Michelle Winfrey is the Trade Show and Events Manager for C+A Global, one of the world’s largest online retailers of consumer products and photographic equipment. The company’s extensive and diverse portfolio of products includes such brands as Polaroid, KODAK, Ritz Camera, SkyMall and Stanley, just to name a few.
I recently sat down with Michelle to get an in-depth look at her role and keys to success in the trade show industry from the perspective of a Trade Show Manager. With over 30 years of experience in trade shows and events, I thought it would be fascinating to get her insight and learn more about Michelle’s story.
How long have you been a part of the events industry and how did you get into it?
I have been in the event industry for over 30 years. It started with my passion for dance. I attended Marymount Manhattan College as a dance major and, while in college, was introduced to the profession of Nonprofit Performing Arts Management. There I was given a budget to start my own dance company, which meant I was now planning opening nights, gala parties, performances, world premieres and so forth.
While in college I was fortunate to do an internship at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and, while there, met one of the principal dancers who later hired me to be the managing director of their dance company and school – The Clive Thompson Dancenter and DanceCompany.
In doing that my whole life was now an event because every month held a new venture, from taking the dance company to the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. to as far as the Cayman Islands. Planning parties, dinners, galas and fundraisers became the normal course of business.
Later, I received my masters in Nonprofit Management from New York University (NYU) and worked as the managing director of a theater, dance school and company on Theatre Row in Manhattan. Again, my life was a whirlwind of parties, events and fundraisers and so my love [of doing it on a regular basis] just evolved.
So your passion for dance and performance brought you into that world of events, and from there you developed a new passion for the planning aspects of it?
Exactly! I discovered that I enjoyed the planning aspects as much as being on stage. As a dancer, I would perform with my dance company but I was also still the one planning everything. I was able to enjoy the best of both worlds.
From there, how did you get into the trade show business?
I was very fortunate to be hired by PLAYMOBIL USA, a toy company, as their public relations and marketing manager for eight or nine years. There I was responsible for their major trade shows, so I took the knowledge that I gained from managing theater and dance company events over into that world, which was certainly different, but the process remained the same. I ended up focusing on trade shows from there.
What are the responsibilities of a trade show and events manager?
At the onset of any show, the end result is the goal. There’s a path that you travel as a trade show and events manager to prepare everything that needs to happen to get you to opening night or opening day of that show. You want to execute the show as seamlessly as possible, and that means paying very close attention to the details and planning for what can go wrong.
I think one of the most important skills [for this position] is to be able to think on your feet. Something almost always goes wrong, but you have to stay calm because you are the person that everyone looks to in those situations. I personally try to remain clear-headed and calm so that in the event that something happens, I can quickly assess and come up with contingencies.
A tradeshow and events manager also needs to be incredibly organized and should know his or her booth with their eyes closed.
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What type of experience do you believe is critical for anyone trying to jump into a trade show manager position?
Any experience in a field that forces you to communicate is important. A general background in marketing can help because a trade show is really one big marketing exposition. A public relations background is also helpful because you never know who is going to approach the booth. Inevitably, when someone comes up to the booth and is looking for someone other than a salesperson, I’m the one to get introduced.
As a result, you have to be poised, know how to communicate and know how to direct people to the appropriate source, and if no source is available, let them know with confidence and a smile that you will get their information to the correct person.
Experience building rapport and trust with a team is also important. When I do a trade show, I’m pretty much walking into a brand new crew every time. It is critical that I demonstrate to them that I’m their partner; I’m not the boss nor am I there to boss them around.
I’ve learned that if the crew is at ease with me, everything is executed much smoother and you’ve established a relationship where they won’t fight you on the mistakes but rather work with you to resolve them.
Technology has undoubtedly affected and, in some cases, disrupted just about every industry out there. How do you think technology has affected the tradeshow industry?
I think technology has made trade shows and events a little more fun, with a lot less paper! There was a time when you needed paper for everything, and now I can just bring my laptop and have everything I need in one place. There are many times where I can function almost solely through my smartphone.
I’ll give you an example. I had a trade show a few months ago where the graphics didn’t look right after hanging them because we discovered that the ground was uneven. Using my phone, I was able to take a photo and text it to my graphic designer in New Jersey. I was in Las Vegas but she could see exactly what I was seeing. She manipulated the graphics, sent them back to me and they were printed in time for the show. Years ago, that incident would’ve probably required an hour conversation just trying to describe what I was looking at.
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How would you say technology has affected booth design, specifically, over the past 10 years?
