270 - Why Most Trade Show Booths Fail (and How to Fix It) - Steve Woodruff, King of Clarity

Speaker A: Well, we've all been there. We've been at trade shows, and we get into these conversations. We just ask people, hey, what do you do? Tell me about your company. And they start going on and on and on. Uh, and all of a sudden your mind is going to, what time is lunch? You know, I need to go over here, over there. Today that ends. Today that ends for you. And I've got, uh, the perfect guest who's going to help you make things clear. He's known as the king of clarity, Steve Woodruff. So excited to have him. M on, Steve, welcome to Trade Show University.

Speaker B: Jim. It's great to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

Speaker A: Absolutely. Steve, uh, hey, tell people a little bit about who you are and why you're the king of clarity.

Speaker B: Well, I have been fascinated for I don't know how many decades, uh, after 40 years of business, but even before that, with, how do you get to the point? How do you actually craft words that get ideas across to people? So whether it was studying for the ministry in my twenties or doing psychology in college, and then moving into sales and marketing and branding, everything kept boiling down to this. Here's some ideas. Here are people with their brains that work a certain way. How do you craft words that land and stick? And that has been my obsession for over 40 years. And everything I do is around clear Communications.

Speaker A: Uh, oh, this is going to be the perfect topic for the trade show audience. And I'm so glad you're here. So I know you've been around the horn a while. You've been to trade shows. Tell, tell me, are there some mistakes that you see that are glaring? And I know I see them, but I want to get your thoughts on it.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I've been to many, uh, many, many trade shows, many exhibit halls, and here are the three fundamental mistakes that I see happening all the time. Number one, booths that blend into the background and try to say too much. You don't have a single compelling message. The fact is, people are drifting through the exhibit hall. They're going to look, and if they don't see something outstanding and compelling in a few seconds, you're toast. You're nothing. You got nothing. So most companies try to present way too much on their booth. It's overwhelming. Nobody has time for that. You got to get to the point. Secondly, and you know this, Jim, because you help train people, the people in the booth often aren't getting right to the point. So you want to have a message that's so simple that in the 10 to 15 seconds that you've got to win attention. And there's brain science behind this. Especially in a noisy hall, you've got to have a great message that draws people in and creates a dialogue. A lot of people just show up haphazardly, throwing out elevator pitches, tossing out messages that have not been thought through, and the opportunity's lost. And then the third thing, and you know, this, too, is not the exhibit hall. But often the speakers don't get right to the point. They don't have a single compelling point that they start with a story that draws people in. Whether it's an exhibit hall, whether it's a presentation, whether it's a sermon, whether it's a website, whatever it is, you've got to win attention, and you only have seconds to do it. And that's why I advocate for something I call memory darts. Putting your ideas in these little compact word packages that get the point across quickly, turn the light on, and make people say, ooh, tell me more about that.

Speaker A: Memory darts. I love that because, uh, your message is getting out there and it's sticking, right? That's the whole point of the dart is to stick. Get the point and stick it so that they remember. I love that. I love that. Just to recap a couple of things you said, try not to say too much in your message, your display, your graphics. That's something I harp on all the time. I say make your message like a billboard, not a brochure. I mean, your exhibit like a billboard, not a brochure. But getting that. That compelling message, not just the generic something that everybody in your industry can say the same thing. You've got to be. What do you. How are you standing out? And that's something that the memory dart can do. And I love the fact that you brought up speakers. I want to come back to that later, but let's, uh, because I think that's a huge opportunity that a lot of businesses don't consider is speaking at a show. But let's go back to memory, uh, dart. So tell me more about that. What does that look like for a company? How. How do they do that?

Speaker B: So memory darts are my replacement for the elevator pitch and my replacement for white papers and too much information in general. Um, it turns out all the great communicators throughout all of history have used short little pieces that work. I call them memory darts. I've got 10 of them that all start with S. So snippets, stories, summaries, statements, symbolic language. These are examples of. And whether you look at How Jesus did parables, or whether you look at great speeches, or whether you look at Lincoln's 2 Minute Gettysburg Address. Beautiful, simple, short, full of memory darts. The guy that preceded him, Edward Everett, nobody remembers him. He spoke for two hours. Eloquent speaker. The man was one of the best orators. Nobody cares. They remember the Lincoln who spoke in memory darts and kept it short. So memory darts are ways of saying something in such a short way that it creates a picture, it creates a memory in somebody's mind instead of trying to transmit 47 paragraphs of information. So if I say Jim Cermak is the Mercedes of consultants when it comes to trade shows, what I've said using symbolic language is he's the top, he's the best, he's the premier. I've hooked into a picture you already have in your mind a, uh, Mercedes. And I've made an analogy. That's a memory dart. Now, I could have said, Jim Cermak is the most premier consultant, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I've lost you completely after 15 minutes of description. Why you can't do that? Because what the human brain wants is sound bites, and we've got to give sound bites. We cannot pay attention to long dissertations.

