ISA Sign Expo 2015 took place in April at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas and it was another great event produced by the International Sign Association.
What I love about ISA Sign Expo is that every year they make sure to include new, exciting programs for their attendees.
That’s a great tip for everyone to remember! If you want repeat attendance, you need to make sure you add something new and of value to really entice people to come back or at least make sure they have a memorable experience.
This year at ISA Sign Expo, some of these new, fun experiences were promoted in advance, and others were surprises for attendees on-site.
Here’s a quick list of my Top THREE Things ISA Sign Expo did to make the experience memorable this year:
ISA Elite
New this year, the ISA Elite program was launched to recognize the brightest young talent in the sign and visual communications industry. Those under the age of 35, working in industry, were encouraged to apply to the program. Once on-site, the ISA team ensured the selected ISA Elite participants had a robust program filled with education, networking and time on the trade show floor. The inaugural class had 35 members and if the feedback I received on-site about the program is any indication, I am sure the program developed life-long ISA Sign Expo fans that will come back year after year!
Awesome Entryway and Décor
Every year, the ISA team out does themselves when it comes to the show décor. This year the entryway to the trade show was pretty awesome. It included a showgirl managing a giant size slot machine for attendees to play and a video screen filled with pictures from the event.
One of the things we love most about our jobs is seeing our designs come to life on the show floor. It is so important to carry the design elements so people can connect what they’ve seen in their pre-show mail and e-mail with their experience on the show floor.
Attendee Retention Cards
This year we sent postcards to all ISA Sign Expo registrants that registered by a certain date. In the grand scheme of innovative marketing ideas, that’s not that exciting. But, here’s the fun part … we actually did several versions of the card that included a scratch off panel. Everyone could scratch before the show or on-site, but they had to bring their card to the ISA booth to see if they were a winner. Only those working the booth would be able to tell the card recipients if they were the winner of $1,000 cash, three $500 gift cards or five $100 gift cards. Well, it was a THRILL to be working the booth when the guy with the lucky $1,000 card came by to collect his prize.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, there were several other great things I could share about the show – but I think these three examples really demonstrate the importance of creating a memorable experience for your attendees in order to encourage them to come back year after year.