I think the trade show industry has become bolder, and it may very well be because technology has helped push booth design to be even more spectacular. Today, I get these booth renderings that look like works of art and that give me a true sense of what the booth will actually look like. Ten years ago, you might have looked at a booth’s design and thought “oh, this is spectacular!” However, when you look at something today you realize “now this is really spectacular!” because we continue to outdo ourselves. Today, you look at some booth designs and wonder how they’re able to accomplish such amazing things.
I think the industry, as a whole, is embracing technology. For example, if I was an exhibit house, such as Absolute Exhibits, I’d be in heaven! What you can now engineer on a computer would have taken weeks to do on paper, and you can now easily identify problems and find appropriate solutions quicker.
Tell me about the most difficult trade show campaign that you’ve ever had to organize and execute.
I think the most difficult trade show campaign was a time that I was simultaneously managing a company’s 5-6 different brands within a single booth space. I was responsible for making these brands look like they belong together, while ensuring that each brand maintain its individuality, color scheme and integrity.
It was a challenge because it was easy to get caught up in the individuality of each brand. However, it required taking pause and time to say “how do we connect the dots?” “How do we make it look like [the brands] belong together so that the booth doesn’t feel disjointed?”
I’m going to take a guess and ask if that was this year’s CES booth that you worked on with Absolute Exhibits?
Actually, I didn’t do the C+A Global booth at CES, but you know what’s funny? CES was literally my first full day on the job! I started that Friday, for half a day, and was on a plane that Monday to be at the show.
However, yes, I do think that booth was a great example because it also had to incorporate multiple brands. The booth’s design allowed for a cohesiveness as you walked through from one brand to the next. You could clearly see different sections, yet not jarring to the point that you thought “this brand doesn’t belong here”.
It must have been challenging considering it was your first full day on the job.
It was certainly one of my biggest challenges. Picture this: I show up to CES and my boss who hired me isn’t there yet, so I don’t know anyone. I’m literally a day old and I’m given a product catalog to review. I see this man looking at engineering drawings so I decide to walk over and say “hi, I’m Michelle, the new trade show manager”. He looks at me and, no joke, hugs me and says “thank God you are here!” That man was Todd Koren (CEO of Absolute Exhibits).
Todd was the first person I met at CES, and from there I just jumped right in with him. He began sharing what was wrong, what was right and other details as if I knew anything about the booth. Meanwhile, I’m thinking “I just started … I don’t even know the product line!” I also had twenty-three brand ambassadors reporting to me and looking for direction so I knew I couldn’t act like I didn’t know. I resolved what I could since a lot of what Todd said made common sense. It was a big challenge, but it was also a lot of fun.
Can you share another time you’ve encountered a challenge at a trade show or event, or during the planning process and had to come up with a solution on the fly?
A few years ago, my team and I were building a castle and somewhere along the way we realized that the right side of the structure, which should have been the same size as the left side, was much longer and extended several feet into the next booth. It was around 1:00 AM the night before we needed to complete when we realized we had a problem.
We had to call the engineer in the middle of the night, because as a castle it was not just simple, straight walls but instead had these wonderful, detailed carvings. That night, we re-engineered it and were given instructions on how to cut and piece it back together in a manner that didn’t look like we had altered the castle. We successfully completed the last minute changes in time for a 10:00 AM opening.
Tell me about a project that you are most proud of.
At the end of the day, when any show I work on is over, I am proud. However, I just recently returned from the IFA Global Markets show in Berlin, Germany and would have to say that that has been my biggest project to date here at C&A Global.
It was extremely satisfying for me and my team when the company executives showed up and had nothing negative to say. The executives were both extremely pleased with the total execution of the booth, including the construction, management and operations of the booth.
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It also means that when the executives show up, they don’t know of all the bumps that you’ve encountered leading up to their arrival because the issues are resolved along the way. I can honestly say today that the IFA show would be my proudest trade show campaign.
What are your favorite things about being a trade show and events manager?
I like the challenge. I like knowing that I have a new event. I like learning about the goal for an event, as well as what the challenge is for me. Whether the event is big or small, it’s understanding my purpose for being there.
I like the fact that I have a different crew of people to work with at every show because it forces me not to become complacent and over-satisfied. I have to be sure that both my knowledge-base and communication skills are strong.
I also like the fact that I get to travel to some really cool places to do the events.
| “I would say that my biggest joy is in the challenge. It’s like building a house from nothing and then somebody finally hands you the keys.” |
How important is exhibiting at trade shows to C&A Global’s marketing strategy?
