During a trade show, you will meet hundreds of people, take down dozens of names, and hope to come away with a few viable leads. Without any technology involved, a booth manned by one person can limit the benefits of going to the trade show in the first place. Using RFID to track all conference attendees and the booths they visited on the show floor can increase leads and information to help promote your company post-show.
USING RFID: From the Host’s Eyes
Hosting a trade show or convention encompasses months of work focused on planning every miniscule detail for the event. While some trade shows or events have no way of providing exhibitors with helpful and detailed information, RFID-enabled events offer a unique value to these exhibitors. The value-add is the ability to have attendance and attendee interest information collected. Increasing the value of a trade show can help to retain exhibitors and attract new exhibitors in the future. In turn, growing the exhibitor profile can enhance the experience and attract more attendees.
USING RFID: From the Exhibitor’s Eyes
Most companies know that trade shows are incredibly important for brand awareness and lead generation, but another important fact is that 81% of trade show attendees have buying authority1. If 81% of attendees have buying authority at a 5,000 person show, then there are 4,050 attendees that each company needs to be meeting to build those leads. Chances are an undermanned trade show booth is not going to capture all those leads within a few days. If the exhibitor is at a conference with RFID-enabled attendee tracking, lead generation can be an automated process. Depending on the trade show, the exhibitors may be given the associated email address of every attendee that stops at their booth. Alternatively, they may even have two separate email lists—one for attendees entering the booth and another for more qualified leads.
Setting up a general email list with each attendee’s email address associated with the unique EPC read in the booth would require a developer or software solution. Next, the developer can add any rules for more specific email blasts or lead information (e.g. targeted email blast is sent to all attendees that spend over 5:00 minutes inside a booth). With a hardware system and software solution in place, exhibitors are able to set up email blasts, contests, giveaways, and other lead generation techniques to promote sales.
USING RFID: From the Attendee’s Eyes
An attendee with an RFID badge at a trade show is not hindered in any way by the addition of RFID. Depending on the hardware setup, attendees are not tracked throughout the floor, rather just read when passing a reader/antenna which is typically around entrances and exits or booths.
However, it can help them throughout the trade show. With the ability for the exhibitors to read the tags and receive the associated email address, the attendee does not have to fill out a form or repeat their email address per each booth. It is a hassle free process that helps everyone.
