Crafting Experiences That Captivate

Marlys Arnold [00:00:00]: You're listening to the Trade Show Insights podcast season 19 episode four. I'm your host and exhibit marketing strategist, Marlys Arnold, bringing you tools to improve your exhibit results. On today's episode brought to you by the Exhibit Marketers Cafe, we're talking about how to create memorable experiences that engage and impress attendees whether on or off the show floor. Well, I am excited about my guest today. This is gonna be a really fun conversation. I interviewed Wendy, couple years ago when I was working on the updated edition of Build a Better Trade Show Image, and she shared some great examples of some projects she'd worked on in the book. You'll find in the book. We're gonna kinda delve into those a little bit today, but I wanna actually give her a quick introduction first.

Marlys Arnold [00:01:31]: Wendy Porter is a seasoned event strategist and industry thought leader who worked for over two decades in marketing and events for major US corporations, including UnitedHealthcare before founding her own meetings and events company, Wendy Porter Events LLC in 2015. Based in Minneapolis, she specializes in both live and virtual events, meetings, trade shows, conferences, and VIP experiences. We're gonna kinda touch on a lot of those ideas today. She's produced over 1,300 events and managed over $200,000,000 in budgets. And Wendy has won numerous national industry accolades and honors, most recently, the 2024 Visionary Award with Smart Women in Meetings. Her recent work as vice chair of the government affairs team at the Live Events Coalition yielded a congressional bill that passed the house in April of twenty twenty two. So go, Wendy. She also serves on the national board of directors of the Live Events Coalition and is the chair and founder of the Minnesota chapter of the LEC.

Marlys Arnold [00:02:41]: Now when she's not traveling the world for business or pleasure, you'll find her speaking in German to the plants in her award winning garden or loving on her Australian shepherd puppy. Wendy, welcome to Trade Show Insights.

Wendy Porter [00:02:55]: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.

Marlys Arnold [00:02:57]: And I just have to ask, so does speaking in German make the plants grow better?

Wendy Porter [00:03:02]: Oh, I think so. They're multilingual at my house.

Marlys Arnold [00:03:07]: They're, yeah, they're bilingual plants. I love it. I love it. Well, Wendy, I'm I'm so excited to have you here because you have worked on so many really cool things, cool projects both, you know, when you were in the corporate world and then also on your own. So I wanna talk a little bit be kind of before we delve into some specific examples, talking

Wendy Porter [00:03:29]: about

Marlys Arnold [00:03:31]: why and you recently wrote a great post about this on LinkedIn, which we'll have the link in the show notes. But you talked about how, you know, there's a real importance of doing things outside the booth to build memorability, create experiences, all that kind of stuff. Can you kind of give us a little bit of a summary of what you talked about in that post and and how, you know, creating experiences is such an important part of exhibiting exhibit marketing.

Wendy Porter [00:04:01]: Yes. For sure. So, you know, I think we've all seen trade shows evolving, especially since we got back from the pandemic. And one of the things that we're seeing is not everybody is coming onto the show floor. So you'll have, you know, clinical people, maybe your tech folks, some of the more junior staff walking the show floor, but your executive team is most likely not even stepping foot on that floor. So it's really important that you are not only thinking about the audience that is on the show floor and how you appeal to what their needs are, but then also creating events for after hours to make sure that you're tapping into the executive team and the decision makers that you also really wanna talk to at that trade show. So you need to be really thinking about a dual planning process, you know, what's happening on the floor and then what's happening after hours.

Marlys Arnold [00:04:51]: I think that's a really good point because like you said, it's not just what happens in the booth, it's what happens outside as well. So talk about and and I know part of what you've been posting about recently is talking about how, you know, show organizers get upset when exhibitors host things, you know, tangential events, you know, that are unofficial, I guess, I should say. Mhmm. So talk a little bit about how do you how do you address that? What it how do what do you see as a solution for that so that an exhibitor can do an off-site event and not get on the bad side of the show?

Wendy Porter [00:05:30]: Right. What I'd really like to see is show organizers embracing those opportunities and really partnering with exhibitors and really finding out what they need. I think a lot of times, you know, they set the sponsorship plans and and they put out the and that kind of is what it is, and we all have to sort of fit into that structure. And maybe that doesn't necessarily work for all exhibitors. So I work with a number of startup organizations that simply don't have the budgets to be doing both, a spot on the floor, so hosting a trade show space, and then also sponsoring some of these after hours opportunities that the sponsors are offering. Mhmm. And so they have to make some hard decisions. You know? They have $30,000 total for that show.

Wendy Porter [00:06:12]: How are they gonna best optimize those dollars? And what I'm seeing is they have decided that these small, more personal, after hours events actually yield better results for them than being on the show floor. And it gets back to where is your audience. And in this case, that particular client really wants to talk to decision makers, and those people aren't on the floor. So they're feeling like they have to host something after hours, but then what the sponsor wants to offer is a hundred thousand dollar networking sponsorship. They don't have a hundred thousand dollars. So Well,

Marlys Arnold [00:06:44]: or sponsoring, like, the whole reception for everybody and their brother,

Wendy Porter [00:06:48]: and that's not your who

Marlys Arnold [00:06:49]: your audience is.

Wendy Porter [00:06:50]: That's what that that's what I'm saying. Right? So it's not just about getting your logo on a whatever. It's about a real purposeful, event where you're getting the right people in the room and you're exchanging information and having those real dialogues, and that's the challenge. And so what I would like to see is show owners being more open to these conversations where exhibitors come to them and say or attendees, I should say, come to them and say, can we come up with a solution where I will pay some money for my people to attend? They will we will pay for passes to be there. I will pay you some additional money for the access to your audience, and then let us create our event wherever that's gonna be, you know, low local to the show still, but create our event to talk to your audience and get a really curated audience at the event that we wanna host. I'd love to see an evolution to something like that. I think it would be a win win for all.

Marlys Arnold [00:07:50]: And have you had any of your clients that have actually reached out to show management and and talked to them and started this kind of conversation? Have you seen any kind of results from that?

Wendy Porter [00:08:00]: We we haven't really, and it's something I think we need to do more of. Oftentimes, we're brought in a little bit late in the process. So if I'm able to do that with a client where I'm working with on the very front end of the planning, I will certainly, you know, get in there and discuss that with a sponsoring organization. But oftentimes, we're brought in after the client has made a decision to host a reception or a networking event. They're not gonna be exhibiting on the floor, and then we're just I'm making do with what what we have to deal with. So Mhmm. I think the key is early planning. Right? Exactly.

Wendy Porter [00:08:33]: On the front end.

Marlys Arnold [00:08:34]: Yeah. Yeah. Start start with that perspective of how can we work with the show and and bring this event, you know, into into the official yeah. Into the official arena of what they're what they're producing for the entire event. So Yep. So let's talk a little bit about some of the examples of some of the the events that you've done, and I know we shared several of these in the in the book. You know, some of my favorites, you talked about, you know, the the Kennedy Center event. Tell us a little bit about that one.

Wendy Porter [00:09:10]: Yeah. So we were hosting or sponsoring, I should say, a large event in Washington DC, and we knew we wanted an experience where we're bringing together the executives, from my side of the house with the executives that we were partnering with, in the sponsorship. And so we created an event at the Kennedy Center. So we rented out the rooftop of the Kennedy Center, which has a restaurant up there. It's an event space, really, but, you can set it up for Marlys large number of people. And then it also has access to their outside patio. So we created this this lovely event in the evening, and we brought in the White House chef at the time.

Marlys Arnold [00:09:46]: Wow.

Wendy Porter [00:09:47]: Actually, he was a former White House chef. He had just stepped away. Walter Scheib was his name. And Walter was with the White House, I believe, for thirteen years. So he came in under the Clintons and then stayed into the first term of George Bush, George w Bush. And he just had amazing stories, and he had just come out with a book called The White House Chef, which was a compilation of stories about his time in the White House as well as recipes of things he cooked during his time there. So really riveting conversation. And so we curated this dinner, and every course had a story that went along with it about when he made it and why he made it and who he served it to.

