WoTS kick-off: together towards a successful trade fair

It may seem far away, but preparations for the World of Industry, Technology & Science (WoTS) are in full swing. Last Thursday, exhibitors and partners came together to be informed, enthused and inspired during the WoTS kick-off. 

After a joint lunch, trade fair manager Petra Kortenoeven kicks off with the practical matters. Using the floor plan, she takes the attendees on a journey across the packed trade fair floor. Packed, because the numbers are not lying with over 15,000 square meters of stands and seminar rooms. The exhibitor manual, logistics and catering are reviewed one by one. The highlights: a standard secured 4 Mbps WiFi connection at all stands, extra storage space for exhibitors and a bellhop service. In addition, the long journey with cumbersome trolleys, roll-up banners and boxes from P4 to the entrance of the Jaarbeurs is a thing of the past. Exhibitors can park at the nearby P3 during the trade fair days, where they can walk directly onto the trade fair floor via the side door between halls 7 and 8. Very convenient.

Without visitors there is no fair. Online marketing manager Josephine Faber explains how we reach the right target group together in three steps. First awareness, what is the stock market? Then consideration, is this something for me? And finally conversion, I have to be there! Josephine emphasizes that it is important in all these phases to be relevant in terms of experience and content. We achieve full aisles together. Put Josephine's tips into practice and invite your customers and relations to visit a trade fair.

Happy customers. Who doesn’t want that?

After a short break, Kees Kerkvliet of TOTE-M continues with an enthusiastic story about customer experience. He apologizes for the title, which is loaded with marketing terms. But now that we are in marketing land, we might as well give in to it. Kees asks the audience the question: when is there a valuable encounter? When it is remembered and the promise is fulfilled, is the answer. With this, he shows the psychological game that we all fall for. Psychologists have conducted research into the influence of time on experience. The difference in the assessment of an experience that you undergo now with the memory of the same experience a month later. Now it turns out that these are often diametrically opposed.

In concrete terms, this means that you offer the customer an experience that breaks the routine. Do what you promise and ensure that the customer journey ends positively. The well-known ice cream for one euro at IKEA. Finally, Kees addresses the audience with the message: “Customer focus is not only listening to the customer, but also to yourself. Make choices that fit your brand.” He stands still, smiles at the audience and repeats one more time: “Brand, promise and the customer.”

Smart content assistant

After this inspiring session, it’s time to put the acquired knowledge into practice. Did you know that AI can help you with that? Marketers Hielke Heijink from LikeHoney and Hugo van den Hurk from Everybody Likes Penguins introduce us to the world of AI. Hielke opens ChatGPT and takes the audience on a Q&A with the chatbot. “This is a live demo, so things are likely to go wrong. But that’s life,” he notes. After asking a few questions, the creative ideas, social media posts and image concepts dance across the screen. The chatbot – your personal content assistant – politely asks if we want to convert the image concepts into Midjourney prompts, so that we can take matching photos. Yes, please! The duo demonstrates how you can use the prompts to create lifelike, and royalty-free, images. If you have enough content, AI can also help you advertise and increase your conversion. Hielke concludes with a small disclaimer: “Everything we tell you today will be outdated tomorrow.”

Generation Z

The youth is the future. We all agree on that. Even the youth. Sven Boelpaep of Done by Friday and Jasper Dockx of Twaalfde man, give a presentation about Generation Z. How do we reach the group of young people (everyone between the ages of 12 and 25) who are always hidden behind a smartphone? The duo emphasizes that the experience of this generation is fundamentally different from that of the generations that preceded them. That one popular boy at school has been replaced by countless influencers from all over the world. The digital natives, as this generation is also called, thrive on fast communication and constant interaction. Let's go. There are 24 hours in a day, no time for advertising. If the message is not worth sharing, the wall 'I don't care' appears. If you want contact, be sincere, honest and authentic.