News

8 Aug 2016

ENTECH NZ a winner for all

At presstime we were just finished ENTECH NZ and it was a fabulous tour. A week before our first one day event in Auckland I knew we were on track for a success. We did some specific promotions around the final date in Christchurch and that paid off with the right number and spread of trade on August 1st.

In between Wellington was great, despite big hassles facilitating our free parking offer. Wilson Parking are just a bit too big and impersonal, so a communications issue saw us given ‘Pay and Display’ tickets for the day.

Anyone who comes to our Roadshows knows that the usual routine at most big city parking stations is to grab a ticket from the boom gate and pay on the way out. We bulk buy exit tickets and hand one to each pre registered punter. But in Wellington this was not possible.

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Wilson took our $3,000 and didn’t explain they changed to Pay and Display. This would never work, since the punters would need to park, leave the car un-ticketed, and walk to us to get the pay and display, then walk back to car to put it on the dashboard. In the meantime, they may have had an expensive parking violation.

‘What can we do”? we asked Wilsons. The answer was a variation of ‘tough luck’.

When faced with unscheduled calamity our procedure is to join the venue staff into the problem, to workshop a mutual solution. For Wellington it meant putting several loaders wearing orange hi-viz at the entry to each car park (there were three different Wilson locations). Armed with a list of registered punters, they dished out the ‘pay and display’ ticket.

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It was expensive, and it was deadly boring and cold for them. We deeply appreciate Eugene Pope’s Strong Back crew, and indeed have a very high estimation of all the Kiwi crew we used across the long lands.

Despite the Wilsons debacle we had a great turnout and a great time. The weather was typical July, as low as minus 4 for the Christchurch loadin. Our drivers from Oceania – Ford and Conrad – exceeded most Australian drivers by actually getting in the back and arranging the load.

Many punters thanked us for bringing ENTECH to NZ, and it was clear from the opening bell that we would be back in two years to do it all again. Next July is ETNZ’s turn, they host a conference each other year in Wellington, and as a Corporate Gold supporter, CX Network NZ will be there to support them.

WHAT THE EXHIBITORS SAID:

Shane Baily, NAS: TESTIMONIAL:

For NAS this was an interesting proposal as we don’t currently have a solid offer to the NZ dealer network and we recognise that. We do good business with the larger brands and systems in NZ but we’re looking to grow our presence in the more regular commercial marketplace and that requires a solid offer with backup and support. So why did we attend and support Entech Roadshow NZ? Well, we wanted to connect and showcase some of our brands and people and garner some interest and learn about how we can actually provide a better sales model with local backup and support in NZ. We came, we saw, we learned and we hope to be able to grow our business with local people, stock and support real soon. Thanks New Zealand – it was a blast!

FEEDBACK: Keep digging for more visitors, particularly end users! For us, Auckland actually turned out to be probably the weakest of all three shows  as we seemed to know the majority of people who attended the Auckland show, whereas in Wellington and Christchurch there were a bunch of new faces… And it was particularly great to see so many people make the effort to come up all the way from Invercargill and Dunedin and surrounds – thanks heaps!

JULIUS SAYS: We always improve and we are gathering a lot more data from our CX NZ Magazine signups too.

Bosch: TESTIMONIAL:

Thought that the show was very well attended in all three locations with qualified visitors, hardly any ‘tyre kickers’, Roadcrew in all three locations were polite and helpful. For a first up I thought it  exceeded expectations.

FEEDBACK: Both the venues in Auckland and Wellington were good in terms of being convenient for Restaurants/Bars and accommodation. Christchurch was an interesting venue but not overly convenient to accommodation and food/bar outlets, as well as the concrete floor being a bit more of a strain. Would be good if the draping of the venue is completed before we start setting up the stand so we don’t then have to move stuff. Could probably do more marketing to venues (theatres, churches etc), we saw a lot of production people but not that many venue and integrator people.

JULIUS SAYS: Good news – we will now provide exhibitor lunch at ENTECH! Venue issues noted.

Joni Benton, Jands:

TESTIMONIAL: Really impressed that the industry showed up in good numbers, plus lots of engagement.

FEEDBACK:   Seminars could have been communicated better and better content.  Happy Hour demo time perhaps a schedule so the audio stands could demo product and the attendees were directed to the appropriate stands.

JULIUS SAYS: Agreed!

Chris McKenzie of Kenderdine Electrical:

TESTIMONIAL: The show exceeded expectations, we had a very good turn out in each centre. It never hurts to be close to the competition, and allows customers to do A-B comparison on kit. It was good having the kit delivered and taken away on site, and the size restrictions made us think about every item we took on the road.

FEEDBACK: Hot chips with the beer at each venue.

JULIUS SAYS: The venues all have minimum food requirements to go with Happy Hour beverages, some more some less than others.

Martin McNally from ShowTechnix:

TESTIMONIAL: We were so excited to be part of this roadshow as we could see our industry needed an event like this. The experienced CX team brought a slick touch that has raised the bar for New Zealand. What a great start and we look forward to participating in how it develops for the future.

FEEDBACK: Some more pre show advertising to get some more numbers though the door? Entertainment at happy hour. Audio & Lighting Demo Room.

JULIUS SAYS: All exhibitors and us at CX Network promote like crazy to get people to come. We always improve numbers each time we do ENTECH. Audio and Lighting demo room may happen, depends on venue layouts.

Drew Mollison of MusicWorks:

TESTIMONIAL:A successful formula. Easy logistics. Great to meet and talk with our fellow  professionals and new customers of course.

FEEDBACK:: Sandwiches / pies for lunch ‘on the go’..? Beer was most welcome! Double sided printed name tags, so we can read people’s names when it flips around!

JULIUS SAYS: We will now provide exhibitor lunch at ENTECH. Also the tag printing is rubbish, we would like to fix it like you suggested!

Joe Bradford from Fiasco:

TESTIMONIAL: Good result guys. Well done on getting that many punters through the door. For making it easy for us to walk in setup post breakfast and walk out in time for dinner. It went better than I had hoped it would. Hot chips and beer at 4:30 – Genius!

FEEDBACK:4x4m stands would be better. Not massive but 3×3 doesn’t quite leave enough space to have more than 2 people and gear in a space.  2-3 ladders would be handy. There was one in  Wellington which was great.  We didn’t love the format or layout of the ½ page in the roadshow handout and online CX NZ mag the month before. In future please can we design our own half page?

JULIUS SAYS: We can’t do 4 x 4, it has to be 3m modules. Yes the ladder went missing on tour, next time we will have 2. The magazine layout is what it is – a template. But knowing you didn’t like it, we will send you a proof earlier next time!

Brodie Noon from MDR Sound & Lighting:

TESTIMONIAL: Was a great start, well received and a great way to network and meet customers all in one place

FEEDBACK: Have some food available for the starving exhibitors… Particularly in AKL/WGTN where there were no easy close options.

JULIUS SAYS: Yes food is happening next time!

ENTECH Wellington 1 ENTECH Christchurch Showtechnix Team ENTECH Christchurch ENTECH Auckland ULA team ENTECH Auckland people ENTECH Auckland 1

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