Wendy Porter [00:10:27]: So state dinners and, you know, parties with the Bush twins and just different things. Right? And so he had a story that went along the whole evening. And then afterwards, he took just questions so people could ask him about anything related to food in the White House. And then we did a full signing. Yeah. So that's a priceless experience. It was just amazing. Super, super fun event.

Marlys Arnold [00:10:50]: That is so cool. That is so awesome. You know, and you and you took everything, and you made it such an experience. It wasn't just, you know, come hear this, you know, this famous chef speak. It was let's let's curate the whole meal around and have him explain what all the dishes are and, you know, every so everything became an experience.

Wendy Porter [00:11:13]: Correct.

Marlys Arnold [00:11:14]: And it was just you know, like I said, it was priceless. It was something that they could not have just, like, you know, hey. Let's go buy a ticket and go have this dinner. It was, let's go have this memorable lifetime, you know, event. Mhmm. You also did another one, I believe. Was it at the Grammy Museum?

Wendy Porter [00:11:33]: Yes. In in LA. Yeah. That one was really cool too. So same sort of situation where the Top Top Floor of the Grammy Museum is an open terrace where you can set up whatever kind of event you want. So, again, really thinking from end to end about how to create that experience.

Marlys Arnold [00:11:49]: Mhmm.

Wendy Porter [00:11:50]: So we started and we had a reception. We had students from the Grammy camps that were there. So young up and coming musicians that were there performing for our music, for the background, and then had a dinner, and we brought in, Wolfgang Puck for the dinner. And then afterwards, we went down a couple levels below is the Clive Davis Theatre. And so we went down to the Clive Davis Theatre. It was about 50 people, so very small group, and we brought in the producer of the Grammys, Ken Ehrlich, who was the producer for over thirty years with the Grammys. And he ran a sizzle reel, and then he just took questions for two hours.

Marlys Arnold [00:12:27]: Oh, wow.

Wendy Porter [00:12:28]: So people could just ask him, you know, how did you think of putting Lady Gaga with so and so? Or what was it like working with Michael Jackson? Or talk about Elton John and you know? It was just I mean, the guy has seen everybody and met everybody, right, in his thirty plus years doing this. So it was pretty riveting, and people really enjoyed that event. And and, honestly, it was sort of it's my origin story for my company. If you look on my website, I talk about this particular story because when I was in the elevator, same group of people that were at that Kennedy Center event. It was for the same executives. And one of those executives who was from the other company was in the elevator with me. And we're going down, and she said, oh, oh, I would never miss a Wendy Porter event. You do the best events.

Wendy Porter [00:13:11]: You should start a company, Wendy Porter events. So she says this to me, you know, back in February. So I don't know. Somewhere in there. And it was 2015 that I actually did that. So that's kinda my my origin story where that nugget was planted in my mind.

Marlys Arnold [00:13:24]: That's funny. That's funny. What a great story. I mean, it's true. It's like you you were producing these events that were completely unforgettable. Mhmm. And, you know, and something that people looked forward to like you said, if you if you were in charge of it every year and they knew each time there was gonna be something really exciting to look forward to. But, obviously, those are, like, mega event.

Marlys Arnold [00:13:49]: I mean, you know, those were not low budget events. Right. But there are ways that exhibitors can do smaller events and still make them really memorable. And another one I know and it wasn't necessarily a really small event, but a really cool event that you did in New Orleans that was actually a booth staff Correct. And and company, you know, internal event. Mhmm. But I think that's something that could be scaled down even more to a smaller group. So tell us a little bit about that one because I think it was so cool.

Marlys Arnold [00:14:25]: You actually, like, started the event before the event Right. Essentially for that one. So tell us that story.

Wendy Porter [00:14:32]: Right. So, that particular sponsorship, we had a really large booth. It was I think it was a 13,000 square foot booth. Wow. Gonna wrap your head around that. So it was large. Right? So we had about a 30 staff that were at this event. So it was about a hundred, staffers and 30 executives that were involved in this event.

Wendy Porter [00:14:50]: So we always did a pre event training because that's a lot of people and a lot of wheels in motion for everybody to understand how this booth is gonna operate and what happens where and how do we refer and all that.

Marlys Arnold [00:15:00]: Oh, I'm all about executive education as you know.

Wendy Porter [00:15:03]: Always did the pretraining meeting. K? So we had the pretraining meeting, and then after that, we usually did some sort of dinner for the group so people could get to know each other and just have a enjoyable evening before we all hit the floor for three days of many, many long hours. Mhmm. So the way we did this, instead of renting a shuttle, we actually did a New Orleans parade. And so we brought in the traditional New Orleans parade. We had, of course, work with the city to block off streets and things, but we walked from the New Orleans Convention Center over to, a restaurant that was, I don't know, half a mile away, maybe. Not maybe not quite that far, but not a far yeah. Not a terribly long walk.

Wendy Porter [00:15:46]: And so we did it by way of walking with this New Orleans Traditional Jazz Parade. So everyone got to experience what that was like. And then, we went to this restaurant, a really cool, location that was a very vintage, traditional kind of New Orleans location.

Marlys Arnold [00:16:05]: Tons of history.

Wendy Porter [00:16:06]: Tons of history. Brought in all the traditional food. We had a jazz band there. We had a guy painting the scene. So we actually had a

Marlys Arnold [00:16:14]: cool detail too. I love that. That's something, again, very unique for your event.

Wendy Porter [00:16:19]: Yep. And so we had this beautiful it was actually an oil painting. Beautiful oil painting that, of course, took a few days to dry. Right. And then I had this shipped back to the office, and our CEO loved it so much. She framed it and put it up in the office

Marlys Arnold [00:16:32]: Oh, awesome.

Wendy Porter [00:16:33]: With a little plaque on it about what it was, where it was Yes. Exactly. Captured. We had tarot card readers and voodoo dolls for the, centerpieces so everyone could take a little doll home, and it was just a super fun event. And I had people come up to me afterwards and said, you know, I have my bucket list, and I did not have this walking in a New Orleans parade on my bucket list, but I'm gonna write it down on my bucket list and check it off because that was super cool. Love it. So that was super fun.

Marlys Arnold [00:17:00]: Love it. Love it. And, again, that's something that you could scale down. I mean, obviously, not maybe not having all the elements, but you could have a really cool dinner for, you know, 25, 30 people and incorporate a lot of those same kinds of elements Mhmm. Into a smaller event. So I love that you know, I think a lot of times exhibitors think especially like you said, you deal with a lot of startups and a lot of smaller exhibitors, and they think, well, we don't have this major budget. We can't we can't throw these big kinds of events. Well, if you really look at and and going back to what you said about spending 25 or $50,000 or whatever to be an an official sponsor of something on the menu of options that the show provides.

Marlys Arnold [00:17:47]: You're getting a lot more bang for your buck by investing the money in the small, more intimate, more experiential event.

Wendy Porter [00:17:56]: Mhmm.

Marlys Arnold [00:17:57]: So I think that's a really important thing that exhibitors need to just kind of start thinking about how can we invest the same amount of money in something that's really going to produce that ROI.

Wendy Porter [00:18:08]: Right. And and I know you talk about this. I mean, it's about creating a memory. Right? Yeah. That's what creates that's what creates stickiness. So I talk about events a lot on you know, do you remember back when when you were let's go back to college, for example. Do you remember what your college looked like on a brochure, or do you remember an event that they created when you were in college? You remember that event even now. Exactly.

