Trade Shows & Exhibitions

To show or not to show, that is the question.

I have often been asked whether or not trade shows or bridal fayres work for our industry and I guess there is no defined answer. However, what I can give you is the benefit of my experience.

Let’s take bridal fayres first. I have attended many bridal fayres in my time and never found them to be the ideal marketing tool for wedding planners. They are usually attended by brides who are very keen on doing it all themselves. They are what I like to call the DIY Brides. There is nothing wrong with this at all, but you are very unlikely to find clients for your business at a Bridal Fayre. Your suppliers on the other hand will probably do quite well, which leads me onto my next point. I don’t recommend exhibiting at a bridal fayre but I do recommend attending them, at least the large ones I do. They can be a great place to meet new suppliers, see what’s new in your local industry and network with your existing suppliers. Some of the best shows for doing this would be those run by the Australian Bridal Service

Industry trade shows are much the same. Again I wouldn’t really recommend exhibiting as an event planner at these types of events, as they are usually attended by event planners from within corporate companies as well as professional conference organisers. But it is certainly a wise idea to make sure you attend as a visitor. There is usually some kind of education program that you can attend as part of the event, where you can enjoy presentations and talks from those who have many years of experience within the industry. And of course there is the networking and the opportunity to keep up with any new trends or suppliers who have appeared.

There are some great trade shows help in Australia and two of the most popular would be RSVP Event held in both Sydney & Melbourne  and also the Australian Business Events Expo held in Sydney.