Speaker A: Wow. Okay, so, so when you, when you take someone through this, because I find this fascinating, because I, for me, it seems like I have a good, uh, I could do this for others, but I can't do it for myself for some reason. And I think a lot of business owners and a lot of businesses, they fall into that category of we kind of, we're so l. Our world and we want to say everything. And how do I narrow that down to something like this? And, and how could I ever come up with something like, I'm the Mercedes, so what, how do you take people through this process where you get to that point where you've got that, that memory dart?

Speaker B: So what you've identified is a term called the curse of knowledge. And we all have it. If you have expertise, if you're immersed in a certain area, uh, or company or whatever, you have too much knowledge in your head and you can't get outside of your head. Uh, so one of the phrases I use often is you can't read the label of the jar you're in. We cannot objectively look at what our own stuff. It's much easier for me to look at somebody else and develop a memory dart for them than it is for me. And that's why I have smart people that help me figure out my stuff because I know too much. I'm too immersed in the stuff. So the way I help develop memory darts is I interview people. I just talk and ask a bunch of questions and what happens inevitably is certain themes, keywords and ideas come up. I just get people talking and the stuff comes up. And so we narrow down to the keywords and then, and this is just part of the way my mind is wired. I can't train anybody to do what I do. I take those ideas, get them clarified so I understand them and then translate them into humans, translate them into vivid. It's just what I do. And often it takes me seconds. I don't even breathe hard. It's just, I just think that way. Um, and what you want to do as a result, as an outcome is have a way that somebody can walk into a room and they've got these memory darts in their pocket where they can say, oh, well, what I do is this and this and this. Or I'll sometimes introduce myself, weaving a story into my memory dart. I'll say, well, by now I would have hoped to have been a retired astronaut, but I had to settle for being the king of clarity. And what I've done is I've gotten people's attention, I've jarred them because it's unexpected, it's surprising, it taps into my history, a unique piece of something. And they have to, well, what's a king of clarity? Why weren't you answer. And we're off and running. And so the best place for a memory dart is your introduction. If you can introduce yourself in a way that's really intriguing in 15 seconds and not boring like an elevator pitch. You win the moment. If you bore people or if you blend into the background, you sound like everybody else, you lose.

Speaker A: Mhm. I love that. I love the fact that you're getting them thinking in something completely different, but you're grabbing their attention because it's not the same. It's not the same thing that I've heard when I'm going into a networking meeting or I'm on the trade show floor and I'm introducing myself, that's just phenomenal. I love that. Is there, uh, uh, are, uh, the rules pretty much the same? If I'm representing a company versus I'm representing me and my services, because as you know, I'm representing me and I do trade show consulting. So for you to say so, so kindly, the Mercedes of trade show consultants, uh, versus if I'm representing a company,

Speaker B: what the rules are all the same. If it's a company, if it's a product, if it's a brand, if it's a personal brand, even if it's you as somebody seeking a job, we have to come up with your unique message, your unique differentiators. So the process, it's a, it's a branding and communication process. It works for everything. And what we're all up against is what I call just another syndrome. You are just another consultant. You are just another booth. You are just another. Until you're not. And so the analogy I use for that is a bunch of penguins lined up on nice float. They all look the same, they all sound the same. They're just another penguin. But if one of them suddenly starts. Suddenly started singing opera or was colored purple, that would not be just another penguin. That would be something different. And I'd remember that one. I would talk about that one. That would be a dart. We all have to overcome just another syndrome. And I sometimes bring my stuffed penguin along when I do a talk. His name is Justin. To describe just another. You don't want to be just another penguin.

Speaker A: I love it. Justin. Other.

Speaker B: Uh, yeah, he's right behind me. He's blurred. You can't see him, but he's right behind me. Just. Justin shows up, uh, unpredictably when I go places.

