Long time no read. We’ve been busy, and for a good reason. Three words to begin with: Dubai, Malta, and Dublin. This is the story of how we prepared for IT conferences in 2024!
Step 1: Find the Right Conference
Why present at an IT conference?Developers and designers do have one thing in common: we are often pretty introverted perfectionists who prefer working on projects over mingling. However, with so many companies in the IT space, it became clear that showcasing our portfolio and business value in person was essential.
Scoping out new markets is a big plus, and people connecting your face to your website or social media accounts is invaluable. A casual talk by the booth could lead to a new project, and handing out your merch can be a good investment in building your brand.
Here are the conferences where we showcased our booth:
After we agreed to dip our toes into the unknown area of “sales and presentation,” the next step was to find conferences that would be a good fit. This phase involves a substantial amount of… you guessed it: Googling (check this list).
There are so many IT conferences out there, so the first step is to determine your:
- Area of expertise
- Location
- Budget
Deciding on these is crucial, so consider the following questions:
- What is your preferred market? Is it Europe, or perhaps overseas?
- Are there business expansion possibilities in emerging areas?
- Where do most of your clients come from?
- Is your goal to expand or confirm your dominance?
- What are the best conferences for your business plan: those where you’ll be alongside your competition (IT conferences), or those where your booth stands out but you may not meet as many potential clients (various themed conferences)?
Step 2: Manage Your Budget
Expenses build up pretty fast, and these are few things you should take into consideration:
- The Booth
Various booth or stand sizes come with different prices. Typically, a range of sizes is offered, allowing you to choose within your acceptable price range. Keep in mind that payment is usually required months in advance, in a single installment. Cancellation policies vary by conference (we didn’t have any experience with that).
- The Merchandise
This is a broad topic, so let’s start with the basics: flyers, brochures, and business cards. These should be bare minimum. We always had a few hundred of each ready for handout.
Other types of merchandise can vary greatly. Big-budget companies often go all out with fancy items like cups, USB sticks, blankets, and hoodies. Surprisingly, our most popular merchandise was key chains and sunglasses. Second were mini chocolates, and third were baseball caps (white and black). We thought water bottles would be a hit, but we ended up giving them away at the end of each conference.
It really pays to consider how these items relate to your customers. What kind of message are you sending? How are you integrating your brand into the merchandise? If you don’t have a designer on your team, we strongly suggest hiring one for this.
- Accommodations and Travel Expenses
Hotels, motels, or Airbnb—your choice depends on your preferences. We are a close-knit team that has worked together for years, so we were comfortable sharing an apartment or house with a few bedrooms. We flew to all destinations, using budget friendly airlines when possible.
Consider the type of merchandise you’re bringing with you on the plane. If you have only carry-on luggage, check the maximum dimensions and weight limits. We brought a wheel of fortune with us, so we had to pay for an extra piece of luggage.
- Various Costs
There are many hidden extra costs: daily travel expenses for each team member, transportation fees at your destination, buying a cup of coffee or dinner for a potential client… the list goes on. You should probably add an additional 20-25% to the total budget to account for these extra expenses.
Step 3: Showcase Your Brand
Ok, so once we determined which conferences we will attend, we had to make some new decisions…
What is “Kodius SWAT team”?The story about the Kodius SWAT team goes back to a client who had a serious issue and needed quick action. After the expeditive project salvation, the client said (and I quote): “You guys are like a SWAT team,” for giving his project a quick and effective rescue. We thought that was such a great code name for our development team: a problem-solving squad. We are a mean, lean, small machine!
Ok, so we figured out our tagline: “SWAT team for digital products.” The next issue was how to stand out in the crowd of more prominent, bigger, and more well-known companies that offer similar (or the same) services. No jokes, we had a pretty exhausting brainstorming session, and there were a lot of crazy ideas (such as walking in full SWAT equipment, with helmets and bulletproof vests). However, we kept questioning: how do people know about Croatia? Of course, sport is a universal language. People all over the world know about Šuker, Modrić, Ivanišević (just to name a few), and instantly say: “Oh, you’re from Croatia!” They occasionally mention Yugoslavia too. (See history of Croatian football federation)
So the conclusion was: let’s go with our national theme of red and white checkers (šahovnica) mixed with Kodius brand colors. And let’s grab a beer after this hard work.
Step 4: Design Your Booth
Designer’s worst nightmare are the deadlines. Having multiple active projects along with all the work for the booth and merchandise design was pretty challenging.
However, the booth design process was pretty straightforward: each conference team provided us with 3D simulations, layouts, and open files, along with detailed instructions. We didn’t encounter issues with any of them. The challenge was to create various designs for different booth sizes.
We sent the final booth designs in .ai and .pdf files, usually 4-6 weeks before each of the conference. This is important info when planning design projects!
Step 5: Prepare and Order Merch
Designing the merchandise was a fun process once we agreed on the concept (see: The Story of the Red and White).
Thinking outside the box will always help you stand out. Our special touch was the Wheel of Fortune. It was a complete hit, with people talking about our booth and coming in to see it. The wooden construction was handmade by our COO, Zvone, in his garage, and the prize wheel was printed on a forex board.
The next steps were:
- Choosing types of merchandise
- Getting multiple quotes from print companies
- Selecting materials and print techniques
- Quality control of delivered items.
Printing merchandise can become a lengthy process. Sometimes the printing company doesn’t have items in stock, or there may be technical issues in production.
Our suggestions:
- Plan ahead (allow at least 4-6 weeks for the merchandise process)
- Save money by printing in bulk (the more items you print, the lower the per-item price)
- Apply brand colors and motifs, and create variations with primary and secondary colors (for example, we had baseball hats in red, white, and black).
And don’t forget about your team members! Get matching t-shirts for them so they become a part of the booth experience—everyone will see you as a brand ambassadors!
If you choose to print in Croatia, here are the vendors we worked with:
Conclusion
The conference preparation takes a lot of time and effort. It’s certainly easier when tasks are divided among team members; we had 6 people working on these 3 conferences. And that’s not including the social media team covering the events.
Here are our Pros & Cons, so you can judge how attending IT conferences might benefit your team.
Pros:- Brand recognition
- Business expansion
- Meeting potential clients
- Team-building experience
- Identifying weak spots in your sales strategy
- Receiving live feedback on your product/service
- Expenses
- Time and effort invested in preparation
- High-risk investment
Overall, we were quite pleased with the outcome. Our team gained valuable experience talking with various people and perfected our 20-second pitch. Stay tuned for more about our travels in the next episode!
