When organizations maintain a culture of learning, employee retention rates rise 30-50%.
Professional development helps companies adapt to change, build staff confidence and credibility, and increase efficiency. Improving trade show performance can result in more qualified leads and an increase in sales too. It can also help maintain a positive brand image, thanks to memorable interactions with booth staff. We offer six ideas on how to motivate employees for better performance at trade shows.
- Adjust workplace goals
- Highlight specific trade show areas
- Use bite-sized formats
- Build development into promotions
- Ask your employees
- Make training a reward
1. Adjust workplace goals
Doing professional development activities during the workday means there’s less time to complete other tasks. Build professional development into the workday so employees don’t feel overwhelmed. For example, if someone normally works 40 hours in a week and you want them to do two hours of professional development, reduce their remaining hours to 38. If sales staff spends time learning, they won’t be able to close as many sales—but in the long run, that development can result in even more sales. Adjust their sales goals so they feel comfortable and confident doing professional development.
2. Highlight specific trade show areas
Is your company rolling out new products? Are there potential problems that booth staff could better handle with training? Are there key messages that need to be conveyed? From nailing your brand voice to improving trade show etiquette, highlight specific areas staff can work on. Review past trade show performance to help identify the most important areas in need of improvement. Clearly laying out specific areas to improve is a great way to motivate employees for better performance.
3. Use bite-sized formats
An intense day of learning can feel like drinking from a firehose. And too much information can be difficult to retain. Memories are strengthened by regular, frequent encounters. Encourage employees to learn and practice better trade show performance in 15-minute intervals—like by watching a short video and then role-playing with a colleague. Help them keep track of what skills they’ve gained, what they’re currently working on and future development with a monthly planner and ballpoint metal pens.
4. Build development into promotions
Make a clear connection between professional development and a promotion/increase in salary. Establish a system that helps staff show management how their professional development has improved their trade show performance in tangible ways, for instance by creating a professional development plan that tracks their goals and progress. To encourage employees along the way, provide mini milestones. As they reach different goals, reward them with an employee recognition gift, like a reusable storage bag, a bib apron and Reusable Stainless Multi-Straw Set.
5. Ask your employees
Maybe your company’s trade show event planner wants to take their communication skills to the next level. Or a booth staffer wants to improve their empathy skills.
Ask your employees what they’d like to do and who the experts are in their industry. Whose teaching style works best for them? What topics are they most interested in? Are there books they want to read but haven’t made time for yet? Or courses they’re keeping an eye on?
Once you know the who and what, you can tailor professional development to each team member’s desires for better trade show performance.
6. Make training a reward
About 33% of staff members are satisfied with their company’s commitment to professional development. That means there’s an opportunity to provide even better professional development opportunities. Learning and growing gets people excited and engaged. For employees who go above and beyond, send them to conferences or pay for courses they’d love to participate in. Each month, choose a top employee who gets rewarded with self-development assistance in an area of their choice.
Boost trade show performance
With ideas like adjusting goals, providing employee recognition gifts and building self-development into promotion opportunities, it’s easy to motivate employees for better performance at the trade show. Good luck!
Key Takeaways
- Adjust workplace goals
- Use bite-sized formats
- Ask your employees
- Make training a reward
Callout stat