Exhibitor Partnering: A Toolkit

Posted under 2012 BIO International Convention, 2012 Business Forum, BIO Business Forum, Blog, Boston, Business and Investments, business development, Companies, Diagnostics, Events, exhibit hall, exhibitor partnering, Funding, how-to's & tutorials, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, One-on-One's, Partnering, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos, What would George do? by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

Traditionally, all private meetings at the BIO International convention have taken place in the BIO Business Forum®. If you were partnering, you would be found in a booth space within the Business Forum, end of story.

This year, however, there’s Exhibitor Partnering, a completely new feature of the BIO International Convention and the BIO Business Forum. The Business Forum will still very much exist, and you can see exactly where in the map below of the BIO 2012 floor plan for the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. (See the green area.) Exhibitor Partnering will allow qualified exhibitors to hold meetings in their traditional exhibitor booths (see purple), and will use the One-on-One Partnering™ System to do so.

What does this mean? Lots. And we’ve put together a toolkit to answer your questions, tell you more, and guide you through this really cool new feature of the event.

Click here to access Part One of the Exhibitor Partnering Toolkit.

What you’ll find:

• Important deadlines and reminders
• Access to past webinars
• Booth design suggestions
• Explanation of common Partnering terminology
  
• The number of potential meetings for your booth space
• And other planning tips

We’ll post the next Toolkit soon, as this is the first in a series we’re designing, and please feel free to tweet us @bio1x1 if you have any questions!

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The BIO Exhibition proves to generate new business with the global industry at your fingertips. It’s where participants create partnerships, showcase new innovations and products, network, and much more.  Of the many important values in attending the BIO Exhibition, global networking was the single greatest in 2011. For more information on who exhibits and attends the BIO International Convention, click here.

Interested in exhibiting?
Give us a call at +1.202.312.9264 or email exhibit@bio.org

4 Keys for Partnering Success

Posted under 2012 BIO International Convention, Abbott, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Events, exhibit hall, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Partnering, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

Thinking of hosting partnering meetings at your BIO Exhibition booth in 2012? Abbott has been there, done that and learned what it takes to succeed and secure high-quality leads.

“The greatest value of hosting partnering meetings within our booth is that it allows us to drive traffic, activity and interest within our own space,” said Michelle Calhoun, Abbott’s contract manufacturing marketing director.

Abbott hosted nearly 60 meetings within our booth during three days of partnering at this year’s BIO International Convention, which represented a sizable increase from 2010.

“The Convention is unique compared to other shows, BIO does a great job of bringing different people together and the resulting partnering activity effectively contributes to our ROI for the event,” said Calhoun.

What does she recommend?

1. Take advantage of the partnering tool to navigate to the strongest prospects and make the best use of everyone’s time.
2. Optimize space by hosting meetings both at your company booth and in the partnering forum space to draw traffic and generate business connections.
3. Assign a triage group to greet meeting participants, connect them with appropriate contacts, and escort them to their meetings. This is especially helpful for ad-hoc meetings as someone should always be aware of who is available for impromptu meetings so that they can happen quickly and easily within the booth.
4. Consider the booth’s design for informal partnering meetings. Avoid closing off space to enable others to see the activity happening within the booth.  Highly-sensitive meetings can be scheduled in an alternate closed door meeting room location.

Learn more about partnering and exhibiting at the 2012 BIO International Convention.