Setting your objectives

An exhibition is a fantastic way to attract new business and raise your company profile, but to justify your investment it is essential that you outline your objectives for attending the event so you can measure your success.

Your objectives should be ‘SMART’:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timely

Unless your goals are quantifiable, you will not be able to measure your success for example, instead of having an objective ‘to attract new employees’ you should be aiming for something much more specific: ‘to make 80 quality leads each day’.

Once you start setting yourself specific goals you can measure and compare your success at different events throughout the year. This will enable you to make a comparison with other mediums allowing you to make sound show booking decisions.

Your goals and results should be documented so you have material to refer to when you are making future recruitment decisions.

The matrix below offers a simple way to document the results of your campaigns enabling you to make easy comparisons: