My First Trade Show As a PR Assistant
On my first day as an intern at Caster I was exposed to what I now know as the hectic time of trade shows. CES was my first experience in the office during a trade show until this past September, when I was part of my first CEDIA Expo. Working with multiple clients and just starting my second month as a PR Assistant, I quickly learned that there was a great deal of planning and preparation that goes into trade shows for a PR pro.
Although CEDIA prep had been underway since the beginning of June, the weeks leading up to CEDIA were critical for last minute team meetings and scheduling before the show began. Teams drafted press releases, messaging, social media plans, and started the reports to track news through the show. To create buzz and excitement amongst show attendees, Caster released news about each client and what they would be showcasing at CEDIA Expo 2019 prior to the start of the event, so news had to be tracked before the show had even begun. Preparing for the show also included contacting industry press and scheduling times for them to meet with clients.
When it came time for the show, half of the Caster Crew made their way out to Denver while the other half of us stayed in little Rhody to track client news and lend support to the team on-site. When day one started, client news started flowing right away. When tracking news, the Caster team keeps an eye out for any news that mentions our clients, which is generally the news that we have pitched to press and asked them to include in their CEDIA news. This news can be found our news tracking platform, Meltwater, plus across social media as press tweeted from appointments with our clients. Caster team had nine clients at CEDIA and we worked together to share news and information, and not only were clients published in online articles, but the team at CEDIA had access to print news that clients were featured in. The-office team kept an eye out for news and social media mentions surrounding each client at the show.
Tracking news for my first trade show taught me the importance of engaging on social media because a great deal of client news was shared via Twitter. To be sure that I was capturing all client news, I set up my Tweetdeck to track multiple different hashtags and mentions at a time. It was a great spot for finding news, and Twitter was helpful for staying updated on the show and keeping up with topics that were trending over in Denver. Twitter was also a great tool to talk to press and tell them what our clients were showcasing at the event For example, when team members saw a press contact tweet that they would be attending CEDIA, we replied to the tweet and told them to stop by client booth to new products.
CEDIA Expo taught me the importance of staying on top of news and deadlines and how to manage my time across multiple different clients. The Caster team prepared me well for my first trade show and I felt comfortable tracking and monitoring news as it came. Now it’s time to look ahead to CES! Follow me @PaytonStLawren1 and @CasterComm on Twitter for client news and updates!