Wendy Porter [00:18:31]: Right? You don't remember what it looked like on a piece of paper. Yeah. So that's why, you know, when you're looking at marketing dollars and how you're gonna invest those marketing dollars, it's really important to be thinking about investing those in experiences that create those memories and that brand stickiness for people.

Marlys Arnold [00:18:45]: Well, exactly. And I can remember back years ago, I mean, you many years ago, I was at, Book Expo in New York, and one of the publishers sponsored a circle cruise, you know, sunset circle cruise around New York Harbor. Mhmm. And, and so they they gave us, they gave us the Billy Joel CD of New York on my mind. Nice. And, you know, and then there was, of course, you know, one of the celebrity authors was on the cruise. We could, you know, go up and chat with him, and it was just it was so memorable and such a fabulous experience and something that, you know yeah. I could have bought a ticket and hopped on and taken a cruise myself by myself, but to have this whole experience with other attendees and being able to network and, you know, talk with the author and all those kinds of things, it was just it was something that, like we've said about your other events that you've produced, it's something that people can't buy.

Marlys Arnold [00:19:50]: You know, they can't just go out and buy this experience. It's it's like it's the whole package. It's all put together for them in such a special and memorable unique way. I wanna shift gears a little bit there talking about and and you mentioned on the, New Orleans how you got them there by having the the New Orleans parade. But there's some other ways that you could do some creative transportation. You know, even if you had just, you know, more of a basic dinner, there's some things that you could do. What are some other creative transportation methods

Wendy Porter [00:20:25]: that you use? So, in in, San Diego, we were at a conference in the Gaslight Lamp District, and we had a small dinner happening for, some high prospective contacts. Right? So we wanted to create a really fun evening, and the way that we got them to the dinner was by pedicab. Oh, fun. So we had these branded pedicabs that were already sitting right outside the convention. So when sessions broke, you know, 05:00 or whatever it was, we were like, just come right outside, and you'll be transported to the event. And we just took them by this, you know, slew of pedicabs that went down the street to take them to the restaurant, and it it ended up being really fun. So that was a nice way to just get them there, have a fun experience because pedicabs are kinda big in in San Diego and have our brand connected to it, and people would see it on the street. And it

Marlys Arnold [00:21:17]: Well, exactly. Yeah. There was that added branding. Yeah. Yep. Cool. Well, we've talked a lot about doing, you know, off-site events, but there's also some very clever things that you've done on the show floor as well. I know, especially there was one particular one that that you have and we'll, again, we'll have a link for this in the show notes.

Marlys Arnold [00:21:38]: There you've got a whole slideshow on your website of all of this. It was it was a whole experience that was created with all different kinds of activity stations, I guess you could call it, on the show floor. So tell us a little bit about that.

Wendy Porter [00:21:54]: Yeah. That gets back to that 13,000 square foot booth that I was talking about and all the different elements we had inside of that booth to keep people engaged. It was kind of interesting because I think the I don't know what the status now, but the average, you know, time that someone would stop and exhibit a booth is, like, three minutes or something. And we would have people in our booth, and I'm not kidding you, for up to three hours wandering around all the different things that there were to

Marlys Arnold [00:22:18]: do. So 13,000 square feet. That's basically like a little trade show of its own.

Wendy Porter [00:22:22]: It it really was. So we had everything from, you know, experts in the booth that could sit down and talk about the products. In this case, it was insurance products. So this is back when I was at UnitedHealthcare. So we could get experts discussing plans. We had a member corner. So if you were a current customer and you had a question or an issue, we had dedicated customer service people right there on the spot. You could come in and sit down and deal with a certain issue that you might be trying to resolve.

Wendy Porter [00:22:49]: We had, health care screenings going on for free. We had demonstration projects happening showing this is way before the pandemic. So showing, telehealth, which now is a normal thing, but back then was brand new and no one had ever heard of it. We had an 80 foot semi trailer on the floor that, at times showed the demonstration project of telehealth and how that would work. And at times, we use that actually as a virtual clinic where we were doing health screenings in that 80 foot semi. We had, demonstrations around CSR, so doing some corporate responsibility things in the booth where we were sitting down, and we were just doing really simple projects, you know, making cards for kids that we then donated to local children's hospitals. We had a massage therapy area so people could just take a break and sit in this really immersive space within the booth that had beautiful music, and we had, the massage therapist there. And while we were waiting in line, because that booth or that that section of the booth would have quite long lines.

