Mass communication - so simple! But why so hard?
Last week, we got two extra team members here at Qnekt HQ in the form of the enthusiastic Elina and Zarah - our new marketing wizards. As many other humans the two of them don't visit all too many trade shows. So of course the first thing we decided to do was to send them to a B2B trade show for the event industry.
We gave them an assignment, that when there, they should take notes on all confusing elements of the event. Is it easy to register? Who has the best booth? Is it easy to orientate yourself? Can you find the toilets easily? A couple of days later at the show, the answer ..."yeah no"
Why is it so hard then? The easy maneuver to move from A->B? To find the toilets? Why cant people go from both sides at the buffet to make the line go quicker? WHY?
I happened to see this picture on Twitter when I started to write this post. I think this is a perfect example of amazing mass communication. Self-explanatory because of the clever way of using symbols and bright colors to "control" a crowd.
(unfortunately I can't find the one that posted it, please tell if you know)
When it comes to our marketing wizards question marks. How can we guide our guests both consciously and sub-consciously?
Here are the first 10 of my takes on it:
10. Use floor matts to lead your guests into the right areas.
9. Big signs are not overrated, and if you add a very distinct dress code for the staff = pure genius
8. Show the schedule on TV screens and projectors, so that guests don't have to pick up their phone/paper agenda all the time.
7. In-house speakers are made for announcements, not just music.
6. Use sound to get people moving. I've used different machine sounds to get people to move faster from one room to another, for example during lunch buffet. Hint: One does not like the sound of a jackhammer.
5. It's sad to say, but you have to think that no one will "just understand" how you've decided everything should work.
4. All in all = OSE - Over Simplify Everything!
And then the Three Golden rules. You can break the other seven, but these ones are the holy grail.
3. Always smile! Give a smile and get a smile back. Keeps the crowd happy one person at a time.
2. Keep the venue spotless! If the place is clean people feel good, but they won't know why. If there is litter on the floor or dirty cutlery on the tables people will notice. That spreads uncomfort.
1. Never ever ever run! You or any other person that works for the event is NEVER allowed to run through/past/from/towards the crowd. That creates the subconscious thoughts from the attendee that "something is wrong somewhere. Will this affect me?" When you have a crowd of a 1000 people, you will feel that tension in the air.
These last three rules are the only rules that I give to my volunteers and staff when co-ordinating an event. When they follow them and they (and my attendees) are well informed on what the schedule looks like the rest mostly takes care of itself.
Stay tuned for next Wednesdays post on "A few tricks on using screens the right way".
O Yeah btw... Welcome to Qnekt Wizards (From left Zarah and Elina)