Month: October 2021

Exhibiting at events is one of those things that sounds straightforward until you’re standing in a conference hall surrounded by pull-up banners and wondering if you’ve brought enough business cards. When Eighty3 Design headed to the Entrepreneurs Circle Getting and Keeping Customers Convention, we decided to do things a bit differently. And honestly? It paid off.

Rather than setting up a standard stand and hoping people would wander over, we created an experience. A colouring wall. An interactive game with a leaderboard that had people genuinely competitive about their fastest times. Lucky cats. The kind of stand that makes people stop, smile, and most importantly, remember you. In business, being the company people actually recall when they get back to their desks is worth more than any stack of leaflets.

The response was brilliant. People weren’t just stopping for a chat, they were coming back. Asking where they could access the game again. Telling their colleagues about the colouring wall. We walked away with a long list of new contacts, some great conversations, and a few hard-won lessons we’ll be carrying into every exhibition we do from here on.

Give your team members ownership of something and they will always surprise you. Be yourself and stand out in your market. Keep smiling, because positive things genuinely do happen. Always have a roll of gaffer tape handy because there will be technical gremlins. It is extremely difficult to eat lasagne with just a fork. And people absolutely love a lucky cat.

The Entrepreneurs Circle convention reminded us why getting out from behind the studio and in front of people matters. It is loud, it is busy, and it is a brilliant opportunity to show the world who you are. We showed up as ourselves, had a proper good time, and came home knowing it was worth every minute of the drive.