Make an investment in your business and plan on getting more leads, doing more sales, generating more revenue in 2008. It all starts with reserving your booth for Expo:

Location - Minneapolis Convention Center Ballroom A&B, fully-carpeted (easy on your feet & legs) 10' x 10' piped & draped booths - draped & skirted tables (all included), room for full-size displays, table tops, product displays etc. Ten foot aisles. Just More Room!
Full-day Exhibit time - Six-and-a-half hours to capture leads, make sales and network with prospects.
Four Registrations Per Booth - Fully staff your booth giving you the ability to work shifts, handle booth traffic and leave the booth to network with other exhibitors or hear the educational presentations.
E-Tickets to Promote Attendance - Sponsors, Speakers, Marketing Partners and Exhibitors will now be able to distribute tickets electronically to their networks. No more mailing paper tickets!
Virtual Tradeshow Booth - Your "virtual booth" is open from April 1 - June 1. Marketing features of your listing help generate new clients and sales BEFORE the show or capture leads after the event!
Aggressive Promotions Campaign - Benefit from Expo speakers' PR resources and combined marketing effort from all exhibitors. Event scheduled during Small Business Week to further enhance media coverage.
Direct-mail Campaign - Reaching 15,000 small businesses.
Exhibitor Marketing Kit - Postcard, email, flyer, graphics, Flash media, 2007 event database--all the tools you need to market your Expo appearance

Expo Attracts Targeted Audience

The biggest benefit for exhibitors is that unlike large, mega-thousands consumer tradeshows, which attract the "bag-toting hordes" collecting trade show free-stuff, attendees to the Expo are there for a purpose, not killing time from work. These are the decision-makers looking for product or service vendors. It's not about the quantity of participants, but the quality. A unique aspect of the event is that the contact-to-qualified-lead ratio is very high. A typical observation from a past exhibitor:

"I have done many of the large trade shows and always track my results. I usually have to talk to 500 people to get 30 good leads for follow-up. Today at the Expo, I spoke to 105 people and got 60 qualified leads and I hear others are doing well." D. Fredell - Fredell & Associates, Computer Consultant

In 2006, the national average cost to exhibit at large trade shows is $1,274 for a 10' X 10' patch of concrete - EXPO Magazine, March 2007. The Small Business Expo delivers tremendous value for exhibitors with 10' x 10' convention center booths starting at $535.

Why should your company consider exhibiting at Expo?
Trade shows offer exhibitors and a unique opportunity to meet with and present your products and services to qualified buyers you may otherwise not meet. According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) :

88% of attendees have not been seen by a member of your company�s sales staff in the preceding 12 months
7 out of 10 attendees plan to buy one or more products
76% asked for quotes and 26% signed purchase orders (average all shows)
72% of show visitors say the show influenced their buying decision
87% of attendees will share some of the information obtained at an exhibition
64% of attendees tell at least 6 other people about the event
58% attend only the show in which you are exhibiting
40% are first-time attendees
It costs 31% less to contact a potential buyer at a show than it does through traditional field sales calls
54% of exhibitors do not set objectives, and a much larger percentage have no formal process to either measure objectives or report about what happened at their events
The national average cost of reaching a visitor at a trade show is $212 compared with $308 to visit a prospect in the field
An average of 1.6 personal follow-up sales visits is needed to close a sale originating from a trade show lead compared to the 3.7 visits required to close a non-show lead
Over 71% of trade show attendees can authorize or approve the purchase of products or services and out of those over 70% are owners, managers or professionals

Expo Demographics

Exhibitor Referral Program - Save up to $350 on Your Booth Cost!

Do you know another business that should be exhibiting at the Expo? You will receive a $35 rebate (up to $350 of your booth cost) by referring up to ten new exhibitors to the event. Referrals must be confirmed and paid to qualify for the rebate. Registrant must include referral name & company name in the "Referred by" field on application. Rebates will be issued no later than thirty (30) business days following the event. Referrals are subject to verification.