Attendee Satisfaction

This past weekend we joined over 3,000 of our exhibitor personnel at our 9th Annual Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show®, held at the Long Beach Convention Center, February 8-9.

Wow!  What a weekend.  We were excited to set a new attendance record with a +13% increase to 32,181 travel enthusiasts and travel trade attending, with a record 450 exhibitor booths, making it the largest attended travel show in the United States.

We were simply blown away by the reception we received from the LA metro marketplace this year and please know we realize that LA travelers have a choice of shows and we were stoked they chose ours.

It’s always exciting to see the tens of thousands of travelers who come to hear speakers, talk to experts, gather information about the places they are interested in going to and find great show only vacation deals. 

I can’t tell you how many times I was stopped by attendees going out of their way to compliment the show and our staff.  They simply loved the scope of exhibitors, the quality of the experts on the show floor, the speakers and activities.

On Monday, I received this note from Anne Mosell:

Mr. Golicz:

Thank you for a great 2014 Travel show event in Long Beach.

It was one of the best I’ve ever attended. The number of exhibits, the lectures, the food demonstrations, etc. were all exceptional.  There was so much energy abuzz, the aisles were crowded with people interested in what seemed like everything from local areas to the exotics.  It was truly a great event.

Last month I attended the travel show in the LA convention center.  It was a disappointment.  Nothing new and exciting being offered. Now I know there’s only one to attend and that is the Long Beach event.

Thanks again…. Many new trips to consider.

Sincerely,

Anne Mosell

Studio City, CA

We have also begun to see quite a bit of user generated reviews on various sites, with similar comments and, for something we do not hear from attendees often, compliments on how well the show was run.   It’s truly gratifying to see attendees turning into fans!

This provides me with a good segue into a subject we spend a lot of time on with our staff:

Attendee satisfaction.

While we love our exhibitors and strive to treat them better than any other show organizer, we drill our staff to recognize that ultimately, the attendees are the true customer and the key to success.

If we keep attendees happy, generate the right quality attendee and keep them coming back, ultimately Exhibitors will make us a “must exhibit” show.

So all we do here in the offseason is find ways to enhance the way the show is run.  We add new content and different interactive activities.  To make the show better looking and achieve an enhanced visual experience, we changed some theater layouts, added better quality A/V and made newer, sharper looking banners.

We also redesigned our Taste of Travel stage to become a “kitchen stadium” on the show floor with marvelous results.  Our Global Beats stage gets better and better as more and more exhibitors bring higher end performers to each show.  Our headline speakers are second to none, and our exhibitors – well we have the best exhibitors in the world and more than any other show.

Our attendees are your customers.  Our job is to simply connect them with you in a positive, successful environment.

And, as Anne said so well above, when an attendee is unsatisfied, they do not come back - that’s the beginning of the end in the trade show business.

So, what’s next after three record breaking shows in Chicago, the Bay Area and Los Angeles? Well, our Washington, D.C. is next week, and the new San Diego show is next month.

But what else are we doing?  We are listening to our attendee’s comments.  For example, in LA we heard it was too crowded in the aisles and that parking was difficult as there was another group in the building.  So, we have already contracted the entire Long Beach Convention Center and added 20’ main aisles to the floor plans in both LA and Chicago.  On top of that, we are even adding one more on floor theater, the Travel Right Theater, where attendees will learn great travel tips, new travel apps and technology and perhaps even how to pack better!

That being said, I would like to send a special thank you to all of our exhibitors for making  our first three shows an unrivaled success.  At the end of the day, our attendees always tell us you’re the reason they come to our events!

As always, thanks for reading!

Until next time,

John Golicz

CEO, Unicomm