Episode 010 - Your Trade Show ROI Is Slipping Away—Unless You Do This
Your Trade Show ROI Is Slipping Away—Unless You Do This
Overview:
In this episode of The Toypreneur Podcast, I reveal why most trade show momentum fizzles out—and how to prevent that from happening to you. Trade shows spark incredible ideas, but if you don’t act fast, those ideas fade. I share a step-by-step process to capture insights in real-time, organize them efficiently, and use AI to extract key trends and action steps. The result? A fast, clear, and effective post-show plan that helps you capitalize on connections, trends, and opportunities before your competitors do.
Key Takeaways:
Trade Show Momentum Fades Fast
Most businesses wait too long to process their trade show insights, losing valuable opportunities.
Acting quickly post-show is the difference between ROI and wasted investment.
Capture Key Insights Before You Leave
Use voice-to-text to record raw ideas daily.
Ask your team five key questions to ensure valuable data is collected.
Leverage AI to Spot Trends and Take Action
Upload raw notes into AI and use prompts to identify key themes, recurring questions, and overlooked opportunities.
Run a second AI prompt to generate an actionable, prioritized roadmap for post-show execution.
Post-Show Success Comes From Fast Execution
The most successful brands aren’t just the ones attending the most events—they’re the ones who act on insights first.
A streamlined AI-powered approach saves time, eliminates disorganization, and ensures no valuable lead or trend is missed.
Next Steps:
Capture Your Trade Show Insights Immediately
Use voice-to-text to record notes at the end of each day.
Have your team answer five structured questions and save responses as a PDF.
Use AI to Analyze Trends and Prioritize Action
Upload your notes and use this prompt:
“I've uploaded a PDF with raw feedback from my trade show experience. Please analyze it and identify trends, patterns, and problems. Highlight what comes up most often, any opportunities I might have missed, and anything else that stands out. Summarize it clearly in bullet points.”Then, refine your insights with a second AI prompt:
“Based on the trends, patterns, and problems you found, what should I do next? Please suggest actionable steps to improve my strategy, fix issues, or capitalize on opportunities. Be specific and prioritize the most impactful steps for my business.”
Run a Focused Post-Show Meeting
Use the AI-generated roadmap to assign tasks and prioritize next steps.
Move straight into execution instead of wasting time sorting through scattered notes.
Turn Trade Shows into Launchpads, Not Dead Ends
Take action before buyers move on and competitors catch up.
Share your insights and results—DM Charlene on Instagram (@TheToypreneur) or email [email protected] or join toymarketingtimes.com! (It's free!)
Transcript:
Charlene Host
00:00
I chose spark ideas, but those ideas can die in the dark unless you flip the switch with AI. Welcome to the Toypreneur Podcast, where motivation meets marketing for playful solopreneurs. I'm your host, charlene Deloach, and I am here to help you turn your passion in the play space into a thriving reality, whether you're a creator, retailer or entrepreneur. Are you ready to stop building someone else's dream and start creating your own? It's time to play people. This is the Toypreneur Podcast.
00:42
Trade shows have a way of making you feel completely in the zone. You're walking the floor, meeting people, spotting trends you didn't even see coming. Every conversation feels like a spark that can turn into something big. But then the trade show is over and suddenly you're back to reality. Your phone is full of hat-wrapped notes, your bag is stuffed with business cards and your brain is fried. But you tell yourself that's okay, I'll sit down and go through all of this later. Except later. Never really happens, does it? But if it does, by the time you do sit down and do it, the energy is gone, the urgency is gone and the opportunity already slipping. And let's talk about what's actually in the line here, because whether you've had a booth or you attended just as a buyer or journalist, you've already spent thousands Flights, hotel food, transportation, booth fees, setup and teardown crews, marketing materials. Right, trade shows are an investment and if you don't ask fast, though, you might as well light that money on fire.
01:41
I've seen two companies walk away from the same trade show with two completely different results. Both had great spoofs, they made amazing connections, both left the event with serious momentum. But here's what happened between the two of them. Company A got back, waited a week to process everything and then had a stand-up meeting and debrief calls and all the things. But by the time they finally did that, buyers had moved on. Staff forgot half the things. But by the time they finally did that, buyers had moved on, staff forgot half the things that occurred. Journalists were already writing about something else. Right, that means no sales, no media features and very little ROI. But company B before they even left the show, they had captured their insights and, within 48 hours, had a full breakdown of what mattered and a clear plan to act on it.
