Running a trade show program can be a painstaking and chaotic process. You have to juggle employees, travel, budgets, and effective communications, while at the same time making sure you’re maintaining a profitable trade show ROI.
Luckily, the days of paper management have nearly come to an end due to efficient technological advances. There is an app for almost anything these days, and many can be utilized by exhibitors.
Here are a few examples of apps that will help you stay organized, so you can focus on meeting show objectives, instead of sweating the details.
Easy Scheduling
There are two great apps for scheduling the necessities involved with presenting at an event. The first is possibly the most valuable of all the apps on this list: ShowGo Mobile. ShowGo is an app designed specifically for trade show marketers. It has multifaceted functionality that ensures ample communication between event coordinators, their booth staff and any other stakeholders that will be working the show . The app intuitively gives your reps updates on tasks, staffing, scheduling and lodging arrangements anytime a change is made. Keeping your team on the same page is crucial to a successful show.
The second useful app is appropriately called When I Work. This program takes the hassle out of employee scheduling. It allows staff to communicate their scheduling requests, view their schedules and barter shift trades, all in one place. In addition, team leaders have easy access to create and edit schedules. Any time you make a schedule change, the app will immediately notify your staff. There will be no excuse for not being in the right place at the right time!
Constant Communication
Even with the most informative scheduling apps, it will still be essential that you can communicate with your staff as the need arises. WhatsApp and Asana are both great options for doing so. Which one you use depends on the depth of your need.
WhatsApp is the best option if you simply need to send group messages back and forth without a clunky texting system. No more double texts, or multiple people replying on various messaging trails because they have a different type of phone from the other people in the group.
Asana is more appropriate if you need additional functionality. This app allows users to see texts, emails, tasks, deadlines, projects and IMs, all in one program. Asana will save your team the inconvenience of jumping from app to app if multiple channels are being used.
Mobile Budgeting
Keeping track of your company’s spending while traveling from show to show can be a very exhausting process. Expensify is an app that will make the budget tracking process much easier and accurate. You’ll be able to manage expense reports, track mileage and manage your receipts. The app also allows you to upload photos of your team’s receipts to help eliminate errant or untracked spending.
Make trade show life easier by taking advantage of all the great advancements technology has to offer. At Exhibitus, our consultants help customers design every aspect of their program to ensure flawless execution on the trade show floor. For more information on taking your trade show to the next level, contact us today!