Speaker A: But I'm sure everyone, everyone listening or watching had the same thing going on in their mind. Is, is seeing a, a purple penguin that's just sticking out from everything else, or, or hearing a penguin hearing, um, a penguin sing. It doesn't matter what kind of music it is, but a singing penguin. And like you said, that's something we talk about. So when, uh, for, for all of you listening, all you watching today, if you, you're going through that trade show as an attendee or even as an exhibitor, and you're walking the floor how many booths. Unless you're like, really familiar with the industry and you know all these people. But if you're in a brand new industry and you're walking through trying to learn how many do you remember? How many booths do you remember? And you might remember something like, really unique or fascinating that they did, but you might remember, oh my gosh, I remember they had this celebrity at their booth and he was signing autographs and that was phenomenal. And then you asked, oh, what booth was it? Right.

Speaker B: What were they selling? Yeah, the temptation is to try to make three or four or five points. If you're a trade show, you. Everybody's an overload. Uh, the whole Environment is sensory overload. Got to understand that you're an overload. You are lucky if you can make one point. Make one point and make that one stick. Because people aren't going to take away five points. They're going to be looking at all this stuff. They're going to be hearing all these speakers talking to all these people. 98% of what they hear and see, they're going to forget. If you can get people walking away saying, I saw a, um, purple penguin of some sort in Jim's booth, or whatever, you've won. And so a lot of it comes down to this conviction and contentment with distilled simplicity. You've got to make it simple and distilled or people will not remember it.

Speaker A: Ah, uh, distilled simplicity. I love that term, uh, distilled simplicity. So taking what we have and really, really boil and distilling it to. What is that one point? So how do you, how do you get, uh, if you have a company, we've got different product lines, we serve different audiences. How do I get to. How do I know which memory dart do I use at this trade show or in this, uh, certain networking event?

Speaker B: Well, sometimes a company can. If they have enough creative people and they can think it through, they might be able to pull it off themselves. One of the consulting services I do is to come in with companies and as the outside reading the label of their jar, I can come in as a creative outsider. And one of the reasons that works well is that I. You have to make it make sense to me. As an outsider, if it doesn't make sense to me, I guarantee it ain't making sense to anybody else outside. So companies assume that they're being clear when they're not. And it helps to have somebody on the outside to say, okay, now I get this. It's this translation process from complexity to simplicity, that is what I do. I know there are other people that can do it too. Maybe not as many as I wish there were. Um, but a lot of companies or individuals or brands, they just don't have the capacity to do it. Uh, and so they just spew. And this is why a lot of websites spew. This is why a lot of presenters spew. This is why a lot of booths spew and spewing. All it's doing is shutting off the mind. It's making more background noise. And a memory dart is a signal versus the noise.

Speaker A: So, so good. Okay, so is there a tip or two that, that you could you give to people listening that they can start this process of figuring out, uh, how do I get to my, my dart. And should, should have maybe multiple darts or just one.

Speaker B: Oh yeah, yeah, you want multiple darts eventually. But where you want to start is with your introductory dart because that's what opens doors. That's what when somebody's going to ask you, Jim, what do you do? And we all get that question, what do you do? That's where you want your first memory dart is some way of saying, here's what I do, here's my value and here's my story. So when I walk through people through introductory memory dart exercise, what I do is have them develop their, of what I call the origin evolution story. Uh, very simple four phrases. I started here, could be their first job, their college, whatever, but I started here. Then this happened. This was, this is the twist in their story. Now I'm doing this, this is where I'm going. You can develop using those four simple phrases, a real simple origin evolution story that with a little bit of practice takes you no more than 20 to 30 seconds to tell. But embedded in that the then this happened is the twist. I wanted to be an astronaut.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Well I couldn't because I had bad eyes. So my very simple memory dart introduction is saying this is what I wanted to do, this is what I ended up doing, what I do. Now it's based right out of the origin evolution story. Anybody can do this. And your origin evolution story is unique. And that's the best thing. You are introducing your unique story right into the first 20 seconds by saying a, uh, variation I have on it because I love all things space. So I wanted to be an astronaut first, but then I wanted to be an astronomer. So I'll tell people. I went to Vanderbilt to take up astronomy and then I ran into physics and calculus and that was the end of that dream.

Speaker A: Oh no.

Speaker B: And then I had to go into psychology and pursue clarity. Well, what I'm doing is humanizing. I'm showing that I'm a real human and it opens people's ability to say, oh, I can be a human being with this person too. So instead of the introduction just being an exchange of bare information, it sparks conversation. And that's what you want. I don't want to impart 16 pages of stuff on you in the first introduction. I want to get a conversation going. So everybody has a unique twist in their story. And boy, I've heard some real good ones when I've done this exercise with groups. How many people that were pole dancers and people that were, there's crazy stuff, uh, out there. Those are your best intro memory darts. People will remember Jim Cermak used to wrestle alligators, but then he went into trade show stuff or whatever it is, Right? Then you're unforgettable. That's the goal.

