AUMA's Cost-benefit Participation Calculator
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 10/18/2004
AUMA (the Assn. of the German Trade Fair Industry) is offering a new online Trade Fair Benefit Check, which it believes will help exhibitors calculate the cost-benefit ratio of their tradeshow participation.
AUMA officials say small- and medium-sized companies often don't set tradeshow objectives in advance, and therefore the benefits of participation are often missed and the focus ends up mostly on the costs. So AUMA, in cooperation with trade fair exhibitors and organizers, developed the calculator that can be downloaded free of charge at www.auma-fairs.com.
The benefit check compares tradeshow benefits to those of other marketing methods. Values calculated for each tradeshow objective are added together to get a measure of participation. Included is a checklist with items like customer management, customer acquisition and quality of sales staff. The other element, a spreadsheet calculator, requires the input of specific data.
AUMA officials would like exhibitors to be clear about their objectives and to what extent they wish to achieve them along with how they can measure their results.
Joachim Schafer, president of Hannover Fairs USA, said that, while well-intentioned, the calculator might be difficult for small and mid-sized exhibitors to use, because they could have difficulty getting the data they need.
"They have to make certain judgments and have the necessary data at their fingertips in order to use the calculator, which many smaller exhibitors don't," added Schafer, who was not involved in the tool's creation.
But he believes the benefit check can help exhibitors determine the right things to do at a tradeshow, and demonstrate that tradeshows can be cost-effective.
"It's a good tool for establishing, in a logical, straightforward way, the value of trade-show marketing in a particular situation," Schafer said, "and it offers a structured approach to make you think about the things you should be doing."
Schafer called it helpful, if tedious to use. "It's a noble effort."
