and follow through with the entire sales process.” The role of trust Trust plays a large role in moving prospects from initial engagement through the sales pipeline. We asked Scott about how he builds trust at events and beyond. “We have a philosophy of not being desperate for business. Like a dog smells fear, prospects smell when you’re desperate for business.” Understanding sales as a process helps to eliminate the desperation trap as it helps to ensure a robust pipeline. “When you stop selling and start listening, you gain trust because people aren’t used to that. They’re used to getting hit in the face with a sales pitch constantly and when that doesn’t happen, they’re intrigued.” The key, Scott states, is to be a resource to your prospects. “When you’re not trying to ram something down someone’s throat you become a trusted advisor very quickly.” Effective follow-up requires planning, it requires trust building, and overall, it requires a long-term view of the sales process. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our interview with Scott MacGregor from SomethingNew to learn more about his unique strategies for closing sales through follow-up. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps B2B growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively leverage at trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward. Contact Bill Kenney at MEET today for a free trade show participation assessment bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment, Workshops and Webinars

Preparing your Team for Trade Show Success, a Conversation with Deidre Diamond, Part 2

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We provide trade show success strategy with proper guidance and direction which include assessment, sponsership etc. to make your trade show success.Deidre closed her discussion with several points about the importance of making a human connection when reaching out to prospects from the booth to make a great trade show success strategy We’re happy to share Part 2 of our discussion with Deidre Diamond, founder and CEO of CyberSN and founder of Brainbabe. Our conversation with Deidre was live-streamed on July 26th as part of a new series we’re offering at MEET: Coffee and Conversation. Join us periodically as we chat live with experts and veterans in the trade show, event, and complementary industries to hear their wisdom on common challenges and simple solutions for success. You can check out Part 1 of our recap here, or feel free to catch the full interview with a fresh cup of coffee here. We left off in our conversation with Deidre during her discussion on the importance of offering a full orientation to both new and old staff to walk through each detail of the event, the strategy, the schedule and the communications, in addition to setting up a clear leadership structure. We followed by asking about the value of role-playing in staff preparation. Deidre stated that prior to any event, everyone—whether they are in marketing or sales, role-plays the pitch of the day, the vision and mission of the company until it rolls off their tongues. For salespeople, this tends to be easier as they are constantly speaking this messaging. For marketing staff, they may be more familiar with the written message and therefore need more practice. At the end of the day, it’s about attracting true prospects, in which case role-playing requires more than repeating a script. It requires a clear strategy. Everything begins with strategy. When asked how she incorporates leaders or more experienced event staff into the training process, Deidre shared that she looks for one person to be in charge of the entire event. She holds one person accountable but requires that person to tell her specifically how he or she will hold others accountable, in the process of building their leadership skills. Leaders are required to prepare a full schedule for the event including staffing for set-up and break down. She is also looking for how the team plans to use the event’s scheduled breaks to ensure that the booth is fully staffed when the attendees are out of sessions and most likely to visit the floor. Typically she looks for senior staff to work the booth during these break sessions, whereas otherwise, they are moving throughout the event, seeking out existing clients. It is based on this master schedule that she measures their results at the end of the day. We probed further into this idea of results measurement tied to individual and team performance, asking Deidre how she personally measures ROI for each event. Her first step prior to selecting an event is to ask the host for a list of the attendees—not the actual names, but the personas. For example, she looks for data such as the percentage of practitioners or percentage of CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) that typically attend these events, the break down of who they anticipate will actually attend, and anticipated total number of participants. She collects this data months before the event but does not use it immediately. Rather, she revisits the data closer to the event, basing her decision about whether to attend on the current focus of sales and how well this focus aligns with the projected personas of who will be in attendance. Using this data, she assesses what percentage of the attendees represent the personas of their current clients as well as their current prospects. She the applies measurable outcomes to each of these personas, allowing for clear, informed goal setting against which to measure the success of her team, and the overall ROI. Deidre closed her discussion with several points about the importance of making a human connection when reaching out to prospects from the booth. Recognizing that feelings of discomfort and shyness arise both from those selling the product and from those buying it, the value of a warm, welcoming introduction cannot be underestimated. Failing to prepare your team to make these connections on the floor not only impacts their ability to meet goals, it sends a broader message to all the event attendees about the vitality of your company. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps B2B growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively leverage at trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward. Contact Bill Kenney at MEET today for a free trade show participation assessment bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment, Workshops and Webinars

