The Return of Live Events: Selling Exhibit Space and Sponsorships in a Post COVID-19 Environment

Recorded On: 08/19/2021

With the past year’s effects of COVID-19 and the shutdown of exhibitions and events, the reemergence of face-to-face events is great for the trade show industry. Successful exhibitions will come back evolving from the way things have always been done.

With hybrid and virtual options in the mix, your sales teams need to be equipped and flexible to close the sale. Hear tips from Taffy Event Strategies, on the various ways their clients used virtual events and have continued to do so post COVID-19 to expand exhibition and sponsorship offerings. Gain insights on how after the lengthy shut down from COVID-19 of live events, they have found many of their clients anxious to maximize their marketing impact and sales, and how they leveraged this to stage lucrative events.

Join us to learn how they sold out one event in their portfolio several weeks before the show staged, and how another internationally focused exhibition greatly impacted by international travel restrictions, was able to come back successfully.

After participating in this webinar, you will be able to:

Learn strategies to prove and communicate the ROI for Hybrid and Virtual Events;
Re-arm your sales team with fresh ideas to drive growth;
Gain lessons learned from the implementation of new exhibitor marketing strategies to drive inbound sales;
Understand the importance of content and know how to leverage it for sponsorships.

This session/course/webinar is eligible for 1 clock hour towards CEM recertification.

IAEE webinars are complementary for IAEE members and $49 for non-members.

Mary Bender

VP of Sales and Operations

Taffy Event Strategies

Mary has been in the trade show industry for 20 years and has excelled in a variety of roles including sales and marketing for service providers as well as show management teams. Prior to joining Taffy Events, Mary led marketing and sponsorship sales efforts for U.S Boat Shows, a division of Informa Exhibitions. Prior to Informa, Mary worked for trade show industry companies including Smart City, Sands Expo & Convention Center, GES and Emerald Expositions (formerly GLM). In addition, Mary has been active in the trade show industry serving on the Southwest Chapter board for IAEE as well as multiple committees focusing on awards, education and innovation.

Elena Grant

VP of Marketing

Taffy Event Strategies

Elena is Vice President of Marketing for Taffy Event Strategies. She has over 20 years of experience creating successful marketing campaigns and initiatives working in the corporate environment, government, and the event industry.

Elena joined Taffy Events in June 2016. In her role, she leverages data and analytics to understand the needs of the audience and utilizes emerging technologies and traditional tactics to grow attendance and increase revenue. She previously was Vice President of Marketing and held other positions at National Trade Productions. Prior to this she was Director of International Marketing for the Consumer Electronic Show where she successfully increased international attendance and created global partnerships for the association and show. Elena also worked for Software AG as a senior partner program manager. In this role, she managed strategy and execution of partner marketing and program initiatives.

Elena received her undergraduate degree at Dickinson College and her MBA from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. She is certified as a Virtual Events Institute Professional.