Doing More with Less: Efficient Exhibition Planning

The impact COVID-19 had on the event industry is still being felt today with the mass loss of staff. Now that venues are reopening and calendars are filling again, staffing shortages are making it hard to meet the surge of bookings. Widespread pandemic-related cuts forced significant numbers of seasoned event professionals out of work, and with them went years of insider knowledge and on-the-job expertise.

For exhibition organizers, putting together a successful trade show requires careful planning even in the best of times. Organizers are pulling it off by being more cost effective with their limited resources. Make the most of what you have by relying on your team members and using technology to boost productivity.

Trust Your Team

A recent study estimates that nearly 21% of the entire events industry workforce has been laid off or furloughed since the pandemic began in 2020. You probably don’t have the same colleagues you did pre-pandemic, but the ones you have now are passionate, resilient, and eager to work. You can help them become more efficient by prioritizing essential tasks, delegating the workload, recognizing superstar employees, and offering ongoing training to hone their skills.

Put out fires. When you’re a team of modest numbers, it’s crucial to identify the most important responsibilities and take care of those first. What things will keep the show from happening if they aren’t done? And what things won’t get done if you don’t do them? Rally your team, focus on those must-do tasks, and get them out of the way. Create a list every day and share it with your staff.

Let them loose. As an exhibition organizer, you’re pulled in a million different directions when you plan a show. To stay efficient, sometimes you need to step back and trust your team to keep things running. Delegating tasks to your staff improves your overall efficiency, time management, and productivity. Plus, it gives your staff a chance to learn and develop new skills.

Share the success. Celebrate when goals are met and recognize the people who consistently deliver high-quality work. According to a Gallup poll, employees who receive regular recognition are more motivated, more engaged with their work, and more effective at their jobs overall.

Build a brain trust. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the industry to reinvent itself. New technologies have emerged making it possible to bring your show to people all over the world. Even though in-person events are returning, virtual and hybrid events are here to stay. Help your staff take advantage of this unique time by offering opportunities for training and certifications. There are hundreds of certifications and training programs that teach trade show management. Don’t forget your veterans; retraining employees can increase their efficiency by preventing basic mistakes.

Streamline with Event Management Software

Manual work processes can bog down your staff with tedious data entry and errors that can cut into their productivity. The right event management software automates most of those processes, and your small team is freed up to focus on what they do best. Exhibition management software can pick up the slack when you’re short on staff members, but all systems aren’t created equally.

You’re very likely already using standalone solutions for things like floor plans and finance tracking – and they probably don’t play nicely together. To maximize your productivity, the event management tools you’re using should work together seamlessly, saving you the time and trouble of constant patches and workarounds.

Ungerboeck for Exhibitions is all those standalone systems rolled into a single, all-encompassing event management solution. Get a complete picture of your show with one comprehensive, cloud-based platform that tracks real-time information your team can easily access from anywhere in the world on any device.

It covers all the essentials: CRM, floor plans, billing, contracts, and reporting. Use it to track prospects, organize vendors, share floor plans, send automated emails, and create invoices. Exhibition and trade show management is more efficient than ever with Ungerboeck software that’s made to scale right alongside your business.

And with the self-serve Exhibitor Portal, organizers put the manpower in the hands of exhibitors by letting them handle tasks like space applications and purchases themselves. The portal is your communication hub with customers and prospects. Put together task lists so that everyone knows what important deadlines are coming. You can even offer exhibitors promotional opportunities while they’re in the portal – an incredibly efficient way of driving incremental income.

To make the most of limited resources, lean on your staff and embrace technology to help you and your team do the work. The changes COVID-19 brought to the industry will be here for years to come, and we all need to learn how to do more with less. These tips are just a few tactics you can try to boost your efficiency when organizing your next show.