Wendy Porter [00:23:49]: Oh, right. A tai chi instructor that was there teaching people about tai chi and movement. And so they were doing tai chi while they were in line waiting to get their massage. We actually had a a dance corner for a while where we brought in Zumba instructors, and people could get in there and actually do some Zumba with one of our instructors. Right. We demoed, bicycle a bicycle project that we were doing where we show people could get on a bicycle and, like, pick their route. So the computer would do was set up so you could say, I wanna be in Central Park in New York. So up would come the route, the bike route in Central Park in New York, and then you were racing each other on these bikes.

Wendy Porter [00:24:30]: Funny. And they would have the stats up there about how fast are you going and how many calories are you burning right now. And so we made this sort of competitive thing in the booth for that. So we just, you know, tried to really think outside the box and create a lot of different, activations within the booth. So it was more than just coming in for the free giveaway.

Marlys Arnold [00:24:49]: Yeah. Well and, again, you know, not everybody has a 13,000 square foot booth space to work with, but you can pick and choose some of these elements that then you can put in your booth. And I really like your idea of, you know, the they're waiting in line for the massage, but you've got them doing activities while they're waiting in line. You know? Because I always tell exhibitors, if you're gonna do anything, you know, if you're gonna have a celebrity signing autographs or you're gonna have people waiting on some kind of an activity or whatever, work the line.

Wendy Porter [00:25:18]: You

Marlys Arnold [00:25:18]: know? Don't just have people standing there getting bored and and, you know, checking their phones or whatever. Be doing something engaging with them.

Wendy Porter [00:25:26]: Mhmm.

Marlys Arnold [00:25:26]: So I love that. So, do you remember I know this was a long time ago, but do you remember any kind of stats as far as the the the lead capture results that you got from that, all those activations? I know you had long dwell time, but before that

Wendy Porter [00:25:42]: The dwell time is what really resonates with me. I know, you know, we always had good leads out of that, and and really that event was more about, you know, brand impression, like, just making a good impression to people of who we were as a company. Right? And offering all the right things to help people live healthier lives at the time. So so so I don't at the tip of my tongue, I don't have stats on that, but we always had, you know, good leads that came out of that. We had good engagement with current customers and just made the right impression.

Marlys Arnold [00:26:09]: Well, and no problem following up either with having people remember the experience in your team.

Wendy Porter [00:26:14]: I mean,

Marlys Arnold [00:26:14]: you know, a lot of times that's a hurdle for exhibitors is when they follow-up, then the person doesn't necessarily remember visiting their booth. But in your case, they're gonna remember Yeah. All the different things they did in the booth.

Wendy Porter [00:26:25]: Yeah. Exactly. And then there's one other thing I wanna touch on related to that experience. So one of the things I really encouraged our team to do, and I used to put this up in our staff office, was I had the quote from Maya Angelou that talks about, you know, people will re won't remember what you said. They won't remember what you did, but they'll remember how you made them feel. Something to

Marlys Arnold [00:26:43]: that extent.

Wendy Porter [00:26:43]: Yeah. I had that quote on the wall in our in our office so that people could remember why they were there. They you know, yes. They were taking days away from work and busy office days and but they were there to make an impact on on people. And we had what we called our Alice stories. And so I would ask everybody and I met a woman named Alice at an event who came up to me, and she was just turning 65 and eligible for Medicare. And she was very upset when she learned that she was gonna have to pay something in the Medicare. She didn't know that there was a fee that she had to pay every month into Medicare to get access to her health plan.

