Increasing engagement on the show floor is a team effort between show organizers and exhibitors. Exhibitions are about trust and facilitating the use of face-to-face marketing to bring buyers and sellers together to conduct business and build relationships. As a young professional and a new user of CEIR research, Kim Palastro, Marketing Coordinator of Pittcon shares her takeaways from the Attendee Floor Engagement series.

Please describe your role at Pittcon. What responsibilities do you have?

I am the Marketing Coordinator at Pittcon, and I oversee all marketing and publicity efforts of the organization, as well as contribute to events and exhibit floor activities.

Describe a few reasons why you and your organization use CEIR research.

This is the first time my organization has looked at CEIR research. I sought out the research with hopes of acquiring some of the latest data on attendee and exhibitor patterns so to keep Pittcon up to date on the latest tradeshow trends and best practices.

How did you first hear about CEIR research? How long have you been using CEIR research?

I heard about CEIR during CEM Week in Chicago last August. Recently, I started downloading CEIR reports to better educate myself on the exhibitions industry and the tactics needed to have a successful show.

What were your key takeaways from the Attendee Floor Engagement series?

First, was the connection of “People-Product-Learning” – which puts the true meaning of attending an exhibition into very simple terms. This concept will certainly help with my communication strategies moving forward and how we will market the exhibit.

Next, was the comparisons on attendee use vs. exhibitor tactics. I found this information very interesting, especially since so many engagement activities have high attendee use, but low numbers of exhibitors are using them as a tactic.

How do you plan to implement those takeaways to your organization?

I will use these statistics to propose some activities to management that we could implement in our exhibit hall. I also hope to use the reports to sell some engagement activities to exhibitors by showing them the high attendee use of certain tactics.

How has the Attendee Floor Engagement series changed your outlook on your organization’s marketing efforts?

I will be re-evaluating some of the exhibition marketing efforts and try to stress a “People, Product, Learning” centric message.

What is your overall feedback for CEIR regarding the Attendee Floor Engagement series?

I found the series to be incredibly helpful and I’m looking forward to reading and downloading more reports. I have already sent some of the reports to our Expo Manager to read.

Are there any content or research you would like CEIR to work on and share?

I would like to see research on what sponsorships are most popular, which kind attendees see/remember, etc.

Ask and you shall receive. CEIR is currently in the research phase in a series dedicated to sponsorships. Stay tuned for more details!

If you would like to participate in the CEIR Case Study or have insights on how CEIR has helped your organization, please reach out to Jannat Choudhury at jchoudhury@iaee.com.