Events, events, events!

As part of my work with Exibit I got to work at the Home Show and Pool and Spa Expo held over the weekend.

I began the week by helping to prepare for the Expo and definitely got the feel that this was a well practiced thing. I was easily allocated simple jobs that would make the weekend flow - printing maps and packing/ marking a few boxes. Then we sat down for the prep meeting where we went over the running order, the jobs and exactly what to do. Everything was broken down into easy to remember jobs segments and times.

The Expo was held at the Convention Centre and had thousands of attendees - so it was very important that everything ran smoothly and that people were on their designated jobs. The amount of practice and experience that Exibit has with events definitely came through when an event this large came off with no major hiccups.

In terms of logistics, this event was smooth. Everyone had clearly allocated jobs, knew exactly what they had to do and when and for how long. Keeping the job break down into hour long blocks meant that everyone got to try different jobs - so it was more interesting and the day seemed to go faster. I spent time working on the till, taking token at the door, sorting competition forms, visitor surveys, exhibitor station and there was a break in there somewhere.

The only things I would like to see run differently at other Expos were the competition forms and visitor surveys. The competition forms created work by having several sections, to ensure maximum benefit from these I think it would be more beneficial to have one single form (seeing as a large number of attendees simply put all the sections into one box and we had to separate the forms for them). The information needed from the prize sponsors could be compiled for them and sent out.

With the Visitor surveys, we had to approach people directly and this made getting feedback on the Expo harder than it could have been. Perhaps we could link the feedback surveys to the competition, by providing more chances to win or an extra prize - it would make it easier when asking for people to fill in the surveys and in getting a larger number.

All in all, it was a fun event and I really learnt a lot from the staff and the event itself.

Hope everyone has enjoyed their placements!

Tonya.