Preparing your Team for Trade Show Success, a Conversation with Deidre Diamond: Part 1

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We provide trade show success plan with proper guidance and direction which include assessment, planning, sponsership etc. to make your trade show success. In late July, our team at MEET launched an exciting new series: Coffee and Conversation, periodic live-stream interviews with experts and veterans in the trade show, event, and staffing industries. Our goal with these conversations is to share the wisdom that comes from work on the ground and to identify common challenges and effective solutions. We debuted Coffee and Conversation by connecting with Deidre Diamond, founder and CEO of CyberSN and founder of Brainbabe. CyberSN, The Cybersecurity Network, is the nation’s largest cyber security staffing agency, offering job building and posting services, staffing and strategy consulting, as well as online resources. After many years of success in the tech staffing industry, Deidre started Brainbabe, a direct response to the use of scantily clad models or “booth babes” at technology trade shows. Deidre witnessed how this trend had not only fostered negative stereotypes about the role of women in tech but had created additional barriers for women seeking to build expertise in the tech industry. Brainbabe changes this dynamic by training and staffing female students to work cyber security events, addressing the cybersecurity talent shortage while simultaneously rebuking and redefining gender stereotypes in the industry. Deidre joined us to share her wisdom on this month’s topic: preparing your team for success at trade shows and in-person events. We started our discussion with a simple question: Why is it important to prepare your team for a trade show event? Why make this investment? Deidre’s immediate response was that events are expensive. Once you factor in the cost of reserving the booth, travel, hotels, and staffing—not to mention the costs associated with time lost in the office, the investment associated with event participation is high. Therefore you need to have a clear expectation of your ROI. Return on investment (ROI) is measured based on clearly communicated goals that are set prior to the event and shared with each team member. After considering the investment and ROI for each event, Deidre reflected on the importance of preparing your staff to maintain and uphold your brand. A team that presents a cohesive look and upbeat attitude in the booth directly transmits this positivity to prospects. The amount of preparation that one does with their team impacts their brand image significantly as staff feels more confident in their roles. Finally, it is important to prepare your team so that they have a clear understanding of how their performance will be measured, again based on your ROI assessment. Setting goals ahead of time will deliver a sense of accomplishment for your team members, improving their results. (We will share more on Deidre’s reflections on the importance of setting measurable outcomes in Part 2 of this Coffee and Conversation recap.) Next, we asked Deidre about some common challenges associated with an ill-prepared team. Deidre started off by focusing on a common pitfall in any trade show preparation: logistics. Teams must be prepared to deal with real challenges up to the very last minute, including making sure that supplies have been shipped and received on time, and that the event organizers are upfront about last minute changes. In light of the inevitable logistical challenges associated with large-scale events, having an ill-prepared team can turn a potential hiccup into a heart attack. Another challenge that Deidre highlighted relates to the type of experiences that inspired her to create Brainbabe. In the technology industry and trade show space, in particular, there still exists a good deal of bias around the role that women play on the event floor. Failing to prepare women for this bias (and in some instances blatant sexual harassment) that occurs in the booth is unfair and puts your female staff at a great disadvantage. The best way to prepare all staff is by offering a full orientation prior to the event. For first-time staffers and long-time folks alike, walking through each detail of the event, the strategy, the schedule and the communications, in addition to setting up a clear leadership structure are key steps to ensuring trade show success. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps B2B growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively leverage at trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward. Contact Bill Kenney at MEET today for a free trade show participation assessment bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Workshops and Webinars

