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Trade Show Display Help

By Becky Fields Home Staging and ReDesign

Home Stager with Becky Fields Home Staging and ReDesign

May 17, 2007 02:38 PM

I am organizing a Trade Show for my Entrepreneur group. The event will be for two hours next Thursday evening. Now that the Trade Show has been planned, I need help with my booth. I need some ideas of ways to get current and future home sellers to understand the benefits of staging. In addition, there will be another staging company at this venue and I want to stand out. I don't know what their booth will look like, but I want homeowners to see we are different (and want to use me instead of them. (evil grin ;)

So far I have my June newsletter, business cards, registration cards for a cruise drawing (it's part of an advertising promo I am involved with). Should I do a powerpoint presention that is looped? Should I have posters or a display showcasing before and after photos? My area can be as large or small as I wish because we have an 11,000 sq ft airport hanger as our venue.

I know we have a lot of creative people here. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

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Kathleen Lordbock

Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN

Keller Williams Realty Professionals

At least one Powerpoint before and afters, soft music in the backround , lighting and a vignette or in your case it could be larger - drapes on 3 sides - greenery - stage it. Drawing for something you do - a consultation - an interior redesign - a color consult - state time you would spend and the value of it ,not redeemable in cash.

May 17, 2007 03:02 PM

Sandra Hughes

Redesigned Spaces - Northern Virginia - Fairfax, VA

Redesigned Spaces - Fairfax County, Virginia

I would think the more info. the better - plenty of before and afters. If you have a big enough booth could you add some furniture and a plant or two?

May 17, 2007 11:15 PM

Marci Toliver

438-4642 - Mauldin, SC

Anderson SC, Spartanburg,Greenville SC, Home Staging

I t would be nice if you could do one of the real estate shows and get it to continually play! I think Joelle and Maureen have some good examples of how they look! Are you going to stage your area with furniture and accessories?

May 17, 2007 11:36 PM

Mike Jaquish

Realty Arts - Cary, NC

919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

If you declutter homes, and I'm sure you do, declutter your booth.

Too much is worse than not enough. People go into visual overload.

A nice rug, a good complementary backdrop, two chairs(not too big), and a fern or palm and then the small touch of color.

And a warm smile...

As long as your booth doesn't drive them away, you have a better chance to visit with them.

Acknowledge everyone you can speak to. They are buying YOU more than they will buy the booth. Working hard to meet the public will probably set you apart from the competition.

Have hard candy in a dish. When folks stop to take a piece, they will also pause to unwrap it.

That pause is important, as it gives you a chance to chat.

May 18, 2007 12:21 AM

Anthea Click

Fresh Perspectives - www.InsideNashvilleHomes.com - Franklin, TN

Nashville Home Stager - Selling Nashville, TN homes quickly!

Becky,

I totally agree with Mike. I also love the idea of looping a presentation. That is really effective. I wish you the best and will you tell us all the results of your show?

May 18, 2007 08:17 AM

Anonymous

Russ Kirk

Hello Becky,

I have a real estate company in the Indianapolis metropolitan area now, but I actually came from the tradeshow industry. I spent most of my time coordinating people and different companies to help with the booth along with ordering services. Of course, a lot depends on your budget for the show. I think some of the ideas so far are good. A couple of plants and a couple of chairs to relax in would be good. If your budget calls for it, you could order a rental plasma screen and do an on-going presentation by using power point or a DVD player. Giving away pieces of candy would be good, but you don't want to give too much away because it will distract from your presentation. Email me if you would like any contact info for anyone in the tradeshow industry.

Russ

May 18, 2007 08:41 AM

Ginger Foust

Certified Staging Professional - Oakhurst, CA

Home Stager Oakhurst CA, Dream Interior Redesign & Staging

Hi Becky,

Just did a similar show 2 weeks ago and I agree with the statement above. The plasma tv rental is a great idea, because I had a loop presentation on my laptop but bigger would be SO much better. Also, if you teach any classes put out clipboards for sign-ups and a clipboard to sign up for your newsletter. I added a small vignette with a tall buffet table lamp that drew attention to the clipboards. Have fun and talk to everybody that even pauses for a few seconds.

