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Moisturizer or Serum which should be applied first?

We all know the importance of skin care regime for a glowing beautiful healthy skin. But with so many products available in the market we all get confused as in which product goes on top of what and most commonly a big confusion arise whether should we apply moisturizer or a serum first? Layering the products in an order is very important and we suggest following the thumb rule of applying the…

I’m proud to once again be one of the speakers at EXHIBITORLIVE 2020 in Las Vegas. It’s a privilege to be presenting with “Trade Show Bob” Milam from 3:35 to 5:15 PM on Tuesday, March 31st. 

The 2020 conference takes place March 29 through April 2, a little later than usual. I’m enjoying the preparations, and looking forward to the events and sessions. 

I always enjoy seeing friends and colleagues, meeting new people, and observing the latest trends in exhibit marketing.

This year I will attend the Women In Exhibitions Breakfast for the first time. It’s set for 8:00 am on March 31st in the Connection Zone at Mandalay Bay. 

There are seven sections to write and illustrate for your Certified Trade Show Marketer portfolio, but you will also be evaluated on Criteria 8: OVERALL FORMAT AND CONTENTS. The best and most up-to-date information on creating and formatting your CTSM portfolio can be found in the CTSM area of the EXHIBITOR web site. 

Following instructions, including those detailed in the Portfolio Checklist, will help you turn in a successful portfolio. The Portfolio Checklist is an extremely valuable resource. I can’t emphasize that enough. It’s a roadmap to getting where you want to be. Check the contents of each section, and make sure you’ve provided everything required.

All seven sections must be present and well organized. Listen to your advisor’s feedback about this. I’ve had to tell more than one candidate that they could not omit a section, or submit one that was way too brief and vague. And once or twice I’ve had to stop a candidate from adding a section not included in the checklist. (There’s room to be creative with your portfolio, but be creative within the required sections!) More commonly, some candidates put information in one section that should be in another.

In addition to the seven sections, you need to include a title page, table of contents, and a session reference page. 

An appendix is optional. If fact, as I’ve said before, an appendix should only be used if you have a lengthy exhibit schedule, lots of survey data, multi-page RFPs, or other key information too extensive to fully include in the body of a section. Do not put material in an appendix that belongs in the sections themselves, or things like extra photos of your booth or event. If you do put material in an appendix, reference it by page number, or by tab, in the text of your portfolio.

All photos and illustrations should be captioned, and the captions should be in type large enough to be easily read.

Your entire portfolio should be in type that is easy to read. Background graphics or attractive headers and footers can add visual interest, but not if they make it tougher to read the contents.

Separate each main section with a tab. Use plastic-coated tabs, as paper ones bend easily in transit, and print on them can flake off. Tab only the required sections, and the appendix, if you have one. Do not tab sub-heads.

Reference a minimum of 8 CTSM-required sessions and 2 elective sessions. You are welcome to include more. You may reference a specific session more than one time, but keep in mind it still only counts as one session reference. In other words, you need to reference at least 8 DIFFERENT required sessions plus two DIFFERENT electives. 

Get help with proofreading. When working on a long document, it’s very easy to start overlooking typos and missing words, because you know what you meant to say. Have someone, or better still, more than one person good at proofreading go over your final document before sending it in for review. This is a professional document, and you want to be at your best.  If you're advised to get assistance with writing and grammar as well, do it. One candidate turned to an English teacher and an English professor for help in this area.

Once all of the above is done, combine all the sections, plus the title page,  etc. into one document, print out a copy and check that all page references are correct. 

Send a digital copy of the combined portfolio to your advisor for final review. 

Once your advisor has signed off on your portfolio:

Email a professionally done, digital headshot to the CTSM Office.

Prepare 3 hard copies of portfolio, with a CD or flash drive digital version attached to each, and send them to CTSM Office. These copies will be sent to the members of your portfolio review committee. (The copies will go back to the CTSM Office after review.)

You have a choice of types of binding for the hard copies you submit. Three-ring binders offer the most flexibility.  If you find an error or decide to add something just before you send in your portfolio, or if your review committee needs you to re-do and re-submit a section, three-ring binders simplify the process.

