Day 22: Do I Go to Trade Shows?

Day 22:  Do I go to trade shows?  I’m sorry I feel like I am jumping around on my days!  Going forward I am going to try to tie in the days better so there is a natural progression from day to day.  But, we economic developers never have the same day twice, so maybe this is the best way!

A couple of weeks ago I attended the RECON Show that is put on by the International Council for Shopping Centers.  80,000 people.  BIG show.  I attended this show on behalf of one of our client communities.  Three weeks later a retailer with a booth at the show is meeting with one of our developers about a piece of land in the community.  I got another promise from another business to come and visit our community client the next time they come to Iowa.  I call that trip a success.  Why was it a success?  It was a very targeted trip.  Retail is one of our clients targets.  They are a very fast growing city and retail is not keeping up.  Especially when the economy was bad.  I also knew what type of retailers we needed and who most likely would succeed.  The visit we had already displays the retailer liked what they saw about the community. If you are going to do a trade show, it had better be in your target and you had better do your homework before you go.  You can really do what you need to do at a trade show in one day if you are just visiting the booths if you have done your homework.  We don’t encourage our clients to have a booth, unless the prospects are more the attendees instead of the vendors.  Booths can be very expensive.  As I mentioned in Day 11 targets are extremely important when you are dealing with limited resources, which we all are.  So, if you are going to a show, have a plan and work the show.  Next:  What makes us unique?

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