Issue link: https://tradeshowexecutive.epubxp.com/i/78074
POWER LUNCH Continued from page 34 shuttle buses to the airport or discounted food vouchers. Everything we do is based on our customer insights. We understand that by continuing to deliver the right buyers and add value with other expo- sure opportunities, price becomes less of an issue for exhibitors. BOB: Do you assist exhibitors with deter- POWER LUNCH SNAPSHOT COURTNEY MULLER Senior VP, Reed Exhibitions North America Oversees Global Gaming Expo Las Vegas, G2E Asia, Vision Expo East, Vision Expo West, BookExpo America (BEA), Interphex, Interphex Puerto Rico, International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York, Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo and Expo La Comida Latina, Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show Also responsible for Reed's Exhibitor Marketing Group and List Sales Group, and oversees the conference teams Previous positions: Vice president of Internet World events for Penton Media; Executive director, New York is Book Coun- try. Worked in the trade show industry for 21 years (18 years at Reed Exhibitions) Career Highlights: Received the President's Award, Chairman's Award and People's Choice Award at Reed; Emma Lazarus Award from the Associated Builders and Owners of Greater New York; Great Women in Gaming Award from Casino Enterprise Management magazine. Professional & Community Affiliations: Member, Optical Women's Association; Natl. Charity League liaison, New Canaan Historical Society; Editorial board member for Casino Enterprise Management maga- zine; Editorial board member for Global Gaming Business magazine mining their return on investment (ROI)? COURTNEY: We have created over- arching formulas to help our exhibitors determine ROI, but none of them have ever stuck. Te bottom line is that every industry is different, and exhibitors, depending on their size and place in the industry, measure their return in differ- ent ways. Some base ROI on actual orders written while others look for promotion and exposure. Larger exhibitors may be happy if they get good press, while a smaller new exhibitor may just need to find a distributor or new customers. We work with any exhibitor needing help with their ROI, but it's a consul- tative approach based on that show. BOB: It's always a challenge to find new companies interested in exhibiting. How do you accomplish this? COURTNEY: Our sales teams are ex- tremely resourceful and use a number of sources to get new business — competitive shows, online searches, industry publica- tions, associations, newsletters, you name it. For example, when the Interphex team tours a facility, they write down the name of every manufacturer represented to be sure we know about them. Te BookExpo America (BEA) team recently had a field trip to a large Barnes & Noble store and wrote down the name of every sideline company that was represented at the store. Addition- ally, we have a position within Reed called a "hunter," and it's their responsibility to find and hunt for new prospects. BOB: "Hunter" sounds like a great job. In addition to new business, inter- national is integral to your growth, with exhibitors from more than 30 nations taking part in G2E alone. How are you managing that process? COURTNEY: We have a major focus on international sales with dedicated 36 August 2012 | Trade Show Executive resources here in Norwalk, as well as our global network of sales offices and agents. It's a worldwide team effort, and we're fortunate to have so many resources. BOB: Audience development and reten- tion are paramount today. How is social media helping in this process? Is it inte- gral to your show engagement strategies? COURTNEY: Social media is becom- ing more and more integral. But as with other areas, it is all based on the indus- tries we serve. Some industries, such as book publishing, are very engaged in social media, and we put more focus there. Other industries, such as gaming and pharma, are less engaged. What we know is that we want to use social media to our advantage in every industry, so we come up with strategies that work with the diverse audiences we serve. BOB: What are some of your recent social media innovations? COURTNEY: For BookExpo America, we dramatically altered our strategy this year to get this social-media-savvy audience engaged and to develop a more personal relationship with the event. We integrated "passion" posts that were book and pop-culture related. At the show, we added both live streaming and filming/ editing of content and pushed it out in real time through our social channels. Tis created massive buzz for the brand and dramatically increased our followers on Twitter and Facebook. We also en- gaged in additional channels, including but not limited to Pinterest, Foursquare, Instagram and TOUT. For the new BEA Bloggers Conference, our favorite and most memorable program was using the Song Fly Application, where we created a totally unique music video that generated more than 1,000 views on YouTube and brought us 17 new registrations. For the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York, we launched a "Name the Food" Facebook contest and increased our fans by 10% within the first two hours of its launch. For the Vision show, we are co-hosting a Facebook party on Friday night at Vision West. We are partnering with a leading op- tometrist and social media consultant who SPONSORED BY