Where can I find UK Exhibitions to showcase my Product?

There are a number of great websites where you can find a list of trade and public Exhibitions that are coming up in the UK.  Here are a few I’d recommend;

Exhibitions.co.uk

Events Book

Brit Events

Events Eye

You can also check out What's On pages at the Exhibition Centres websites;

England

The NEC in Birmingham – the busiest exhibition centre in Europe, staging more than 180 exhibitions each year

Harrogate International Centre

Earls Court and Olympia in London  

NAC Stoneleigh Park near Coventry in the Midlands

Excel in London  

G-Mex Centre in the centre of Manchester

The Warwickshire Exhibition Centre

Scotland

SECC The Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow 

Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre

Why do Companies use Promotional Models at their Events?

Companies spend thousands of pounds on trade show marketing, when you add up how much they spend on exhibition space, graphics, gimmicks, stand construction, storage, delivery charges, travel expenses, uniforms, meal and hotel costs, etc.  Therefore the Marketing Manager needs to ensure they get the most from the event.

Many event exhibitors know that they have approximately 4 seconds to attract a visitor to their stand and make a great impression.  Yes, just 4 seconds.  That’s the amount of time it takes for a visitor to walk past the length of their exhibition stand.  In this time a company must use everything in their power to attract that customer and engage them in conversation.

Professional Exhibition Staff or Models are able to enhance their corporate image and ‘hook’ customers in.   With poised, well-appointed staff that are well briefed the company has a great advantage over their competition.

The Psychology
Psychologists call it ‘the Halo Effect’, this occurs when one positive characteristic of a person dominates the way that person is viewed by others. Evidence is now clear that physical attractiveness is often such a characteristic and research has shown that we automatically assign good-looking individuals with favorable traits such as talent, kindness, honesty, and intelligence.  Good-looking = Good.
Many companies take advantage of the “Halo Effect” to beat their competition and increase sales.

Companies use Exhibition Models so they can free up their sales staff to do what they do best – Sell

Exhibition Hosts and Hostesses are able to assist sales staff by:

• Pre-qualifying prospects so they can focus on sales, finalising orders, record transactions.
• Data Capturing customer names and contact details, sometimes in exchange for a company promotional giveaway
• Handling competition entries and gift presentation
• Managing refreshments and snacks
• Recording customer responses to free samples / new product lines
• Handing out company literature
• Delivering product demonstrations
• Preventing the dreaded “ignoring the customer” that occurs when the company just doesn’t have enough staff

Why Should A Company Use a Model Agency or Promotions Agency when they could use their own salespeople and customer service staff?

Cost Effective:The company saves money on overtime, travel expenses, meals and hotel accommodation.  There is just one reasonable fee for professional exhibition staff or models.

Experienced, Committed and KnowledgeableProfessional promotional people make it their business to know company products and services and to explain them in ways customers can understand.  They are comfortable in the trade show environment so they project confidence to customers.

Prepared and ConfidentCombining their natural assertiveness, with knowledge of the company’s product or service makes professional Trade Show Staff the right choice for increased sales and sales leads.  At an exhibition, sales teams don’t always have a half hour to make their sale. They may have seconds, maybe a minute.  With professional exhibition staff on board, they can quickly build rapport with customers through body language, conversation and listening and hold the customer on the stand a little longer.

Enthusiastic and PersistentWith their open, disarming manner, tradeshow personnel will quickly turn company customers into friends.  Professional exhibition staff, also know how to help casual visitors move along to make room for new buyers.
A Professional Tradeshow Model has lots of enthusiasm.  They are excited about working for new companies and look forward to working with their customers. They smile, make eye contact and treat company customers as the most important people in the world – because they are.
Professional Trade show personnel know how to handle and turn around ‘no’s.’ And they are always looking for the ‘YES!’

Choose BeautyYou can choose to hire attractive women and men who can wear classic and conservative to wild and outrageous styles of dress so that customers give company exhibits a second look.

CommunicationProfessional exhibition personnel know how to make the most technical products and easy for customers to understand.  Their dramatic, enthusiastic or humorous performance creates a ‘magnet’ for potential customers. Professional spokesmodels can also demonstrate company products to the public and show them how easy they are to use.   Whether it’s one-on-one or over a PA System, professional exhibition staff or models know how to involve customers to make the sale.

