help needed with NEC Baby Shjow

[jollymum]

Right, I'm having a stand at the NEC and need ideas, help, advice. Has anyone done a big exhibition like this before? What are the do's/don't, how do I make it look really professional on a tiny budget? Ideas and help, please

Congratulations - no advice though sorry.

If you could have a poster in the backgroud with my website on it i'd really appreciate it

What do you do, we're looking for sponsors! I've scraped together the stand fee but any other dosh would be helpful! I'm just checking with my partner about the legalities of sponsors at the mo.

I'm a childminder.

I'm skint too, I put an ad in the local paper yesterday they wanted £28, I managed to get it down to £12 which is still more than I wanted to pay!!

What do you do? Am i right in thinking it's to do with cotton nappies?

Jollymum, what'll be on your stand? What size is it. Do you have a display of any kind? I'll help you as much as I can.

i have done exhibitions and stands for work -
What are you selling???? What are you trying to do with the stand - sell or raise profile or both.
Are you trying to capture peoples' details as well
will you have a gimmick
you need a couple of helpers etc to walk around the NEC to hand out leaflets etc to draw people to your stand
Have you got display boards - are they eye catching?

Hi-I didn't want to say as I thought it might be advertising. I do have a paid advert at the mo so here goes. I run music classes for kids 0-5yrs. It's a franchise and the aim is both to publicise(sp?) thw West Mids area, make ourselves known against bigger competitiors and also to introduce the brand new scheme. It's antenatal music and no-one else does it! We have a six ft square (I think) stand with two side boards, back boards and a fascia for our logos. I had thought of leaflets on the stand, draped material (does it have to be fire retardent?) and then huge posters of our gorgeous children doing "musical" things with one board explaining in details what we do (big letters for shortsighted people like me) I didn't know you could walk round with leaflets, NEC hasn't sent bumf through yet. We only decided yesterday and I'm borrowing a bit off my Dad.Would balloons look tacky, we're not allowed helium so they say. I am also getting a huge puppet thing which I can use for attracting kids, it's also a signing tool as we cater for kids with SN.

Just starting work at home, three classes in a row! I'll get back asap and many thanks for the response!![grin}

instead of balloons what about twinkling fairy lights - also have a selection of musical instruments etc available. Remember to dress the back of your stand as well as the front and to use BIG pictures - don't clutter the display boards - a couple of striking images as well as your logo and website address is good

Where's the ad Jolly? I'm interested for DD.

Balloons aren't tacky - LOs love them and will drag parents to your stand to get given one! Definitely lots and lots of leaflets and if you can get someone wandering around handing out leaflets, then do so. You can also usually pay a little extra to have your leaflet included in the promotion bag they hand out, but if budget is an issue this may not be possible.

You pack from the NEC will tell you all the requirements re your stand. They usually print your company name on the fascia for you and will also include your logo etc on the website. Before I had DD I worked in marketing so will give you a hand if you need it.

Well jollymum the FIRST yhou shoudl do is create a profile on here! and out yourself onto mumsnet local.

oh and make sure you can see form walkign past your stand what you are about. Agree re interactivity - kdis can play while mum chats.

ahev some mini things of raisins as gievaways?

I have done the Baby Show at NEC working for four diff organsations (including mumsnet when the book launched, and I think it was the first Baby Show at NEC. Unfortunately we didn't sell many )

The pack from the NEC will say that you need fire retardant/resistant fabrics to use as drapes. It is very comprehensive (or the one I've seen was) and spells out all rules and regs, loading unloading, when you're allowed to pack up, whether you can have people wandering around.

The best stands, it has to be said, have huge display posters for the background - it can look a bit tacky and unprofessional if you just have even A1 or A0 size posters to stick on the shell walls.

I would suggest having something cheap but useful and branded with your logo and contact details that you can give away to everyone who passes e.g. bottled water (it gets very hot at the Baby Show), pens or something which women will find useful in pregnancy and early parenthood so they keep it around and don't just throw it out.

You're not allowed to protrude beyond the limits of your stand i.e. have a table half in and half out and make sure you are the customer side of your stand, not standing behind a table, whilst ensuring people have easy access to info in case you are talking to someone and can't get to them.

It's sad but true that you will be one of many companies vying for people's attention and don't expect to come away having made millions of sales/bookings and set yourself up for life but if getting your name out and about is all you aim to do then this is as good a chance as any.

Have fun - I may see you there.

Ooh I'm I just sent off for info about doing the London one, but there is no way I can gather together the stand fees (unless I am misreading them which I suspect I am not!!)

No advice though - just wishing you luck!

If you want to franchise (thinking ahead here!) London Baby Show has always IME been massive compared to Birmimgham.

