APEX 2009 Feedback

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Martel on April 1, 2009 at 11:30pm

1. skeleton staffs in the booths;
2. Beer and music session jamming all day, in the center of the exhibit hall - all invited.
3. not why, but why not.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lilyan on April 2, 2009 at 2:57am

will not be at APEX this year, since the schedule of shows in Asia is quite full, especially the booming solar shows here in China; SOLARCON in Shanghai is much better than expected, while there were empty spaces at other shows such as SEMICON, eP, and CPCA.

However, in general, looks not bad and actually quite promising onsite...

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Philip Stoten on April 5, 2009 at 9:52am

Hi Rick - Gonna reply to both this and your 'It's all about the TECH SESSIONS. The exhibitions, themselves, are increasingly less relevant.' post at the same time and in one forum...

So, APEX, I did a wrap with Steve at the end of the show, so will post that here soon for comment, we were not too scathing and hopefully made some valid points. The show was doubless a porr one for most, very very low expectations were met, and companies that had something new that was perhaps an add on rather than a big expensive machine did better. A lot of people re-assing investment moving forward. Afterall, tarde shows are all about buying leads. Ok, not all about that, there is the networking and seeing exisiting clients to be factored in, but leads are the measure...

Reagrding the tech session - you are spot on, they offer you good value and the chance to showcase a new products. Do you have a lead generator attached? Not sure, whct you get, perhaps some cards pushed into the speakers ahds, or perhaps the delegate list from the IPC as a route to follow up.

Anyway, was wondering how we can reflect that desire for tech sessions and the need to get close to the sales process? I did a webinar on Tuesday afternoon from my hotel room - 266 registrations, 22 countries and a lively Q&A. That delivered our partner 266 qualified leads (people who said yes, I dig the subject and will give you an hour of my time). So, that set me thinking. We also used a new webinar model, that worked really well but reduced our costs substantially.

So, how about this - frame a webinar so it focusses attention towards an objective and buy the leads that come from it. So, either a fixed price for the event or say $25 per valid registration (after sorting the caff from the wheat)... Does that make any sense or has the jetlag, lack of sleep and volume of gin and partying got the better of me? I pitched a few folks and they seemed to like it!

Lastly, just a quick note on tech sessions generally - how about a free marketing tool here. use something like camtasia to convert audi and power point to a video file and upload it to EMSpeople. I will review and pick one each week to feature on EMSNow and promote in the daily!!! Maybe we can even collect info from those that download it, or put a path to enquiry of somekind in...

Comments?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ken Isom on May 4, 2009 at 7:07pm

Rick,
I discussed with many exhibitors about outsourcing some of their sales and marketing activities
to outside professional companies like IsomIsom. The majority stated they are seriously considering on-demand CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Tools and services to compliment their limited in-house salesforce and to manage and stay in touch with their existing customers while looking for new business opportunities. Most companies stated that due to the downturn most of their in-house staffs are committed to bringing in immediate business so its tough to cover all the normal sales/marketing tasks with the reduced salesforce they presently have available.
I agree that the fewer customers that came were there for a specific reason and its imperative that companies be prepared to leverage the latest "return of quality electronic manufacuring to the US" trend.

▶ Reply to This

▶ Reply to This