This article was written by guest contributer, Pamela Shigeoka.
Over the years, the landscape of exhibitor registration management has evolved significantly, moving away from cumbersome spreadsheets and mail merges. Cadmium's Exhibitor Harvester, consolidates all aspects of exhibitor management into a cohesive and user-friendly system that makes planning events a more streamlined process. In this post, we'll explore five ways in which the Exhibitor Harvester's adaptability can simplify the complexities of event management.
Gone are the days of trying to fit diverse shows into a one-size-fits-all management system. Not every show is going to be identical – in fact, no two events will ever be the same – so you need a solution that is flexible enough to fit your show, not a solution that expects your show to fit into it.
Cadmium’s Exhibitor Harvester provides a comprehensive and customizable portal, ensuring easy access to information for both show management teams and exhibitors. This eliminates the risk of data loss between exhibitors and managers. Exhibitors can log in to their personalized dashboard, offering all the essential details needed to prepare for the event.
The portal's flexibility allows customization of information display, such as event date and location, contact details for the event manager, and exhibit hall hours. You can create a “links” section, which can be tailored to include crucial resources like the exhibit hall floor plan, sponsorship prospectus, and service kit. Notably, the portal can even feature an invoice section, enabling exhibitors to access their current invoices independently – saving time and resources for event managers.
Regardless of the event's size, exhibitors often have a checklist of tasks to complete before the event. Expo Harvester simplifies task creation with complete customization. Event managers can easily generate lists specifying tasks, whether it involves filling out forms, uploading files, or signing documents.
One of the most important tasks is one of the easiest for exhibitors to complete. They can enter their company information in an intuitive form that the exhibitor manager can customize. The exhibitor basically does all the work, and the Exhibitor Harvester compiles everything, including their logo if they have uploaded it, into an attractive card on the exhibit hall map and in the eventScribe mobile app if you also use that platform for your event.
Every event has unique information needs, and Cadmium’s Exhibitor Harvester recognizes this by allowing managers to create tasks beyond standard templates.
For example, the Association for Vascular Access held an exhibitor appreciation event to build relationships with their exhibitors. The AVA created an RSVP task for their exhibitor appreciation event in the Exhibitor Harvester, with options to say yes or no to attending, and an option to indicate how many people from exhibitor’s company will attend. The show manager can then go into their dashboard and bring up a report on exhibitors’ answers. They can quickly see which exhibitors have responded, what their responses are, and the planned attendance numbers. They also can share the report with, for example, a catering director, so they can get an idea of how many people to expect at the event.
The ability to create this unique task helped the AVA immensely, as they didn’t have to rely on a separate invitation or RSVP system to manage their appreciation event. Instead of having to upload all of their exhibitor contact information into another system, they could just create a task that puts the event invitation directly on exhibitors’ portal screens.
Encouraging returning exhibitors is crucial, and Expo Harvester simplifies this by assigning priority points. The Worksheets tool seamlessly integrates with the communication tool, enabling event managers to send tailored emails to priority exhibitors, urging them to sign up for the next year's event. This efficient system eliminates the complexities of tracking priority points.
There is a pre-built worksheet for priority points, but you can also customize the worksheet to fit your event, choosing to give points based on sponsorship dollars spent, the size of their booth, how many years they’ve been exhibiting with your event, and so on. This worksheet can work seamlessly with the built-in communication tool. Event managers can go into communications and send out emails customized for priority points exhibitors that haven’t yet signed up for next year’s event. Managers can also add hotkeys to the emails that are tailored for the specific exhibitor, so they can click and go straight to Harvester to sign up.
Cadmium’s Exhibitor Harvester eliminates the need for a separate communications system by integrating communication tools within the platform. This eliminates the hassle of setting up mail merges or uploading exhibitor information separately. Users can craft tailored emails and newsletters, sending them directly to the relevant recipients. The system also provides insights into the effectiveness of communications by tracking email metrics.
So it’s easy to create tailored emails and send them only to the people who need to see them. You can, for example, send an email only to the exhibitors who haven’t completed a particular task, such as entering their company information or those who haven’t settled their invoice. You can also use the communications tools to create a newsletter with information tailored specifically for exhibitors. You can add any information about the show, upcoming meetings, deadline dates, important tasks exhibitors need to complete… anything you need to share with your exhibitors.
The Exhibitor Harvester lets you see how many people received, opened, and clicked through the messages that you’ve sent so you have an idea of how effective your communications are.
Cadmium’s Exhibitor Harvester is an excellent tool for flexibility in setting up and managing your event’s exhibitor list. Aside from managing registration, it also gives you options for setting tasks and lets you send emails right to the exhibitors who need to see them, all without having to switch between systems. The Exhibitor Harvester also work seamlessly with Cadmium’s suite of products, letting you bring all of your event information together with minimal fuss.