Sorry also missed that you do music 0-5 as I've always noticed your ad for antenatal music. Agree with things for kids - perhaps you could have a giveaway aimed at kids that will last?

Ideas here

UtterPigsty, I am on mumsnet local, look under Jolly Babies etc. There's lots of franchises all over the country....love to meet your DD! I'm in Solihull btw.

Re the giveaway, haven't got enough cash to do most things as they have minimum orders of about 500 usually. Thought about bubbles, would I get into trouble buying up loads of little packs and giving them away? Ideas gratefully received!

add a profile.

Right, am going to do a profile.. Utterpigsty or whoever is most worthy of helping a tiny business, I need your advice. OK, we got the stand, we've done the leaflets and guess what? Now I'm panicking!! Have started to read all the bumf and realised that we have to really work at the stand design because otherwise we'll look like a stall at the school xmas fair. We've a 2sq m thing with backboard and two filled in sides. We were going to have a table in the middle with a chair,colour co-ordinated tablecloths, leaflets on table in stands, flower display, balloons all around the stand and a laptop with a photo montage. NOW I read that you should have anything in front of the stand, don't sit down all day and FFS don't eat or drink as it looks unprofessional. Fair enough, I wasn't going to be stuffing Mcd's but I'm on my own all day for Fri and Sat. The organisers have told us not to leave te stand in case the laptop gets nicked, how do I have a wee?!Right, large panel at back has AO size photos of the gorgeous children I work with and each side board has a large board with writing on it, telling people all about us. Does it look tacky to have the photos spaced out/in a line, can I have cut out logos or will that look unprofessional? Do I need business cards, and we are having two bowls with freebies for little kids in, to hand out to the mums, ie crayons, bubbles. We're also doing a term's free lessons to three lucky people. Shall I just have forms for them to fill in or what ? Do we wera co T-Shirts or just dress smartly? I#'m really panicking now...HELP

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Use google images to find pictures of other people's stands at the Baby Show.

This gives you an idea of what your shell will look like and how others have decorated theirs. Some businesses are EXTREMELY professional but they have massive budgets and you don't - just don't under-estimate the amount of space you need to cover with photos/posters/balloons etc

Competition
Have forms for people to fill out and maybe a nicely decorated 'postbox' for them to put them into. People prob won't feel comfortable about putting their details onto a paper which is left out for all to see.

As you are going to have three winners, will you have one per day, drawn at the end of the day?

Clothes
I think for your type of business logo'd t-shirts look better (see Tiny Talk's picture) than business dress but how do you dress when you are doing the class?

Eating
Take a packed lunch or buy some sandwiches when you first get there before it opens. Watch what you are eating that day or day before so you don't knock everyone out with your garlic breath or have some breath mints handy.

It's not usually too busy for the first half hour so you can eat around 10.15 and it gets quiet again at about 4 so if you can manage with the minimum to eat at your normal lunchtime you'll be fine. This will prob be your busiest time anyway.

Have a large bottle of water handy but you may find you don't need to shoot off for a wee. IME, other stallholders are really friendly and if you do get desperate for the loo, they prob won't mind putting your laptop under their cashdesk, as long as you realise that you do that at your own risk, iyswim.

Thank you so much for the info. I am worrying that the table we have is too big, should we have leaflet holders on the table? I've had the photographer round today and he has some wonderful photos which we're blowing up into AO size. Is that big enough 'cos any bigger won't be free (my DH is doing the AO's at work for me). I looked at the Tiny Talk one, looks like they're singing! We couldn't afford a music licence, but reconsidering, is it very noisy and should we stretch our budget to a CD in nthe laptop? I think we should if poss, but I don't want to waste precious cash if no-one will hear it. Any more decoration suggestions gratefully received!

I've also done shows on a teeny budget, and the hardest part is looking like you've spent a lot of money! You've got some great ideas, and professional photos/posters will really help.
I went to a trade fair last week, and it was amazing the number of stands that didn't have their name prominently, ie eye level or just above in the middle of the stand. People won't crane their necks to see your name on the top of your stand, and even if they just glance at your stand, you'll want them to register your company name.

Oh, and yes to the leaflet holders-lots of them. There's so much going on at these shows, some people like to take leaflets and peruse at their leisure later. Try and hand out as many leaflets as poss, it's a terrific advertising oportunity to target your market.

I love your name! I've just been really cheeky and asked our local florist to do a table arrangement, in our colours and she's agreed! Aren't people kind? Leaflet holders are really expensive, £6 each!! I'll get some more, I think. I'll make sure our name is everywhere too, thanks for the info
Oh by the way, if anyone's coming, it's G6a and don't tell me your mumsnet name.

Poo, you know mine now.......Oh well!

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