May 18, 2007 10:17 AM

Penny Schoenbeck

AZ Home Styling & Redesign - Mesa, AZ

AZ Home Styling

Becky,

I did the homeshow in January, what worked for me: Looped before and afters (not to many people get board fast) business cards, a flyer they can take, (if your busy talking they don't always wait) free-be drawing, something to give away (not candy) they can keep, like a magnet, pen, etc. something with your business on it.

Now this is what I wish I had done, there was another staging booth and how they decorated it was so cool! They did one side a before and the other side an after. You need to use the exact same furniture on both sides, one side is bare bones and the other side is accessorized and looks incredible! Staged/Unstaged!

We were steady, but they were swamped all 3 days! We offered the exact some services, I wanted to be at their booth!

Good Luck!

May 18, 2007 04:46 PM

Anonymous

Becky Fields

Thank everyone for all your great ideas.

Penny - I was thinking the same thing as I have 2 pieces of furniture I was recovering when it hit me to do a before and after. One side will be "as is" and the other will be the recovered/reupholstered plus accessorized room. I think this will be the best way to show sellers how a room can look. Now I am excited.

May 18, 2007 04:53 PM

Penny Schoenbeck

AZ Home Styling & Redesign - Mesa, AZ

AZ Home Styling

Becky,

I'm so glad your going to do the before & after, I loved what they did and the response from everyone was huge. I wish we had done our booth like that. It really caught everyones attention walking by.

Just a tip: I wouldn't offer candy or food, those people are stopping by for just that, I wasted alot of time talking to people who only walked up for the candy and missed some opportunities to talk to people who really wanted to know about staging. They will listen as the take more and more candy. Lesson learned! Adult trick or treating. Good luck!

P.S. Would you please let me know how you do?

May 19, 2007 10:57 AM

Cari Pilon

RE:STYLE Home Staging - Brighton, MI

RE:STYLE Home Staging

Another take on Penny's idea would be to have you and a partner wear identical clothes like khakis and a white shirt. Keeping your partner just in the simple outfit, you accessorize with earings, belt, scarf, sweater over the shoulders (whatever you would do to look fantastic) Your partner could wear a hat that said "for sale" and yours could say "SOLD!"

If you are alone - part of your presentation could be adding those accessories to yourself while you are talking about your services (remember how captivating Mr. Rogers was when he put on his shoes!) Just to show sellers how simply adding some finishing touches to a room can make a world of difference!

Just thinking outside the box to make your presentation memorable!

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

May 19, 2007 03:03 PM

Penny Schoenbeck

AZ Home Styling & Redesign - Mesa, AZ

AZ Home Styling

Cari - That's a really cool idea, I will use that one next time as well! Thanks!

May 20, 2007 06:02 PM

Debra Rose

First Impression Home Staging & Redesign - Tracy, CA

Lot's of great ideas.

May 22, 2007 04:41 PM

Becky Fields Home Staging and ReDesign

Becky Fields Home Staging and ReDesign - Tracy, CA

Here is an update of my Trade Show experience.

Being I was the organizer as well as a participant, I was not able to set up my before/after display as I had planned. I had it all ready but with my morning meeting for this event, the set up and many phones I received while setting up plus having to resolve some problems, I was lucky to place my looped Powerpoint Presentation.

So what I did was set up my table with a nice table cloth with additional material, my PP presentation, newsletter, business cards and promotional pens along with the drawing cards for a cruise. This allowed me the ability to visit other booths and meet the participants I had only talked to through email or by phone. I did have a nice amount of newsletter and pens taken and a fair amount of Cruise entries. I placed the other staging business in an area where they would get exposure and in return it would benefit the staging and redesign business, including mine. I had a lot of fun mingling and I was not forced to stay at my booth. I received a lot of exposure as both organizer and introducing myself to everyone as I mingled. So for me it was a win situation, although I am now exhausted!

May 25, 2007 11:22 AM