Know what the most common question about autograph and demonstration sessions is:

what if people don’t come?

We can understand the concern. However, the norm for Mom’s Choice Awards Honorees the opposite:

interest is high and lines are long!

Now, the truth is, that it takes a lot of work to make that happen. So today, we’re going to take you behind the scenes so you can see just how we’re working for YOU!

Our Secrets #1 – We Start Early

When it comes to big events like tradeshows, a pre-event plan is critical. The Executive and Marketing Teams goes to work about four months ahead of an event date.

• We start designing the booth space, with an eye to giving it a fresh look.
• We review booth activities from previous years to identify the ones we’ll offer again.
• We brainstorm new activities that can connect our Honorees to Attendees.
• We start bi-weekly reviews of the Exhibitor List to see which Honorees will be there.

Last but not least, we finalize our slate of offerings for Honorees. We invite them to be part of our in-booth events and/or attend our prep classes.

Our Secrets #2 – We Get Social

At the same time we are putting the finishing touches on in-booth events, the Marketing Team goes to work on its advertising plan. The team will start laying out its pre-event and live-event marketing activities for Honorees and Honoree companies who are exhibiting in their own space, as well as Honorees who will be in our booth.

• We create a worksheet with name, booth number, and social media handles for all exhibiting Honorees.
• We create a worksheet with the name, social media identities, and MCA Webstore product link for Honorees who will be in our booth.

As early as three months ahead of the event, we also start following the event sponsor on social:

* Twitter stream,
* Facebook Page,
* Google+ brand page, and
* their blog (if they have one).

These spots offer great insight for any changes that are coming but – more importantly – they give us a ready-made channel for building buzz. We can retweet / repost items of interest, identify people we want to contact, and after building some rapport, start tweeting OUR news.

As soon as Honorees register to be in our booth, we start planning announcements. Social postings will include their name or Social Media handle, a link to their award-winning product, and details about when they’ll be in the booth.

• There will be multiple pre-event Tweets about Honoree autograph & demo sessions … with hashtag(s).
• There will be at least one Facebook or Google+ post about the Honoree being in our booth … tagging the Event Sponsor’s page.

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It is important to include Calls to Action (CTAs) that not only grab a prospective attendee’s interest, but also get them to mark their show planner.

The trick (of course) is ensuring that the posts have variety and aren’t spammy!

Our Secrets #3: We Include Some “Old School”

Social is great for in-the-moment engagement, but (a) not everyone is on social; and (b) sometimes it takes more than just a couple of posts. Here are some other traditional marketing tools we use.

Booth Information Sheet!

The Mom’s Choice Awards publishes an Booth Information Sheet for every show where it has a presence. Booth staff hand these cards to everyone who comes by the booth so they can carry the schedule of events with them. This is the palm card from BookExpo America 2013.

Press Releases!

For most shows, the Event Sponsor allows Exhibitors to upload press releases and other news on their site for free. Honorees can email their press releases to us (PDF) and we’ll get them uploaded for you. We strongly encourage Honorees to send us their Press Release about attending a Trade Show.

Show Catalog!

Show hosts publish a Show Catalog that detail all of the activities associated with their event.

If you have signed up to be part in the Mom’s Choice Awards booth,* then the details about your autograph or demo session will be in the show catalog.

Last but not least, we also advertise autograph and demo sessions in our Showcase.

Each book or product that is displayed will have this bright star and the “Meet the Author” details of their session.

So there you have it … our secrets for making sure you have a Rock Star autograph or demonstration event.

For more detailed, step-by-step planning advice on how to prepare for your autograph or demonstration, then we recommend attending Rock Star Autographing & Demos @ Tradeshows Webinar with Cathy Teets, President of Headline Books, and Terry Doherty, Director of New Media & Alumni Education.

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** Must be signed up by the deadline. Show Catalog deadlines are firm and cannot be changed, so make arrangements accordingly.