Heed the adage: “If you don’t have time to do something right the first time, when will you have time to do it over?” Not preparing the hard copies properly will only delay the certification you seek. Seriously, I’ve seen portfolios that met all of the criteria for content get sent back for revision because of format.  Don’t do that to yourself.

Avoid turning in your portfolio at the last minute. If the deadline for completing your portfolio is coming up, or you want to be part of the next CTSM graduation ceremony at EXHIBITORLIVE, be mindful of the deadline for submitting your completed portfolio and make every effort to finish it well before then. Allow some time in case you need to make revisions. Rushing can significantly impact the quality of a portfolio.

If working right up to the deadline is unavoidable, as in the case of a recent advisee whose major annual show took place weeks before the deadline, plan carefully and do every that can be done in advance ahead of time.

After completing Sections 1 through 6, you’ve done the bulk of the work on your Certified Trade Show Marketer portfolio. Many candidates try to rush through Section 7: CONCLUSION, but please don’t give in to that temptation! This part provides a important opportunity to not only wrap up this project, and sum up what you’ve learned, but also make recommendations for the future. This is a fine opportunity to show you, as a marketer, have a sense of the “big picture,” and where you’d like to take your program.

Begin with wrapping up your event or program of focus. How did it go? What was the impact? Was your manager or client pleased? 

Here’s how the recommendations here differ from those you just made in the last section. In Section 6, you made recommendations specific to the particular event covered in this portfolio. In Section 7, you make recommendations for your overall program. 

Make recommendations you hope to implement in the foreseeable future. The next one to three years is a good time frame. For example: “I hope to introduce post-show surveys and develop a method for incorporating what we learn into our future plans.” “A newer, lighter weight modular booth will be a good investment when we are able to get the purchase approved. In addition to updating our look, the savings on shipping would be significant.”

You can also state what you’d like to improve in the long run and how you’d like to do it, even if you don’t currently have the ability to carry it out. “We could do much more with social media. There are no plans to expand our marketing staff, but when we are able I hope to hire a social media specialist.”

Sum up what you’ve learned along the way, including from the CTSM program and the portfolio process. How has this experience shaped or developed you professionally?

The work you’ve shown in Sections 4 and 5 should all support the measurable objectives you set in Section 3. Now it’s time to pull everything together in Section 6: MANAGEMENT OF RESULTS REPORTING. You’ll also explain how you report your results to your organization or client.

To get started, copy the table you created in Section 3, and add two more columns: Results and Recommendations for the Future. Begin filling in the information, and make notes to yourself about any metrics you need to track down and obtain. Be clear and concise. You can elaborate further in the body of this section.

Set up a table like this, and fill in the required information. (Source: Course 710 - Preparing, Developing & Submitting a Quality CTSM Portfolio.)

Key sources of information for Section 6 can include: survey results; counts obtained on site, lead forms, records of appointments set, sales data, and anything else that documents results. Gather and file this information as you obtain it.

While writing this section, you may need to recap some things you already discussed, such as the high points of your Integrated Marketing Communications campaign.

At times you may feel like you are stating the obvious, but that’s fine. Don’t leave it to your portfolio review committee to connect all the dots.

Tell who you report to with your results. A management team? Client? Your Director of Marketing? Do you send a report, or a make a presentation? What was the reaction?

In Section 4, you showcased the creation and cost of your event space.  Now for Criteria 5: MANAGEMENT OF INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (IMC), you go beyond the physical environment to show how you communicate with customers, prospects, and internal stakeholders to help meet the goals set in Section 3. This is a very rich section, and an excellent opportunity for you to shine. 

Your portfolio reviewers are looking for effective and creative message integration with good visual evidence. To get started, review all forms of marketing for your event, before, during and after. The greatest focus is on external marketing, but you may include internal messaging that supports your goals.

Create a table with the following headers: Method of Communication;   Rationale; Target Audience; Measurable Goals; Assessment Method; Results, Recommendations. Fill in the information for each part of the table clearly and concisely. You can elaborate further in the body of this section. Creating this table will help you provide the information required. 

