Ardent Impressions Blog ___________________

Our ramblings on industry happenings.

Don't Forget Your Follow-up
May 26, 2011 - Rebecca Bertram

You’ve spent your valuable time and money preparing an attractive booth, with the perfect crowd draw and an awesome giveaway for attendees to remember you by. The show goes great and you breathe a sigh of relief …. but wait a second…. maybe the most important detail has yet to happen. Lead Follow-up!!! Exhibit City News recently published an article about tradeshow exhibitors’ follow-up and the reception it receives from attendees. The research showed attendees were frustrated when they didn’t receive follow-up and the best-received follow-up incorporated actual conversation the attendee had in the booth with sales representatives. Although handwriting notes on lead retrieval slips works, there are some great programs available to incorporate with show retrieval systems that facilitate sales rep conversation as well as encourage note taking. Utilizing a custom lead retrieval allows exhibitors to glean more pertinent detail from prospective buyers and in-turn provide them with more accurate follow-up. Bonus – there are no little slips to go missing either or tedious data entry after the show. So make use of those great booth draws, take notes and follow-up!!!

Thinking Outside the Cubicle
March 4, 2011 - Rebecca Bertram

What if you were asked to describe your leadership style - but without words! In a new twist on charades, attendees at a management training event we recently photographed, were challenged to present their styles through a photo using just their office surroundings. Chairs, office plants, phones and books all made appearances yet some participants generated pretty amazing results. We were impressed by this fun exercise to get creative juices flowing! Now our challenge to you - what exercise could you use to spice-up your marketing programs?

Winter Travel Tips
Feb 23, 2011 - Rebecca Bertram

These colder months bring a wonderful winter wonderland to most of the country, unless your business sends you traveling! Ardent’s team travels the globe year round executing hundreds of events and along the way we’ve learned some tips that can help you survive the storm!

• Book the first flight out in the morning since it less likely to be affected by earlier delays. • Minimize connections to reduce the risk of missing them and of loosing checked luggage.

• If you must book a connection, make sure there is sufficient time. Most travel websites will book layovers as tight as 30 minutes, which is not enough if you need to change terminals or suffer even minor delays. We allow an hour for domestic layovers and two for incoming international flights that have to clear customs.

• Book connections through cities such as Atlanta and Houston that suffer less winter weather issues. Chicago is the worst.

• When you are in danger of missing your connection, speak up! Let your flight attendant know as they can help in various ways such as enabling you to get off the plane first and calling ahead to the departing gate.

• If you are affected by delays or cancelations, use your cell phone to call your airline instead of standing in long lines at the airport. There are many more customer service agents available on the phone and the quicker you get a hold of someone to help re-route you, the better your chances.

• If it looks like your flight is going to be cancelled, look at booking a hotel close to the airport as soon as you can. These accommodations fill quickly and the alternative might be sleeping at the airport.

• Know the airline’s policy for delays due to weather. Airlines are more likely to cancel flights now that the Tarmac Delay Rule fines airlines.

• Though airlines are not responsible for weather delays, each has unique policies that may help with ticket changes, waive fees or offer partial refunds. But they won’t necessarily volunteer this information so make sure to ask!

And, lastly, don’t forget your scarf! Wishing you Happy Travels and the best of luck so you never need these tips!!

International Pediatricians descend on Paris
Feb 18, 2011 - Kelly Gurza

Ardent staff joined Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in Paris for the first annual Global Congress for Consensus in Pediatrics & Child Health. Being a first-time conference, show organizers were expecting about 600 participants - but were excited by blowing that out of the water with 1200! Pfizer brought Ardent along to offer physicians a show branded photo in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre; making it easy to ‘visit’ the landmarks without leaving the convention! The show runs through Feb 20th and so far, it’s a huge success!

Support Hearts After Dark, San Francisco, Feb 10
Feb 7, 2011 - Rebecca Bertram

For the second year in a row we will be providing photo mementos of the guests at the annual Hearts After Dark benefit for the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. This exciting evening features live music, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. General Admission tickets are $75 and support the city’s only level one trauma center. Join us under the stars in Union Square for a fabulous event to raise money for a great cause. Click here for photos from the event.

Beltwide Cotton Expo – Mission Accomplished!
Jan 30, 2011 - Rebecca Bertram

Ardent’s very own Corinne Chapman ventured to Atlanta last month for the Beltwide Cotton Expo, January 4-7th. Our mission was to attract attendees to the booth and send them away with a memorable keepsake. Did we accomplish that mission? Boy did we.....armed with a fun BBQ background that mimicked the client’s advertising and backyard BBQ props we had attendees manning the grill in these photos. Corinne even commented that the booth’s location wasn’t great but that didn’t stop them, the promotion drew people into their corner of the exhibit hall to join in the fun. Numerous comments were made by attendees as they posed for their photos that our booth was the most fun booth in the convention! Mission accomplished!

They remembered the presenter not us!
Dec 10, 2011 -Trent Poltronetti

A few years ago I had a 30x20ft booth at the DAC tradeshow in New Orleans. We made sure to check all the usual boxes: nice booth, clear signage, meaningful demos, handy literature etc but the attendance was still disappointing. The following year we upped our game by hiring a professional presenter and crowd gatherer and they brought in three times the number of visitors and leads. The only problem was soon after many of those visitors left the booth they forgot all about us – even if they remembered the presenter! When planning your next exhibit make sure to include promotions and followup that helps those visitors keep you in mind. Call us if you need any ideas.