What are the most effective ways to use live demonstrations at a trade show?

Prepare for your audience with brand research, target demographic, historical statistics & current ticket sales. Tailor & balance your presentation; coordinate specific slides to talk to your audience industry, role, age, interest, aspiration or upskill. However, you are only really going to know your audience once you are live, so improvise a little; ask for a show of hands, call out your key groups including ‘other’ that fall outside your categories - ask some to shout out their group. If you have for example: 20% recruiters/ 80% job seekers - concentrate your overall presentation to help guests gain their next role - include some tips for recruiters Spoken extras aimed at the majority of your audience will give that extra value.

Knowing your audience is of utmost importance. Anybody can give a demo. Especially in trade shows where everyone is presenting their product, one who stands out are those who can show how their solution solve the problem a customer has. As a customer, I just see demos, but am more interested and involved in the ones which I could relate to and appear to solve my problem. Using the jargons if your audience plays a key role.

Live demonstration needs to be crisp simple and should cater to a scenario that everyone can relate to. There could be bigger and better features but you need to have a hook feature that will entice the audience concentration and with that you can showcase your most prized feature

- Be Time Conscious. Keep it short and engaging as attention spans at trade shows are limited. - Highlight USPs. Use your time to pinpoint what sets you and your product/service apart from competitors. - Interactive Elements. As already mentioned, attention spans are limited. Involve your audience, make it interactive to keep people engaged. - Make it relatable. Use your demo to showcase how your product/service can be used in real-world situations. - Offer Incentives. Draw the most from your demo by offering incentives to drive attendees towards your booth/website/store. Free samples in demos are great. - Collect Feedback. The best way to improve your game is to collate feedback to refine and perfect your future demos.

Practice within a similar setting whenever possible. If you will be presenting at the event in front of a screen with slides behind you then try that vs only trying staring at a screen. Plus consider other elements such as noises that might adjust your presentation.

Regular, publicly staged live demonstrations at the trade fair stand are a great way to attract the passing audience. This is because the ongoing demo shows that a professional exchange is underway, that the stand is interesting and has already aroused the curiosity of other guests. In addition, the live demo immediately and very directly conveys technical aspects that immediately provide information about what the trade fair stand is all about.

Look like you are interested in talking to people. If you just sit behind a table, on your phone, no making eye contact, no one will approach your booth. You don't have to walk out and grab people by the arm, but have an open body language, greet those that look your way, and look welcoming.

A proven follow-up tactic is, to offer participants of your demos the prospect of deeper insights into detailed aspects after the event. There might be aspects in which people would have liked to know more about. Offer to follow-up with in-depth sessions for topics, that are most relevant. To measure success, take into account whether and how many such follow-ups have been done and how many bookings or requiries came in having their origin in the event.

For product or services, that offers many different features and benefits for various use cases (e.g. software products), it is helpful to customise the demo to features that are in high demand among visitors to the event. More people will be interested in a demo that is in the context of their personal needs.