That'll never work!

Screenwriter William Goldman is probably more famous for a throwaway comment than for any of his fine work for Hollywood. The comment? "Nobody knows anything." Or possibly, since he was an American, "Nobody knows nothing."

Admittedly he was speaking specifically about the world of movie-making, but the same saying could be applied to almost any industry - including the exhibition business.

So my assertion is that nobody can say what will definitely work on your stand and what won't. What we can say is that some things very probably will not work and some probably will.

• prize draws
• serving coffee/drinks
• giveaways
• tables/chairs/settees
• your top salespeople

very probably will not work.

Whereas:

• a definite target
• an intriguing strap line
• a planned process for dealing with visitors
• no literature
• daily debriefs

probably will work.

Now you may want to argue the point. I'd love to hear your views. And I would welcome the opportunity to discuss in detail just why I take the position I do. So drop me an email at results@taskforce2.co.uk and let's talk about making your exhiibitions work!

For example: