Do you have an idea on how many people attend?
I think it could be a great opportunity for you, because it is 100% your target audience. 2K also sounds reasonable.
writen by Pascal Bovet
Actually quite big names of the industry including spotify, sky news, bbc, etc…
writen by Tiago Ferreira
I’d probably attend (leaning towards vendor). The risk you are taking is fairly small and the potential upside is huge. (Think about on of the big names signing up for your product or some other form of deals).
Whether you are going as attendee or vendor, you could think about hosting an event / meetup on the evening. Many people will be in town for the conference and I guess there are a few who look out for people to hang out.
writen by Pascal Bovet
Why is it better to go as a vendor than a visitor? Is so much cheaper to go as a visitor and the networking should be the same no?
writen by Tiago Ferreira
I’d lean towards being a vendor - just have a look at the exhibitors list and you can see the products you should be associated with.
There’s a lot of media at the event and being an exhibitor might just get you noticed rather than just being an attendee. I’m sure as an exhibitor you’ll get some perks that attendees won’t.
For the free tickets you might consider inviting some of your key customers in the UK to the event.
writen by Maxwell Davis
I think having a table makes it easier for you to engage with people. Otherwise you’re going to have to do a lot of legwork to find people and get their attention. There’s a reason companies pay for the exhibitor table.
writen by James Trimble
I think it depends on what you want.
Talking from my visits to Mobile World Congress and International Broadcast Conference, which I attended as Innovation Scout. We would usually setup a few meetings with vendors with which the company worked with. They would show us what their new products were. Since I was working on the innovation department and that was mostly business as usual it was our account manager who organized those.
With a few others that mentioned (on their website?) that they’ll be at conferences we set up some meetings. Often those were companies that were trying to sell something to our company and somebody forwarded an email because they heard that I’d go to that conference and ask to check out their stuff.
Lastly, between meetings we’d wander around the conference and look at other / smaller vendors we didn’t know. Depending on the conference, IBC is huge, but there were entire halls related to media production, which was not of interest for us. So we mostly went to the smaller booths.
So TL;DR: If you are a visitor, you need to contact all the people you want to talk to and setup meetings. Big brands might have limited slots and not be interested in talking. If you are a vendor, random people will walk by your booth to see what you are doing.
writen by Pascal Bovet
> There’s a lot of media at the event and being an exhibitor might just get you noticed rather than just being an attendee. I’m sure as an exhibitor you’ll get some perks that attendees won’t. +1 on this one. Media coverage chance is higher for vendors vs attendees.
writen by Pascal Bovet
I’d also lean towards vendor. But keep in mind, there might be more costs attached to the booth (not sure what they provide) like furniture, media (Screen(s), Computer, Business Cards, Poster, Stand-up Display, …)
writen by Benedikt
I always enjoy going to events because I enjoy talking to and meeting new people. In terms to getting business out of an event that can be more of a challenge. Being a vendor you are stuck in one place and have to wait for people to come up to you and talk to you. Being a visitor you can move around freely and be the one who takes the initiative. You will really have to try and talk to as many people as possible without coming across as salesy. Then follow up a lot after the event is over.
writen by Elle A
I would go because I love events and it sounds fun. But you may be want to be more calculated in your decision making haha
writen by Elle A
