How to Define Your Tradeshow/Events Strategy as an EdTech Start-Up, Part 2

In part one of this series, the focus was on selecting the right events to attend. In part two of this series, I will highlight the many ways you can be present at industry events.

Typically, when most people think about attending a tradeshow, they have a picture in their mind of purchasing an exhibitor booth in the exhibit hall and sitting at the table giving away swag for a few days while chatting with customers and prospects.

However, I would argue that as an EdTech start-up, there are several more productive ways to utilize tradeshows and industry events as a tool to support your business each with a different level of time and budgetary investment. As your events program matures, you will want to layer these strategies on top of one another and consider additional investments, but let’s focus on three main event presence examples.

1.     Attend and network

2.     Plan a hospitality event

3.     Exhibit or sponsor

Attend and Network

For most industry events as a start-up, it will be most beneficial to send a sales representative to attend the conference and network with attendees.

The goals for attending events in this capacity would be:

1. Setting up appointments with customers and/or prospects

2. Attending sessions for professional development

3. Event research – evaluating the event more broadly to determine a larger potential presence in the future, competitive research, etc.

Attending and networking can add a ton of value as your sales force is establishing contacts in the industry. As you are establishing your company and the value it adds to your customers and prospects, this provides an avenue for you to meet folks where they already are – at industry events – without a large budgetary investment or investing internal resources and time in planning for a large tradeshow presence.

Hospitality Event

For events where you know there will be a significant amount of customers/prospects attending, you may consider an increased investment where in addition to sales attending and networking there is a coordinated hospitality event during or before/after show hours in the conference city location.

Based on intel from customer/prospect conversations, your sales force can help identify this need and can organize a group gathering in the form of a breakfast, lunch, cocktail hour, or dinner. Depending on your available resources, you may choose to have a small program for attendees to learn more about who you are and how you can help solve their pain points. However, I would argue that these events are sometimes more valuable if you focus on bringing educators together for an opportunity to network and plan to talk about business as a follow-up opportunity. After all, these conferences often have long days with a great deal of content, and it’s nice to not overwhelm educators before or after hours with another sales pitch.

The goals for attending events in this capacity would be:

1. Setting up appointments with customers and/or prospects

2. Attending sessions for professional development

3. Building relationships with key customers/prospects through hospitality events and identifying follow-up opportunities

4. Event research – evaluating the event more broadly to determine a larger potential presence in the future, competitive research, etc.
   

Exhibit/Sponsorship

For a select number of events that meet the ideal customer profile, you may identify exhibit or sponsorship opportunities to pursue. While it can be tempting to purchase a small exhibit table and seem like a slam dunk opportunity to acquire leads, I would be sure you understand both your customer audience and the show/event audience and opportunities well before you consider an exhibit/sponsorship investment as a start-up. Ultimately, the specific exhibit and sponsorship presence should be determined based on the goals you are trying to accomplish. For example, splashy logo/branding sponsorship opportunities will help increase brand awareness while sponsoring or participating in the passport game on the exhibit hall floor may help drive more booth traffic.

The goals for attending events in this capacity would be:

1. Setting up appointments with customers and/or prospects

2. Attending sessions for professional development

3. Building relationships with key customers/prospects through hospitality events (if applicable) and booth/sponsorship opportunities, and identifying follow-up opportunities

4. Increased brand awareness with your ideal customer profile (ICP)

These are only three examples of many ways you can think creatively about your event presence. At the end of the day, you want to ensure that your presence is aligned with your goals. Stay tuned for part three of the series, which highlights the metrics you should track to measure the success of your event presence and evaluate ROI.

#edtech #events #tradeshow #eventstrategy