Well, to give you a simple understanding, we did four events last year. This year I will end with 14 events. C&A Global is definitely looking to industry trade shows as a viable asset to its marketing campaign. These events give the company and its brands great visibility, not just to the trade market but to direct consumers, as well.
What are some of the most difficult things about coordinating an exhibit at any given trade show?
It’s all the moving parts. It’s the pre-planning. It’s thinking through how the booth is going to flow during the exhibit design process. I have to look at the booth design and ask myself questions, such as “where is my traffic coming from … if there’s a wall here, how will that affect traffic … are there blind spots?”
The most difficult thing is understanding how a booth will flow. I have to understand that people are going to move throughout the booth with different intentions and purpose. Some might go here, others there and some might have a question so they are likely to go to the other side. I have to make sure that the space is welcoming and accommodating for people to get what they need.
Also, sometimes at a show, I have to be sure enough in myself to look at something and say “this is not going to work”, and make the change on the spot.
I can’t just think “well, the plan says to put the wall here” and leave it knowing very well that the wall is not going to work. I have to be able to say “this won’t work, here’s what we need to do to fix it.”
It isn’t always that easy, but I have to do it with confidence, because, at some point, I may have to explain why I changed something to somebody else. If I am good at my job, the change should be seamless and no one will know that I made the change except for me and the individuals involved.
How would you say your planning and execution strategy differs when you are exhibiting overseas as compared to exhibiting at a trade show in the United States?
If I need something for a show in the United States, I can get it. For example, I can easily send someone out to a local store to buy x, y, z. But when you’re exhibiting out of the country, you don’t have that same pulse. I’ll take more time to plan and review what is needed for an international trade show and often bring things I probably won’t need, but I’d have them if there was to be a problem. You have to think about what can go wrong that cannot be easily fixed because you’re in another country and you’ll lose two or three days having something shipped from the US.
What advice would you give to someone aspiring to jump into the industry as a trade show and events manager?
I think one of the best things anyone can do is walk trade shows with a camera and notepad and document everything he or she thinks looks nice or isn’t working.
If you can clearly see that somebody didn’t think something through, then you should make note of that because, at some point in your career, you may have to execute something similar. You’ll have those notes in the back of your brain and say “wait a minute, I remember I went to this trade show and x, y, z happened”.
Even to this day, I take photographs of things that I think are great and of things that are not so great. It’s remembering the not-so-great that will prevent you from making the same mistake.
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Lastly, whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned vet, the trade show floor can be quite stressful. It’s important to unwind and do something you love. For me it’s dancing! Whether at a local show or around the world, I find a dance studio that I can visit, dance, unwind … and bringing together two passions!
What advice could you give a more experienced trade show manager when it comes to evaluating an exhibit house to work with?
My first evaluation of an exhibit house is based on their level of on-site customer service. That is my deciding factor on whether or not I’m going to use an exhibit house in the future.
For example, when we are at a show and something goes wrong or I need more of something, their response shouldn’t be “we can’t” but rather “let’s figure out how to make it work”. They must have the same amount of pride in the booth as I do. If they see a piece of paper on the floor, they stop to pick it up, or if they see that someone has spilt something, they get a rag and wipe it down. Also, if I have to turn around every 10-minutes to search for my on-site crew but can never find them, they are wasting my time.
Attention to detail is important. If the exhibit house walks away at the end of the day but I can see that the booth is filthy, it tells me that that they don’t care about me, my company or even their own company.
I also look for responsiveness. If an exhibit house sends me a design for feedback, for example, and I send it back with changes but don’t hear back from them within a reasonable amount of time and then I have to send a second email, it tells me that either they don’t care enough about my business or perhaps they have more work than they can handle.
In the end, any exhibit house can put up a wall, but as much as putting up the wall is important to me, it’s more important how that wall is put up. I look for an exhibit house that will help me maintain the highest possible level of professionalism and presentation at any given show.
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In closing, would you like to add anything else about being in the trade show industry?
From the outside, this job may look uncomplicated, but being a trade show and events manager is by no stretch of the imagination easy. It can look easy when done right but it can only be done so with meticulous attention to detail. It’s the details and the ability to communicate well with everyone that makes for a successful project.
If you would like to learn more about C+A Global, you may visit their website or connect with Michelle on LinkedIn. For more information on exhibit services, including design, rentals and purchases, please visit the Absolute Exhibits website.