Wendy Porter [00:27:17]: And she's like, I'm gonna have to pick between my health care and eating. I mean, literally. That's what she, you know, she was telling me this, and she it was her birthday, and she was just very upset. And I said, you know what? There's there's probably some extra help that would be available to you. Let me get you over to one of our experts that can sit down and see if you qualify for that. Right? She had no clue that this these programs existed. So I got her over to an expert. They sat down, and sure enough, she qualified for some extra help, and she's gonna be able to get this covered and get some additional things, because of her life circumstances.

Wendy Porter [00:27:47]: And so I feel like in that day, I sort of changed her life. Right? She came to me in tears not knowing what she was gonna do tomorrow. You know? And now all of a sudden, she had a solution because we got her to the right expert. So that was Alice. And so I always encouraged our team to have an Alice story, and I wanted them to report back to me after the event. What was your Alice story? So we had a guy that came into our booth and did, a health screen, and his blood pressure was off the charts. And our one of our staffers talked to him about it and said, hey. You know, do you take blood pressure medicine? And the guy said, yeah.

Wendy Porter [00:28:21]: I do, but I I forgot to take it today. And he said, well, I really think, you know, we need to get you home so you can take your medicine. And and he's like, yeah. But, you know, I had to take the bus to the bus to the bus to get to, you know, to get to this event, and that's that's hard for me to do. And so they were you know, pushed him to really convince him that this was important. He needed to go home and take his medicine because his blood pressure was super, super high. So my staffer kinda watched him as this guy left to see, is he gonna leave and go and do what we just told him to do, or is he just gonna keep walking around the show? And, of course, he was gonna keep walking around the show. So my guy went out to him and said, hey.

Wendy Porter [00:28:57]: I I'm just gonna let's let's go. I'm just taking you home. Put him in an Uber or a taxi, whatever it was. Yeah. He went to his apartment, said, okay. You know, I wanna see you take that medicine. Went into his apartment, watched the guy take his medicine, and then he left and came back to the event. I mean, that's how far he went Wow.

Wendy Porter [00:29:13]: To make sure this guy was taken care of.

Marlys Arnold [00:29:16]: Wow. That is really above and beyond.

Wendy Porter [00:29:18]: Yeah. Really above and beyond. But those are the kinds of things I really encourage was, you know, make a difference to these people. So when you're on the show floor, it's not just about, you know, selling your widget. Right? Like, make a difference to the people that you're talking to. Why do they need your product? What is it gonna do in their life or in their business or whatever they do that's gonna make an end difference to whoever you're trying to serve? That's that's what you need to focus on. Wow. That will create a memory.

Marlys Arnold [00:29:44]: Wow. That is that is so amazing. That I think all of us now are going to be thinking of our Alice stories whenever we go to a trade show because it's true. You really are you're not just connecting on a business level. You're connecting on a personal level. And if you really do a good job of that, you know, it's it's going to be memorable for a lifetime for these people that experience it. So, Wendy, thank you so much for coming and sharing your experiences and your and your innovations of things that you've done over the years, and you've provided us with just tons of inspiration for future events. So thank you so much.

Wendy Porter [00:30:22]: You are most welcome. It's been a pleasure.

Marlys Arnold [00:30:31]: If you enjoyed today's episode and would like more, you can subscribe to the Trade Show Insights podcast and automatically receive future episodes on your chosen device. Simply search for Trade Show Insights in Apple, Spotify, or virtually anywhere else that podcasts are found, then click the subscribe button. Trade Show Insights is protected by the Creative Commons copyright license. You may feel free to share this recording with colleagues or embed it on your own blog as long as it's shared in its entirety and is not used for commercial purposes. To learn more, please see the link in the sidebar of the show notes at tradeshowinsights.com. Well, that's it for this episode of Trade Show Insights. Be sure to check out our show notes and archives at tradeshowinsights.com. You can also connect with me using the social media links or the contact page on the site.

Marlys Arnold [00:31:29]: I'm Marlys Arnold. Thanks for listening, and be sure to join us next time for more tools to improve your exhibit results.