PPB March 2021

How did the PPAI team transition to this new format? Peterson: Whatever the question was, our staff was fully geared up to make sure we got questions answered quickly. That made a big difference in the customer experience. Tucker: Our customer service excelled this year, even with fewer staff. I’m most proud of how our staff stepped up and maintained the high standard of member and customer service that is expected from PPAI. It was phenomenal and I’m so proud of this team. Peterson: We asked team members to imagine they were in Vegas. We encouraged them to have that same mentality because we were producing a show, and everyone had to be fully involved in it. A hallmark of Expo has been the flood of purple shirts, with staff available to answer questions as quickly as possible and deliver on customer service. Even without the purple shirts, everybody on staff had some engagement level, and most had a ton of engagement, from the time we opened Monday morning through 11 pm Thursday night. It was the most unique virtual show that any of us had seen, not only in the promotional products industry, but in other industries as well. What methods are you using to evaluate this show? How is it different from evaluating an in-person trade show? Tucker: There are a few different ways we are evaluating this show. One is capturing the feedback that we received before, during and that we are continuing to receive after the show. We are consolidating that information and reviewing it. What’s amazing about a virtual show is that we got immediate feedback and could participate in multiple conversations at once— especially those ‘hallway’ conversations that we are usually not part of. We have a lot of data reports we are able to pull, too. For me, what’s different from an in-person show is that when we leave an Expo, we have the expectation that we’ll do another in-person trade show the following year. We feel confident that we’ll be able to meet in person in Vegas in 2022 and I think I can say there will be a virtual component as well but what that looks like—whether it’s a stand-alone virtual, a replacement for in-person or a hybrid event—has yet to be determined. Peterson: The same logic applies that we had going into this year’s show. Now, at the end of January, it’s our full intent to have an in-person event in 2022 but we will have a virtual component too, in some form or fashion. And, if we can’t have an in-person show, we know what we can roll into. As far as evaluating it, at a live event, you can watch people coming down the walkway in the mornings and you know if the show will be busy. It’s different—and maybe even better—in a virtual show. We and the exhibitors know exactly what kind of response they got from distributors— what products were looked at the most, how many chats they had, how many videos were seen, how many downloads there were of products. The exhibitors don’t know all that information from an in-person event, so part of our challenge, really our opportunity, is to determine how we amp up the data returned to the exhibitors at an in-person show. Tucker: One more thing, it’s important to mention our appreciation and thanks to our board for their confidence and faith in us, and their support for how we chose to move forward. I also want to thank our attendees and exhibitors for how they embraced something new. Without our industry embracing it and without the support of our board and members, we could have planned and executed this show, but it would not have been as successful. Everybody at PPAI feels that same way. A huge piece of our show is the people who show up, interact and engage, and the time they commit to the event, whether it’s in person or virtual. We are here to serve them and I’m proud of the way we did that. Our members are to be commended for embracing something that they didn’t view as ideal, but they took it in stride given the situation we are all in. –Tina Berres Filipski Hold The Date The PPAI Expo 2022 is scheduled for January 9-13, 2022 in Las Vegas. This five-day event includes two days (January 9-10) of educational sessions followed by three days (January 11-13) of open show floor with products from companies all around the country. Be notified when registration opens by filling out the form here: expo.ppai. org/notify-me-when-registration-opens. Free On-Demand Education sessions from Expo Direct-2-You are available free on-demand at onlineeducation.ppai.org. This Expo D2U session, available on-demand, features bestselling author Seth Godin speaking about doing work that matters and making an impact. PPAI Expo Direct-2-You | FEATURE | MARCH 2021 | 33