• No products in your bin.

For me, this month has been filled with changes – I’m in a new job, with a new company, transitioning to a new city.  With so many new experiences, it’s nice to be able to make a stop at a show I’ve attended before – Data Center World.  I’ve enjoyed my trips to Data Center World in the past, but as we all know, each trade show experience is unique.  So how did this year’s conference measure up, and should you plan to attend Data Center World in the future?

High Quality Attendees = Highly Qualified Leads

General consensus was that traffic was lighter than usual this year, but that the quality of the attendees was much higher than in previous years.  This year quality definitely trumped quantity.  But what did that mean for RLE and the rest of the exhibitors at Data Center World?

We found the attendees were primarily decision influencers and decision makers – which is a key demographic for RLE.  If we can speak directly with the person making the decisions in the data centers, we’re one step closer to making a sale. The conversations we had with these attendees were impactful – these decision makers were very clear about what they hoped to accomplish and which steps they needed to take next to reach these goals.  Clear conversations make it that much easier to match the correct products with the application.

We were able to spend quality time with a half dozen or so attendees who had specific needs and specific objectives – objectives that would be achieved with RLE products.  Other exhibitors I spoke with had similar experiences. Regardless of whether you’re an exhibitor or an attendee, these direct, poignant conversations alone are worth the trip to the show!

Management Professionals Work At AND Attend the Show

We also met with quite a few industry leaders at the show, including Fieldview, AFCO, Blue Stone Energy Services, Tate Flooring, and Geist.  Representatives from these companies were able to shed some light on emerging trends within the Data Center industry.  This helps us forecast sales and product launches for the upcoming year.

If I thought senior-level management professionals would only be attendees at the show, I was sorely mistaken.  I was very impressed by the number of upper management representatives working the show.  I always enjoy meeting someone else in the Data Com industry who leads a sales force or organization – I love being able to bounce ideas, perceptions and new developments off of them and to get their take on what it all means.  It is impressive to think about the number of friends, acquaintances, and colleagues you can run into at these types of events – the networking is very powerful.

YES! You Should Make the Trip to Data Center World (and BYOB)

Our overall experience was very positive. We gathered quality leads which will produce a positive ROI for our attendance expenses, and we developed new relationships with high-level end users and other industry leading manufacturers.  All in all this made for a very productive show.  We will need to recognize the revenue before we all start cheering; however, I am confident that we will.  I am looking forward to the next trade show, and if it is at the Gaylord again (where extra drink coupons were a rarely-seen commodity) I am going to bring in my own cooler of beer to hand out.  Long conversations + a lack of beverages on the exhibit floor = parched attendees!

See you at the next show!

Jeremy Swanner

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