Becoming a Promotional Model

Although the way you look and present yourself is important, if you really want to be a successful promotional model the key is personality.  An energetic, positive and personable attitude is one of the most important characteristics, as you will need to be comfortable approaching people to promote any brand/product.  Promotional models are not generally employed to stand and look pretty; they are used to engage with people and need to ensure they do so in the right way.  You will need to speak well and be able to speak to people at all levels; at exhibitions you may be meeting company directors so you need to have the professionalism and confidence to communicate with them, as well as the general public.  Sales skills will also be a great asset for talking up the client’s product or service.

There are some very easy little jobs for promotional models, but equally there are jobs where you will hard work.  You must be prepared to work hard and not complain when the hours are long.  Expect there will be days when your feet hurt as unfortunately it comes with the territory. So make sure you’re prepared with some comfy shoes for the end of the day.

Good work ethics are imperative, this means showing up to your event, on time and prepared. This may be the most important event of the client’s year and they are likely to have spent a lot of money attending it. Before attending any job you will need to ensure you have fully understand the job description and have some knowledge of the company you are representing.  Some clients will provide full training prior to the event date but this is not always the case.

Always Remember, this kind of work is very competitive so you need to be good if you want to make it your full-time career.  If you take note of the advice above you will go far!  As with any job it is important that you enjoy the job and work to your full potential, rather than just do it for the money.

Summary of Attributes you will need to be a Successful Promotional Model

• Excellent Personal Presentation
• Total Self Confidence
• Great Personality
• Professionalism
• Good Communication Skills
• Good Facial Expression – people like to speak to smiley happy people
• Be Friendly to Everyone
• Pro-active
• Can-do attitude
• A great sense of humour

Promotional Models – It’s not Just About a Pretty Face

Although the way you look and present yourself is important, if you really want to be a successful promotional model the key is personality.  An energetic, positive and personable attitude is one of the most important characteristics, as you will need to be comfortable approaching people to promote any brand/product.  Promotional models are not generally employed to stand and look pretty; they are used to engage with people and need to ensure they do so in the right way.  You will need to speak well and be able to speak to people at all levels; at exhibitions you may be meeting company directors so you need to have the professionalism and confidence to communicate with them, as well as the general public.  Sales skills will also be a great asset for talking up the client’s product or service.

There are some very easy little jobs for promotional models, but equally there are jobs where you will hard work.  You must be prepared to work hard and not complain when the hours are long.  Expect there will be days when your feet hurt as unfortunately it comes with the territory. So make sure you’re prepared with some comfy shoes for the end of the day.
Good work ethics are imperative, this means showing up to your event, on time and prepared. This may be the most important event of the client’s year and they are likely to have spent a lot of money attending it. Before attending any job you will need to ensure you have fully understand the job description and have some knowledge of the company you are representing.  Some clients will provide full training prior to the event date but this is not always the case.
Always Remember, this kind of work is very competitive so you need to be good if you want to make it your full-time career.  If you take note of the advice above you will go far!  As with any job it is important that you enjoy the job and work to your full potential, rather than just do it for the money.
Summary of Attributes you will need to be a Successful Promotional Model

• Excellent Personal Presentation
• Total Self Confidence
• Great Personality
• Professionalism
• Good Communication Skills
• Good Facial Expression – people like to speak to smiley happy people
• Be Friendly to Everyone
• Pro-active
• Can-do attitude
• A great sense of humour

Why Type of Jobs do Promotional Staff do?

Promotional People are used to assist on a wide variety of marketing jobs which are usually tactical short-term assignments, such as;

• Product Demonstrations
• Product Sampling
• Leaflet Distribution
• Lead Generation / Qualifiers
• Store Merchandising and POS Placement
• Hand to Hand Print Distribution
• Night Club / Bar Promoters
• Presenting / Spokesmodels
• Retail Training
• Hospitality; Welcoming guests, registration, serving refreshments, canapés
• Modelling; Award presentation, grid-girls,
• Market Research and Data Capture
• Mystery Shopping
• Costume Characters
• Road Shows
• Publicity Stunts

Face to face marketing campaigns targeting consumers are usually planned at high traffic locations to reach as many customers as possible.  These locations could be shopping malls, high streets, supermarket foyers or large public events, such as exhibitions, festivals and county shows.  Some companies like to target their campaigns at a specific customer demographic and choose specific venues which that customer would be attracted to.  For Example, a new beer brand targeted at 20-30 year old males could be held in a pub or nightclub and to take this one step further they may choose a particular type of person to represent their brand.
Promotional Models are also used for Business to Business events which usually take place at trade shows, corporate events, hospitality areas, conferences, occasionally offices and sometimes in the retail environment.