Speaker A: Oh, that is awesome. That's awesome. So one, one more quick question and then, uh, I want, want to wrap it up a little bit here. But, um, is if there's, if I have a company and I'm sending a team of people to a trade show, should they all have the same memory dart that they're, they're thrown at people or should they individualize it?

Speaker B: Both. So it's very good to have individual ones. But if you have a team, you're there to sell, you're there to promote, you're there to generate leads. You need to have an agreed on strategy and message for your product, for your offering, for whatever. And so everybody should have a similar or same memory dart for the key thing you're selling. Uh, and that needs to be agreed on up front. You don't assume that everybody knows how to say it and don't assume that whatever they've traditionally said in a half hour meeting is going to land on a trade show floor. And that's where, you know, a consultant like you or whatever can come in and help shape that message so that it's tight and so that it draws people in.

Speaker A: Okay, that makes perfect sense. Perfect sense. Thank you so much. So if you're like me, everyone listening, watching right now, now you'd be like, I need to reach out to Steve because we've tried this in the past. We have our elevator pitch. Sometimes it lands, sometimes it doesn't. It seems like everybody in the company uses a different version of it. And some of them are awful and some of them are 10 minutes and some of our 30 seconds, what's the best way for, for them to reach out to you?

Speaker B: So, uh, if you go to clarityfuel.com, the same one word, clarityfuel.com that'll lead you to my website and there's a contact form there. Uh, I'm also easily found on, um, LinkedIn where I interact and share a lot. And then I'm happy to set up a half hour free intro call with people to just, uh, start, start the interview process. Well, I just want to find out where you're at, what do you think and what are you struggling with and determine if, you know, it would be good to work together. Um, and then if so, then There are different packages I have for working with people to develop their, uh, memory darts and to develop their clarity. That's underneath the memory darts. Because it's not just language, it's actually clear understanding exactly what you do, who you do it for, why it's important and why it's purple and not, uh, just another penguin.

Speaker A: I love it. I love it. People take advantage of this. It's a free half hour call with the king, the king of clarity. And you know it. You know it. If you've been around trade shows long enough, you know that people stumble with this all the time. And you can't get into a good, meaningful conversation, those meaningful conversations with your target audiences you want to have, that you're expecting to have, you're wishing you had at the show. If you can't grab their attention to begin with, and if you don't make yourself look, stand apart and make yourself purple, as Steve is saying, if you don't make yourself that way, uh, and you just blend in with everybody else, you will lose. You've already lost. Even if you do get into a better conversation, you've already lost because now they're trying to remember, wait, who, what company was that that offered that one software package that we're looking at and now you blended in. So take advantage of the Steve. Thank you so much. I'm going to drop all of Steve's contact information into the show notes in the description. Take, please take advantage. Reach out to him. Uh, any, any last words of wisdom you want to share before we sign off here?

Speaker B: Yeah, one last thing actually, Jim, is that, uh, if you're a, uh, conference or meeting planner, one of, uh, and I've alluded to the fact that I do these exercises with groups. One of the things I do at conferences is what I call a prenote session where live with the group, we develop memory darts, intro memory darts and so people can network more effectively, uh, all the attendees, not just the vendors, all the attendees. 90s, because we go through the origin evolution story, the value proposition, uh, memory dart. And then this sparks much better networking through the entire event because people feel the confidence and the comfort level of having not some awful elevator pitch, but a memory dart way of introducing themselves.

Speaker A: Wow. So the prenote. The prenote. I would love this if I was going because typically Steve, uh, as you know, you go to see that keynote talk, that keynote speaker and they, and you're sitting there amongst a bunch of strangers waiting for the keynote to start and it's like wasted time to have someone like, you come out for a few minutes ahead of time, run through these exercises would be absolutely brilliant and would pay off in spades. Uh, it would have that halo effect. At least that's the way I would see it, uh, working out. So, yeah, if there's any meeting planners, I know you guys listen to this, to this. So reach out to Steve and take it. Take him up on this. Steve, thank you so much for sharing some wisdom today with us and, uh, teaching people about the. The power of memory darts. Really appreciate it.

Speaker B: My pleasure, Jim. Thanks for having me.

Speaker A: Absolutely. Everyone continue to come back, binge some other episodes. You learned a lot today. Please like and subscribe and don't miss out on another episode. And keep coming back here to Trade Show University. We'll see you next time.