PropellerHeadCase
19-04-2007, 02:49 AM
I was at a Wedding Expo this last weekend, on behalf of the company I sub to rather than for my own business (my business exists solely for one contract I have with a particular venue), and it was very interesting.
When I first started doing the wedding expos with this business (and its previous owner) we could usually be sure of getting 15 bookings on the day. I think this was in part because we were often the only disco company present, but even when we weren't I think people were just more likely to book at the show in those days.
For the last five years it's been really hard to get bookings on the day, even with the offering of a 10% discount, to the point where, at some shows, we'd get no bookings at all. We usually get a good level of response to our post-show mailer to all the entrants in our draw, and we usually get well-booked for Fridays and Saturdays thoughout the 'Wedding Season', so no bookings at the show doesn't mean the show wasn't worth while.
So, to my point. We only decided at the very last minute to definitely do this show as it has been a fairly average event in the past. As such we turned up with our usual branding but we only brought one speaker and a couple of pretty crappy lights.
So why did we get four confirmed bookings as many entries for our draw as we do for the show where we go all out?
My wife did the rounds during the show and commented that whilst the other DJ companies (there were at least five of them) had more equipment on show our stand looked better. Now I saw the other stands and several of them had impressive looking lights, one guy had 3 pairs of speakers wired up, some had their PC-based players on show, etc., etc. We had nothing, by comparison. My boss and I were the two best-dressed and because this year the partitions between the exhibitors was black our black and pink colour scheme looked really effective.
Now I can't attest to how successful the other DJs were, so this story lacks a definitive edge, but...
All the lights and high-end sound equipment impressed the other DJs and the few gadget-head grooms present, but the brides (and their mothers) gravitated to the well-dressed guys with the tidy-looking booth. (My wife was watching the other attendees outside the other DJ's exhibits to see what the response was like... and we were talking to far more people than they appeared to be.)
So it seems that clients want people who look the part - the appearance of the equipment, and the equipment's apparent ability to do the job is a distant second.
As an addendum:
I hate to say it, but being reasonably tall and OK-looking also gave us more appeal than the DJ set up closest to us who was relatively short (at 5'8") and, well, a bit of a dweeb, looks-wise. I can't attest to this guy's success, or his patter, but my wife said that he came across as sleazy to her, and she didn't see many people at his booth on the several occasions that she walked past.
Comments?
When I first started doing the wedding expos with this business (and its previous owner) we could usually be sure of getting 15 bookings on the day. I think this was in part because we were often the only disco company present, but even when we weren't I think people were just more likely to book at the show in those days.
For the last five years it's been really hard to get bookings on the day, even with the offering of a 10% discount, to the point where, at some shows, we'd get no bookings at all. We usually get a good level of response to our post-show mailer to all the entrants in our draw, and we usually get well-booked for Fridays and Saturdays thoughout the 'Wedding Season', so no bookings at the show doesn't mean the show wasn't worth while.
So, to my point. We only decided at the very last minute to definitely do this show as it has been a fairly average event in the past. As such we turned up with our usual branding but we only brought one speaker and a couple of pretty crappy lights.
So why did we get four confirmed bookings as many entries for our draw as we do for the show where we go all out?
My wife did the rounds during the show and commented that whilst the other DJ companies (there were at least five of them) had more equipment on show our stand looked better. Now I saw the other stands and several of them had impressive looking lights, one guy had 3 pairs of speakers wired up, some had their PC-based players on show, etc., etc. We had nothing, by comparison. My boss and I were the two best-dressed and because this year the partitions between the exhibitors was black our black and pink colour scheme looked really effective.
Now I can't attest to how successful the other DJs were, so this story lacks a definitive edge, but...
All the lights and high-end sound equipment impressed the other DJs and the few gadget-head grooms present, but the brides (and their mothers) gravitated to the well-dressed guys with the tidy-looking booth. (My wife was watching the other attendees outside the other DJ's exhibits to see what the response was like... and we were talking to far more people than they appeared to be.)
So it seems that clients want people who look the part - the appearance of the equipment, and the equipment's apparent ability to do the job is a distant second.
As an addendum:
I hate to say it, but being reasonably tall and OK-looking also gave us more appeal than the DJ set up closest to us who was relatively short (at 5'8") and, well, a bit of a dweeb, looks-wise. I can't attest to this guy's success, or his patter, but my wife said that he came across as sleazy to her, and she didn't see many people at his booth on the several occasions that she walked past.
Comments?