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The past 7 years, working with clients in the trade show industry have allowed me to work with many different companies, industries, marketing teams and personalities.  I've had the benefit of seeing some really great success and trade show strategy.  And, I've also seen companies who have stumbled, because of mistakes that have been made in several different areas of the trade show strategy.

So, I'd like to share with you the 25 most common trade show exhibiting mistakes.  You'll see that they can all be filed into several different categories, like pre-show, at-show, post-show, logistics, strategy, exhibits, etc.

1. Not planning ahead.  Yes, we're all really busy at the office with a lot of other things, but if you're not planning for your trade show 12-9-6-3 months ahead, you're setting yourself & company up for failure.
2. Going Cheap.  If you're looking to save $5, $20, $200 here and there, you're focusing on the price of things, rather than the investment.  Those extra bucks for the nicer carpet, the extra plants or the better looking display will add to the experience of your attendees and set your company apart from others.
3. No Pre-Show Marketing.  If you don't tell anyone that you'll be at the show, how can you expect to have a lot of people stop by your booth space? No one has time to wander around these days. They're coming prepared to see who they want to see. Give people a good reason to stop by your trade show booth space and invest in those e-mails, post cards & promos to intrigue their interest ahead of time.
4. Bad Graphics.  Have you ever seen a billboard on the highway with a bunch of copy?  It's hard to read, right?  Same with trade show displays.  Make sure your graphics quickly tell who you are, what you do and how you can help them.
5. Failure to Follow-up on Leads.  I know you've heard (from CEIR.org) that 79% of leads are not follow-up after a show. Shocking.  Don't be one of those companies.  Create a closed-loop system, before you go to the show, to make sure no leads fall through the cracks. 

We have another fiscal year behind us as April 1st marks the beginning of a new year for both BC Wood and the Specifiers Program.

Although we had a late start in 2012, the Program picked up considerable momentum beginning in October and continued quite a hectic pace through to March 31st, the end of our fiscal year. Although the major audience was the architect community, the program also experienced an expansion into the construction community with us joining and become active with the major construction associations in BC. As we look back, here are some of the highlights for the 2012 - 2013 year:

• We hosted almost 50 events, including lunch & learn sessions, group seminars, and tours.
   
• These events put us in front of over 800 architects and designers and their respective support staff, contractors, builders, and engineers.
   
• While Greater Vancouver is where the majority of events took place, we also held sessions for specifiers throughout the province including Victoria, Nanaimo, Squamish, Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon, and Penticton. We were accompanied by industry representatives who each provided educational seminars on their respective products.
   
• One of our last events of the year was our first group session for the Independent Construction Business Association (ICBA) (picture below). For this group, instead of a lunch & learn, we held a "breakfast & learn". This worked quite well for the contractors as it ended at 9:00am, thereby, allowing those that attended to minimize the time from the jobsites. Five companies from industry participated in the session and each gave 15 minute educational presentations on their respective products to the group. Afterwards, most stayed behind for 30 minutes or so to answer questions on a one-on-one basis.

• We have a group session booked for Mid-May with the other major construction association, the Vancouver Regional Construction Association (VRCA).

• We held our first group seminar for the CHBA, Sea to Sky Chapter, up at Whistler.

• In total, 24 companies from Industry participated in the Specifiers Program in varying degrees.

• Throughout the year, we were contacted by several architect firms requesting seminars on specific products which we arranged for industry representatives to present on. This epitomizes one of the major benefits of the program; follow up sessions are where relationships are formed between specifiers and companies, which in turns greatly increases the company's profile and chances of having products specified.

• We fielded numerous requests from specifiers looking for information on specific products or where to source them. In these cases, we put them in touch with the appropriate companies. If the products are available, having high quality, made in BC products used on BC projects is a win-win for both the specifier and industry. Certainly, the specifiers are now aware of this more than ever before.

All in all, this was a quite busy and successful year for the Specifiers Program. My next Wood Connections article will cover our planned activities for the coming year. In the meantime, should you want to participate in the program for the upcoming year, or simply want more information, please feel free to contact me at rmanion@bcwood.com or you can reach me by calling the BC Wood office.

Central Valley Cabinet Doors, based in Abbotsford, BC, manufactures custom wood cabinet doors, distributes a line of Thermofoil doors, and re-faces existing cabinets. They have been supplying custom cabinet shops in the Fraser Valley with locally produced cabinet doors since 1994.

In 2008, they expanded by selling to the end user who wanted to replace their existing doors with new ones. Over the next few years, they began to sell and promote several products that helped streamline the re-facing process. Re-facing is a process of giving your kitchen a face-lift without having to rebuild the entire kitchen. The current layout stays the same; however, the cabinets get re-skinned, new doors are put on, new hinges and hardware are added, etc. to change the appearance of the original cabinets. The process is quite cost-effective and a popular choice amongst homeowners on a budget with a limited timeframe. Central Valley Cabinet Doors offers a few different solutions for re-facing such as Shaker White Thermofoil door. Watch this quick video on their re-facing solutions.

CVCD Refacing Video

Central Valley Cabinet Doors has the ability to custom create what the customer specifies. They prefer to use locally sourced wood; however, they can import rare species and have a wide variety of material available according to the customer's specifications.

For more information on Central Valley Cabinet Doors, visit www.centralvalleycabinetdoors.com