LOCALIZING COMMUNICATION: Connect with and Enroll Trade Show Participants

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LOCALIZING COMMUNICATION: Connect with and Enroll Trade Show Participants A conversation with Fernanda Ave, Partner and the Intercultural Communication Specialist at Mirrai International Join us for this June 26, 2018 webinar. More info and register here. It doesn’t matter what you say, it’s what the listener hears that counts. Many companies have made the mistake of assuming that the marketing that has been successful in their current markets will be successful in their next. Communicating effectively is not easy when you’re in your home market. Communication becomes considerably more difficult when you enter new markets. Understanding the nuance of local customers and communication in each market that you operate is critical to sales and retention success. A localization strategy is a unique market approach a company takes to address purchasing habits, customer behaviors and overall cultural differences in each country it does business. When a business enters a new foreign market, it can be challenging to give buyers in that country a customer experience that feels familiar and comfortable to them. Creating country-by-country localization strategies ensures customers abroad benefit from the same quality experience they would expect from a local business. In this workshop, we’ll particularly focus on the challenges and best practices in localizing communication for trade shows and in-person events. Join us an learn the latest tips to localize your communication. Workshop Outline Setting the table Common challenges Best practices and strategies for successfully localizing you communication Your questions Our webinars and services are geared toward helping B2B growth companies gain fast traction in new markets and develop reliable streams of high-quality prospects. Feel free to share this invitation with others. Space is limited. Sign up today!!   ABOUT Fernanda Ave (fernandarca@mirrai.ca) is a Partner and the Intercultural Communication Specialist at Mirrai International, a Vancouver based consulting company focusing in connecting businesses between Canada and Latin America.  Originally from Brazil, Fernanda lived in the USA and Italy before moving to Vancouver. Mirrai International (mirrai.ca) is a consulting company that helps businesses be successful in an international market. We help our clients in all the steps of their new venture, including market research, marketing strategies, branding and helping them to connect with potential clients and suppliers. Mirrai also organizes business missions to stimulate the exchange of ideas, networking and discovering new technologies. Bill Kenney (bill@meetroi.com) is the founder and client advocate for MEET. Bill has more than 30-years of experience in trade shows and in-person marketing as a participant, exhibitor, organizer, host, and consultant. He is a frequent and sought after speaker on many market entry and client acquisition topics. MEET (meetroi.com) helps B2B growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively leverage at trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.

Exhibitor Tips, Pavilions, Return on Investment, Workshops and Webinars

2018 MEET Webinar Schedule

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note: hyperlink takes you to the registration or recording January 24 TIRED OF WASTING TIME AND MONEY ON TRADE SHOWS? How to Accelerate Sales February 15 February 20 PAVILION PITFALLS: Move from Greek Tragedy to Business Recruiting HERO! EVERYONE IS NOT A PROSPECT: How to Focus & Win at Trade Shows March 26 FIND AND SELECT THE BEST TRADE SHOWS FOR PARTICIPATION AND EXHIBITING April 27 BOOTH BAIT: Are You Attracting Flies or Prospects? May 15 May 30 Scale Now: Entering the U.S. Market through Trade Shows and In-Person Events 5 Reasons Why Your Salespeople Should Never Be in Your Booth and What to Do About It June 26 Localizing Communication: Connect with and Enroll Trade Show Participants July 26 Preparing Your Team: Setting Everyone Up for Success at Trade Shows and In-Person Events August 22 Leveraging the Entire Trade Show: Uncovering and Exploiting All Components and Added Value September 19 Nail the Follow-Up: Close More Sales October 23 Walking the Trade Show Floor: How to Get Value When You Can’t Exhibit November 19 Making a Kick-Ass Exhibit: Everything You Need to Know About Developing a Great Booth December 18 Benchmarks, Goals, Metrics, and ROI: Everything You Need to Know About Measuring Trade Show Results MEET helps growth companies effectively exhibit at trade shows. Contact Bill Kenney for a complimentary consultation at bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

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