CHICAGO — Creating a trade show can seem like a daunting task. From planning to marketing to budgeting, it can be hard to know where to start, especially in today’s economic climate.
Trade Show Executive connected with Glenn Celentano, Founder of The Pizza Tomorrow Summit, Founder & CEO of All-In Event Management and Partner and CEO of Restaurant Events, LLC., and Sheldon Kaye, CEM, Co-Show Manager of Food Truck Owners Expo (FTO Expo) and Vice President of Events & Technology at ConvExx, for tips on launching a successful exhibition.
Tip One: Find Your Niche
Celentano and Kaye both discovered problems in specific industries which they thought trade shows could help solve.
Kaye was inspired by data indicating that around 60% of food trucks fail within their first year of operation.
“We thought we could adapt some of the models we were already using and kind of help them succeed business-wise … [and] put them in touch with the right suppliers and vendors,” Kaye said. He also couldn’t find a competitive event, solidifying FTO Expo’s niche.
The seed for The Pizza Tomorrow Summit was planted when Celentano waited more than 90 minutes for a pizza during the COVID-19 pandemic. After asking the pizza shop’s owner about the wait, he learned that the restaurant was struggling to keep up with demand.
“I saw that not only was the pizza industry sustaining through the pandemic, but in parts of the country it was actually growing … it was a natural place to put a stake in the ground,” Celentano said.
There was just one challenge: a legacy pizza event held annually in Las Vegas. Celentano decided to visit the show to determine if there was space for another exhibition and research the pizza industry.
Related. Food Truck Owners Expo Launches in Houston
Tip Two: Do Your Research
Celentano and Kaye believe that research is vital for any prospective show organizer.
“I would say that anybody who wants to step out on their own and try this: research forever … The research, vetting everything out and talking to the customer before you do anything will be a difference-maker … measure twice, cut once,” Celentano said.
Celentano discovered that most of the legacy event’s attendees were from the Western U.S., leaving an opening in the East. He eventually chose Orlando as the show’s location.
Celentano also learned that the event was on the expensive side and, due to its large size, harder to navigate, with programming held off the show floor. Also, on-site competitions were more competitive to enter.
This helped convince Celentano that there was a niche for The Pizza Tomorrow Summit and influenced his planning process. He decided to make his show’s education free, host programming on the show floor and keep its competitions accessible.
Additionally, Celentano believed that the legacy event was primarily a trade show and saw an opening for a more experiential pizza exhibition.
“We were legitimately making a first impression. Nobody knew us. We didn’t exist prior to this, so we needed that ‘wow factor.’ So, everything we did was around that. You had to feel like you were experiencing something that wasn’t just a straightforward trade show, because if we were trying to be a trade show, we would lose. We would be compared to them in every way … we had to be different,” Celentano explained.
Kaye’s team interviewed food truck owners and used their discoveries to create a trade show geared towards helping attendees regardless of their experience-level.
“Find industry experts, for sure. Definitely if it is a new space that you are not used to … I didn’t know the first thing about running a food truck, so we had to find the right experts to lean on … I still feel like we could’ve used more time for research. So, I’d almost say give it like a three-year window to launch,” Kaye said.
Kaye also learned that many food truck owners spoke Spanish, which inspired him to use Wordly, a live AI translation software, for the event’s educational programming.
Interviews suggested that most food truck owners were hesitant to travel more than three hours for a trade show. Subsequently, FTO Expo planned for three editions across the U.S. in 2024.
Another early research discovery was that most food truck owners were in the 45-55 age range. The decision was made to use Facebook marketing to appeal to that demographic.
“I think the first must-have is understanding who your audience is and, from a data perspective, how you’re going to market to them,” Kaye said, adding that he found a database of potential attendees by making partnerships with companies in the food truck industry.
“I knew they had the data, so I knew that it was very important to build a relationship with them where they could send out an email on our behalf … [and] at least tell people we’re out there and spread the word.”
Related. TSE Reveals 2024 Fastest 50 Grand Award Winners
Tip Three: Find Effective Partners
Celentano and Kaye made partnerships with well-regarded organizations to help market their shows to potential attendees and exhibitors.
Celentano teamed up with a major publication in the pizza industry and used their industry database for email campaigns. He also secured five well-known distributors to exhibit at the event and gave them an unlimited number of free passes for buying customers.
“They were deploying these free passes, and our messaging, out to all of their people and that not only drove a lot of people through the door, [but] it drove people through the door that were in buying mode … that feedback we got from our show, our very first show, was that the quality of audience was superior to anything they’d seen anywhere. That was really amazing, to hear that, because again, we had nothing, no database. We legitimately built it from the ground up,” Celentano said.
Celentano added that building the show was slow at first. “It took some time to get some traction … we gave ourselves almost a year and a half of a runway to launch the show, and it took us about five months before we felt like ‘oh, we’re finally getting some traction.’ … Getting the train rolling down the tracks was daunting.”
Kaye added that early partnerships will likely require tradeoffs, making it harder for new show organizers to make a profit.
“Just have realistic expectations of when you can actually get partners to sign up and be on board,” Kaye shared. “It’s really easy for people to say ‘oh, that’s a great idea, I’d love to be a part of it,’ but it’s a lot harder to get them to sign a contract to pay you. So set realistic deadlines of when you can start collecting funds and seeing cash flow and then also be very realistic that you’re probably not going to make money the first couple years.”
Tip Four: Be Ready for Anything — and Prioritize Customer Experience
Celentano and Kaye both advised future show organizers to expect surprises and, no matter what, try to provide the best possible customer service.
In 2022, a hurricane swept through Orlando during the inaugural Pizza Tomorrow Summit. After working with the convention center’s staff and a fire marshal to make sure the show could continue safely, Celentano shared that this challenge became an opportunity.
“Anybody can put on a smile, and give you good customer service, and be happy when times are good … but when you’re having times of challenge, a natural disaster, and you’re still doing all of that? Your game has been escalated above and beyond expectation,” Celentano shared. “We had a hurricane hit during the show and we still had a great event. So, it just goes to show — you build up that kind of cachet with the people that you work with, it resonates.”
Celentano’s approach has continued to resonate, with the show’s second edition cracking the Trade Show Executive Fastest 50 Class of 2023.
“People do business with those that they like, and with those that they trust, and when you build that kind of relationship with your customers, with your teams [and] with your industry partners, it goes a very, very long way,” he said.
Coincidentally, a hurricane hit Houston in the weeks before FTO Expo’s first edition. Luckily, its venue was undamaged and local vendors even ran promotions and deals on the show floor due to their storm-related closures.
“The whole event actually ended up great … and we have a lot of buzz for the future,” Kaye said. “Do your research and know there’s going to be late nights and struggles and it’s not always positive … just keep on plugging through.”
Reach Sheldon Kaye at skaye@convexx.com and reach Glenn Celentano at glenn@pizzatomorrow.com.
