3 simple things I learned as a newbie exhibitor at SxSW 2011

1. Launch with your MVP

MVP = minimum viable product. I've also heard the QoU (quantum of utility) variety or the straightforward version - "when you have something that one person wants to use badly." Thank you Paul Graham for that. Simply put, if you have a product, figure out your core competency and iterate on that. V1 is a good way to test and validate your concept and that's exactly what we did.

Our company GetContact.Info was lucky enough to get an exhibitors booth at the 2011 SxSW Trade Show. We had a unpolished stand with a taped together sign that sat atop a TV that wasn't able to loop our promotional video. We had no standing signs or fancy stands to place our brochures and cards, or one of the retractable TV stands that everyone else seemed to have. But what we did have was an interactive way to engage the attendees, show the utility of our service in a 15 second pitch, make registration optional and simple, and give them something to share both passively and actively (their QR stickers).

If they like your product, the state/aesthetic appeal of your stand will have little effect on the foot traffic and waits that you get.

Side note: It didn't hurt to have Justin Bieber's "Baby" in instrumental looping in our promo video. Haha!

2. Be friendly and genuine

This one is simple. If you're friendly and seem genuinely interested in what people do, they'll be more interested in what you do. So be nice, smile, and answer questions, it will pay off.

3. Offer (passive) promotional giveaways

Mentioned this one earlier, but if you give people things that they can walk around with that displays your brand, the better it is. Yes, brochures are nice, but we printed 1500 brochures and came back with more than half. In contrast, we brought about 2000 cards and came back with less than 500. Doesn't that say something?

People would rather take something small the demonstrates your brand so make sure you do your business cards right and build consistency in your brand. This includes logo, colors, font type, text, etc. It ALL matters.

We set people up with QR codes that were branded with our little logo and display stickers that reflected our logo and color. These are passive ways to display your brand and for us, it was THE way start organically sharing what our product could do in the wild.

Trust me, there were more takeaways from being a first time exhibitor. It was a tiring trade show, which is not over yet, so keep hydrated and eat when you can. This was the single most revitalizing and encouraging example of customer development and validation that we could have hoped for.

I encourage anyone with a consumer friendly product to go out and display your product. Bring it to a crowd that gets it and launch early.

My (harmless) plug: to create an account of your own, visit us at getcontact.info to start tracking your business card analytics today. thanks ;)

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