Something that I’ve taken a lot of interest in during my internship at Indium Corporation is trade show planning. So, what is a trade show? By definition, a trade show is “an exhibition at which businesses in a particular industry promote their products and services.” Although I’ve never been to a trade show, I have been exposed to trade show planning in a previous internship. However, I have never see what goes on behind the closed doors of a trade show planning meeting until I came to Indium Corporation.
Trade show planning is a long, and extremely time consuming process. For some of the larger shows, the company has to decide if they want to return a year in advanced. The different trade shows vary in size, with some of the larger ones including Productronica China, Semicon Taiwan, Productronica Europe, and APEX. These four trade shows are very important to Indium Corporation because they are a big opportunity for the company to show off their products to important consumers. For example, Productronica Europe is coming up in November, and since it only takes place once every two years, the people involved in this show have been planning it for almost a year.
Throughout my internship, I have been able to attend a few meetings that involve trade show planning. I even got to visit the Exhibits and More local exhibit house, where they have many different designs and set ups for trade show graphics. From going to these meetings, I’ve learned how extensive the process of trade show planning can be.
Once the show is assigned a product to focus on, the Marcom team becomes responsible for creating the message that the show owner wants the audience to receive about their products. Along with this, Marcom and The Paige Group, team up to design graphics and booth set ups for the show itself. Marcom also has to coordinate with the show owner and product managers to make sure that the message they want to get across about their product is clear in the way we are presenting it.
Trade shows are very important at Indium Corporation, because it gives the company the opportunity to have face-to-face conversation with its target consumers. It also gives Indium Corporation the chance to show off their products, and explain why our products are better than others.
Now, when I see pictures from a past trade show, I know how much planning went into that, and that I get to experience the planning process, which is not something most people get to do.
Best,
Brittney