There’s an official press room. Make sure your content is there in digital form,

Attendees get weighed-down by paper, and it’s kind-of irritating, and not very ‘2016’. Or even ‘2006’ for that matter.

Post your recent announcements to the press room so that people can ‘pull’ information as they require. And rather than giving out paper releases, consider somehow providing a means of accessing digital content easily (a QR link to online content on a business card, or even that tried-and-trusted favourite, the USB key)

Don’t panic if you miss anything in terms of press material

There are plenty of reprographics and stationary facilities in the venue, but they tend to get phenomenally busy. Absent-mindedness is a pretty common human characteristic. You’d be surprised how many people decide to print material at the show – always a mistake.

If you’re taking demos, ship them with staff where possible

If a demo is critical to your stand don’t rely on the couriers. If it’s practical, pack it in a suitcase, and have it transported in person. We’ve seen too many demos go missing in our time, and it’s Sods’ Law that it’ll be the most crucial one.

Have technical experts on-hand

For many members of the press (and public) there’s nothing more irritating than recieving a finely -polished marketing, PR or product-management spiel when what you really wanted was one of the technical people. Ensure you’ve got ‘tecchies’ available as a floating resource, (even if this means having them available by phone).

Remember, this is a good opportunity to see lots of press. Not just the Germans.

In terms of press Embedded World gets a decent turnout. And not just German media: You can use it as an opportunity to meet tech, design and electronics media from The UK, Nordics, Spain and all kinds of other European regions.

That said, if Germany is a reasonably important region for you, the German Press will make an especially decent showing. This might be a good chance for you to collar them! Bear in mind though that because of the large turnout of domestic companies they’ll be busy, so offer them something compelling.

Consider upping your freebie game at the show

You’re at a show. You’re busy. Do you really want to carry around a branded rucksack, hat, mug, cheap toy or sub-4GB USB stick?

Of course freebies don’t have to be expensive to get attention. Inventiveness is key. At the last show I attended the company in front of us gave away Whisky Ball molds. The company behind us was holding a competition for that Christmas’ hot toy, the Star Wars remote-control BB-8 Robot. Neither will have broken the bank.

Have a mechanism to encourage lead-gathering

Competitions, celebrity meetups, gated entry drinks receptions… All of these can be a good way of getting your vital ID scans.

Odd though it may sound, sometimes it pays not to worry too much about the quality of the leads you gather. Don’t waste time trying to qualify people too much; it’ll just risk annoying them. Just get those scans. Good leads can often come from unexpected directions.

Make sure you follow-up

Again, this sounds absurd. After all, you spend so much time and money on these shows. Why on earth wouldn’t you capitalise on that by following up.

It’s surprising though – once the burden of the show has been lifted, and you can begin to return to normality – just how often ‘follow up’ activities, (with customers, marketing to leads, etc), receive far less attention than they should.

Oh, for the first week or so after the show, sure, you’ll throw yourself into the data. But it’s amazing how quickly other priorities take over, and what should be months worth of actionable data gets critically underused.

A few members of the Wildfire electronics team will be at Embedded World. Email us for an introduction.

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