Rebuilding exhibitor services at PennWell

The starting point

Exhibitor services had just been centralized and was being managed by the registration lead, who didn’t have a background in the work. There were no routine processes or guidelines, and no software to support the team.

Scope

Furniture and utilities orders, lead retrieval, floorplan management, the exhibitor manual, online exhibitor profiles, exhibitor newsletters, accounting audits, and getting the sales team onto the software. All of it across 50+ events and 5,000+ exhibiting companies a year.

What I changed

• Structure. Built the department’s operating model: routine processes, guidelines, checklists and playbooks, so every show ran the same way.
• Systems. Rolled out a2z for floorplan management, online exhibitor profiles and exhibitor ordering, and used Oracle applications for order processing and accounting. Set up audit checks so the accounting matched what was sold, and trained the sales team on both systems.
• People and incentives. Hired a strong 10-person global team and moved it from only servicing orders to actively selling, with incentives tied to revenue.

How it works

1. 1 Booth sold Sales team on the same system
2. 2 Floorplan and profile Managed in a2z
3. 3 Orders and upgrades Team sells, not just services
4. 4 Processing and audit Oracle, checked against what was sold
5. 5 Exhibitor arrives ready Almost nothing to fix on site

Results

• Revenue grew from $1.9M to $3.2M in two years, up about 68%.
• Exhibitors went from showing up unprepared to arriving ready, with almost no issues to handle on site.