By Chris Hillman, Recruiting Professional
SearchPath of Chicago, Inc.
searchpathofchicago.com
Tradeshows and convention came to a halt when COVID-19 hit – they were either postponed, canceled, or transitioned into virtual events. Now that we’re emerging from the pandemic, will these events start back? More importantly, how will they have changed?
Organizations that are planning to exhibit will eventually need to justify the event budget to continue. In the last year, where in-person event budgets were slashed, digital marketing budgets rose and have proven fruitful for companies. To continue to utilize events as part of an overall marketing and sales plane, managers will need to be more thoughtful in planning for events and setting goals. A fishbowl of business cards that have little ROI isn’t as impactful as targeted google ads that convert interested parties will little effort. However, there is still value for organizations at tradeshows to get in front of potential customers to influence them to switch providers and showcase new products and services – just needs more consideration than it has in the past.
What about attendees? Clearly, it’s still impactful for organizations to exhibit but for attendees, they need to find multiple reasons to attend to create the same value. In the past, attendees’ goals of attending a tradeshow are to explore industry suppliers and attend continuing education seminars (which have become easier and cheaper with the surge of web-based classes available). One of the other values of attendees being attracted to a specific show is the networking aspect of it – meeting people and interacting with industry colleagues. However, one area that hasn’t really been embraced before is the perk of networking in effort to advancing one’s career options and networking in that perspective.
Executive search partners often attend shows to build their network of candidates to help people transition to better opportunities for themselves and match top talent with organizations. This is a huge value add for attending tradeshows as an attendee – not only to see what companies are out there but also network with people who can help you get your foot in the door and take the next step in your career.
I’ll be attending the SupplySide West tradeshow for that sole purpose. I would love to schedule time with people in the industry to learn about their career experience and goals and see how my network can help you. Book time with me today!
For additional information, please email Chris Hillman or call (815) 261-4403 x 100