The Showman Show: A Deep Dive into the Exhibitor Experience
We have attended The Showman Show as delegates in the past and Wa had even built some of the marquees for the show many years ago. However, we have never exhibited ourselves, so this year was our first!
WH Silverbacks has been running since the beginning of 2022 and with three summer seasons under our belt, it is time to branch out. We are lucky to have some incredible clients and attend some prestigious events each year. Going into year four we decided we wanted to branch out meet new people, showcase the business and who we are. Attending The Showman Show and putting ourselves out there alongside others in our industry seemed a perfect step.
We were quite late in the day when we booked or stand, and we had decided we needed some assistance in the stand design department.
This is where our new friends Quadrant 2 Design became part of the team for the next few weeks.
Five weeks to go
We first spoke to Tracey, their Design Consultant, who explained the process and what they could offer. Before we had even committed to Quadrant, they came up with a design concept based on a few things we had mentioned and taking our brand from our website, giving us a feel of what it could look like. From the initial viewing of the draft design we were drawn in. We did look into a couple of other options but once we had seen this and the experience we had so far with Quadrant we couldn’t look past this as being our favourite option.
There were a couple of options for us to choose from which included, an all-installed package or a self-build option. We felt the self-build option was the best choice for us.
Three Weeks Before
Once we had agreed to go ahead, we were advised of the process and the quick turnaround times we needed to adhere to, to reach our deadline. We were soon assigned our Project Manager Lauryn and Designer Jordan. We created a more in-depth brief and sent this over and within a couple of days our new design was ready to view.
With a few tweaks here and there, we had confirmed our design and the production was all in place ready for our pre build test day the following week.
We had decided to have a plasma screen on the stand, and Lauryn kindly directed us to one of their suppliers who helped us get this all organised and luckily Precision Events were just down the road from the venue.
Alongside the stand we needed new print material, some merchandise to give our to prospective and current clients and a video for the plasma screen.
We did our research into a few options for stationary, so we went for some branded pencils. The main focus of the show was branded stainless steel water bottles from a company called Mr Bamboo Cup another great supplier who had great response times and turned it all around for us within about 7 working days.
The design of the new business cards and brochures were also high on the list to ensure we could get it all done in time. Luckily with great suppliers everyone pulled off the tight deadlines.
The Pre-Build the Week Before
We arrived at the Quadrant 2 Design head office in Poole and met the team who we had worked with for such a short time. Everyone made us feel very welcome and we were super excited to see the stand in real life.
We had been asked if we could be filmed during the build and interviewed by Maggie and we thought it would be a great keepsake for us too so of course we said yes! Maggie had a knack for making us feel comfortable, which made the process much more fun.
We had great fun setting it up and Greg, who taught us on the day, made it very easy to understand how it all went together. We were sent away with clear pack of instructions as a reminder, so we were looking forward to getting it built the following week.
Show Week
The week arrived after picking everything up and loading the van with all the merchandise. We headed to the venue to get set up and luckily for us we remember the set up and it all came together very well. Even the printed flooring, which just added to the whole effect.
After a couple of hours perfecting the stand we were ready for the first show day!
The event was a great success and we met lots of new people who had enquiries, we saw some of our current clients and was so nice to see them in a more sociable capacity. We also caught up with lots of our friends and associates in the event world we hardly ever get to see as we are all so busy in the summer season.
The Showman Show gave us a real opportunity to meet new people but ultimately to get our brand out into the world alongside others in the same field as us.
After two successful days we headed home and back to Quadrant 2 Design who would store our stand in preparation for the next event. We were greeted like old friends and all who were very interested to hear how the event had gone.
For the first time we were the client needing assistance from other suppliers using their expertise. All the companies we worked with turned everything around so quickly for us and were all so helpful, kind you can clearly see why all very successful in their field.
We look forward to working with you all, Tracey, Lauryn, Greg, Maggie, Lara and James at Quadrant 2 Design again very soon for our next adventure… watch this space!
