|
On 26th and 27th April 2006 I worked on the Towns Together Stand at Visit Scotland’s Expo Exhibition Centre in the SECC in Glasgow.
 Stonehaven was represented along with Ellon. Inverurie, Banchory, Ellon, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Banff and Macduff.
Having been involved with the last two exhibitions in Aberdeen, I was
interested to compare with an Exhibition in Glasgow.
It was obvious that this was a much bigger exhibition.
I thought the position of the stand was excellent and the backdrop looked very good and did attract attention.
The first day was very busy with enquiries fom, USA, China, India,
Japan, Germany, Austria as well as the UK.
The contact made with North Link Ferries and them agreeing to show the DVD's on their ships was very positive on the first day.
 In general people thought that the idea of Towns working together was good.
Most people were familiar with Glasgow and Edinburgh and the West
Coast and I felt everybody on the stand worked well to make sure visitors were well aware of the Towns of Aberdeenshire and the visitor attractions of the area.
It would have been helpful to have had Business Cards with contact details for Towns Together.
I thought the idea of the carrier bags with the new Aberdeen City and Shire branding was good as visitors appreciated have something to carry the literature they picked up. It was good to see so many bags with the branding, being carried round the hall.
Some people from other countries were more keen on getting packs sent to them rather than carrying them.
Perhaps more use could be made of the internet making good quality PDF files available for download, cutting the costs of postage and time.
The hamper , filled with goodies from all the towns was a good idea as that attracted a lot of interest and gave us a chance to talk to people.
Having attended the Civic Reception at the Glasgow Chambers without realising that it was invitation only, I was surprised that there was no one from Aberdeenshire invited as there were some good contacts to be made. Again a Towns Together business card would
have been useful in that situation.
The idea of having the van parked outside the Exhibition Hall to get more packs etc when required worked well.
We probably had a lot more info sheets etc than needed but they can be used again next year.
The ground work done in planning this years Expo will definitely help for next year.
It think it is important that everyone with an email address should get an email thanking them for visiting the stand and give them the opportunity to receive further information on specific items of interest.
All the volunteers worked hard on the stand to promote the area and I am confident businesses will reap the benefits in time.
All in in all, I feel this was our best Expo yet and I reiterate the importance of following up the enquiries fairly quickly.
Despite all the overseas visitors the hamper was won by a Fiona Wood from Tourism Solutions in Portsoy.
George McGillivray
Stonehaven Business Association
www.webecommarketing.co.uk
See further report from Buchan Observer
|