02:26
What's the difference? Not who had the best booth, not who talked to most people, not how many sales calls. You had sales meetings. Who took action first? And that difference could be the difference between making back that $10,000, $100,000 trade show to investment or losing it. Dollars $100,000 trade show to investment or losing it.
02:49
So how do you make sure you don't lose what you just experienced? Well, you don't wait until later and you don't rely on your memory or your team's. Instead, before you leave the show, you and your team should do this. Number one everyone does a quick brain dump. Use voice to text on your phone, right, get it all done real time. Do it at the end of each day of a show, not at the very end, but the end of each day. So if it's a four-day show, like Toy Fair, you and your team are doing it at the end of each day. If it's a one-day thing, great, the end of the only day.
03:20
Number two then, after everyone has done that voice to text, they're either going to put it in Slack, text it to you or send you an email wherever the team lead is, and that team lead gathers all of that and puts it into a document and then saves that document as a PDF. That's it. No long meetings, no, oh, we'll figure it out next week. Just raw insights captured in real time. Figure out next week, just raw insights captured in real time. Now, doing it freeform like that, just whatever pops into your head or your team head, is great. There's value in that.
03:57
But if you actually have a team, I do suggest sending them five questions that everyone should be asking consistently, so that way you get accurate data and you get data that you can analyze. So what should you be brain dumping? Well, I like these five questions that you should be sending to your team so they know how to answer it. Number one what questions kept coming up? Now, it could be what questions keep coming up from buyers or media, you can decide, but basically, what questions kept coming up? Number two what industry trends did you hear over and over? Number three what did competitors do differently that stood out? Number four what moments from the trade show sparked a new idea for you? And number five what is the top three things you think we should act on immediately? That's it. Answer those. Put them in a document, save it as PDF. Now you have what 90% of companies never do Now.
04:48
This is where AI changes everything. Instead of spending days sorting through notes, you take that PDF of raw insights and you upload it into AI Now, along with that upload. This is the prompt that you do. I've uploaded a PDF with raw feedback from my trade show experience. Please analyze it and identify trends, patterns and problems. Highlight what comes up most often, any opportunities I might have missed and anything else that stands out. Summarize it clearly in bullet points.
05:19
Then, in minutes, ai is going to spot the trends that stood out amongst your entire team. Spot the trends that stood out amongst your entire team. Spot the trends that stood out amongst multiple conversations Right. Identify the recurring questions and problems. No messy spreadsheets. No long post-show meetings Right, just clarity and fast.
05:37
And then, once you have that AI summary, run it through AI again with a second prompt Based on the trends, patterns and problems you found. What should I do next? Please suggest actionable steps to improve my strategy, fix issues or capitalize on opportunities, be specific and prioritize what is the most impactful for my business. Boom, you now have a post-show roadmap. So now that is what your post-show meeting should be about Not sorting through messy notes, not asking your team what they remembered from a week ago, but sitting down with this AI-generated action step plan and then basically talking about what needs to be assigned to the team, who doesn't need to be assigned to what should be tackled immediately, what should be prioritized first.
06:27
This way, nobody's overwhelmed, you're not relying on feedback that is now old. You're not guessing, you're just executing, and that's how the brands that win get ahead fast. So listen, you already did the hard part, right. You showed up at the trade show, you networked, you spotted trends, you had conversations, but if you don't capture and organize and act fast post-show, all of that fades. It's really not about the brands that are the ones who attended the most events. The ones that really win, that get the most ROI post show, are the ones who took what they learned and used it before anybody else.
07:10
So if you just got back from a trade show, or if you have one coming up soon, try this method and when you do, let me know what insights you uncovered. Send me a message at the toypreneur or email me at toybox at the toypreneurcom. Because guess what? Trade shows should be a launchpad for your ideas, not a dead end one for them. Remember, building a business in the play space isn't just about making money, it's about building something meaningful too. I'm reminding you that it's time to play by leveling up. See you next time on the Toypreneur Podcast.