As with Section 3, you need measurable goals. Tie goals and results to the overall goals set in Section 3. 

Your rationale for each method of communication is important. Why did you chose it? 

Your results may not always hit the goals you set. This is not unusual, no matter how skilled and experienced you are at IMC. You can address that under “Recommendations.” If any of your marketing campaigns use new methods, or you have not set objectives before, the results you receive provide valuable benchmarks for next time. Be sure to note that. If a previously successful marketing effort does not perform well, examine why and consider doing something new going forward. Discuss these discrepancies and what you plan to do next time.

Provide photos and illustrations, all captioned with easily readable type. I know I keep saying this, but it really is essential.

You already covered booth graphics (or event signage) in the previous chapter. Here you can touch on and provide illustrations showing how your marketing campaigns tied in, thematically and visually with your event space. 

For some candidates, this portion of the portfolio is daunting, especially if  marketing is handled by someone else, or a separate team, or the budget is small. One candidate I advised insisted her company didn’t DO marketing. I’ll address these scenarios one at a time.

What if you are a trade show professional, but not be the person who handles IMC for your company or client? Don’t panic. You can still complete this section. Remember when you introduced yourself and your role earlier, along with the colleagues on your team? The person (or persons) handling IMC should be listed with those key people. For this section, you’ll need to obtain the required information, tell who carried out the marketing programs, and relate how your work supported their efforts. For example, it was your responsibility to make sure the booth tied in visually with the overall look of the campaign. You assigned staff for the survey kiosks, and worked with your exhibit house to created a space in the booth for marketing presentations.

Whether you are carrying out the marketing communications directly, or supporting whoever handles it, have a plan set in advance for collecting the results so you’ll have them for this section. Sometimes, especially in large companies with separate “silos” for various functions, candidates have a tough time getting all of their data. If this could be a problem for you, talk to the right people in advance, and enlist their help in getting this information.

What if your company “doesn’t do marketing?” The candidate I mentioned above, who said her company didn't do marketing, worked for a trade show company that coordinated exhibits for government agencies. She said they were not allowed to do marketing. But the truth is, all companies need customers, and do something to find business. I noted she’d indicated the company she worked for had registered as a woman and minority-owned business, and was approved to pursue Federal government procurements. I explained that by doing these things they were seeking and getting work. Plus there was at-show messaging then follow-up. She did manage to complete this section and get certified.

Now that you have selected your show of focus, you can turn your attention to Section 4: MANAGEMENT OF EXHIBIT DESIGN/PRODUCTION. This covers the look of your exhibit or event space.

Don’t be intimidated by this section. If you are responsible for getting a new exhibit build and have a big budget, great. But if you don’t, you can still do this section and do it well. If you are simply creating new graphics for an existing booth, be it a large display or a simple pop-up, you’re going to be fine.

If your portfolio is about an event, such as conference or meeting, this section is about your event signage and your space planning, including any kiosks, counters, meeting spaces, off-site plans and logistics, etc. Include all of the information required, including your strategies, budget, and visuals.

If you are getting a new booth, or have been through the process recently, explain the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, and what drove your choice of vendor and design. If you already have a relationship with a design house, or just need some graphics swapped out, state that and rather than a RFP, supply your “Needs List,” itemizing what you need for your show of focus.

Whether you are providing an RFP or a Needs List, include:

Production Strategies. Is your exhibit house providing everything, or are you having graphics created in-house? If you have a new build, or are re-configuring a modular booth, describe the process, including your walk-through and approval steps.

Budget Plan/Actuals/Variances for exhibit build and overall show, with numbers. A chart or table is recommended. If your budget information is confidential, use percentages. 

Visual Evidence: renderings and a diagram of the booth, and enough photos of the actual booth and graphics to show how the concept was realized, and how they worked in your space. Caption all illustrations, throughout your portfolio, in easily readable type, and don’t be afraid to state what seems obvious to you. You might think everyone should just know which photo is of the old booth, or the old signage, but go ahead and spell it out. Please. 

If you were responsible for getting a new exhibit built a few years ago, or changed the graphics for an earlier show and plan to re-use them for your show of focus, explain that and provide the elements listed above.