World Travel Market 2014
From the 3rd – 6th November BAC Sport exhibited at the World Travel Market at London Excel. For all those not familiar with WTM it is one of the largest Travel Trade shows in the world. A place that brings together all aspects of the travel industry from large tourist boards representing a country to the smaller independent businesses like ourselves. A chance to see how new advances in technology can influence your business while at the same time getting back to the roots of face to face customer and supplier meetings.
So where to start…. Well that all comes from the decision to not just be one of the 52,000 delegates that attended the 4 day show this year, but to try our hand at being an exhibitor. After weeks of designing our stand and choosing the correct wine to supply we are finally ready to showcase BAC Sport.
The opening 2 days feel like the infamous shopping day Black Friday with a stampede of people making their way through as the gates open. We found ourselves located in the UK and Ireland category, surrounded by other travel and tourism providers and attractions such as our new friends opposite, The London Shard.
WTM is a fantastic environment to market your company and as we found the best way to talk business was in these sociable surroundings. As late afternoon set in the larger stands and Tourist Boards kicked off with their parties. Some of which even had open bars (dangerous) and if you were headed to the Holland stand well you could expect to get some quality Edam along with your pint of Heineken. Alternatively we found ourselves joining in with The London Shards silent disco which attracted some heightened media attention. So if you can’t beat them join them and that is what we did. Guests joined in our afternoon drinks reception where after a long day a good chat with old clients and our new potentials was highly enjoyed by all.
Not only did we supply guests to our stand with a glass of bubbly we also have a prize draw to attract the crowds and promote awareness for our product. The prize was 2 tickets to the British Grand Prix in which Vitaly Varvinskiy was the lucky winner.
So WTM is a few weeks behind us now and it is this time that you look back and see if it was all worth it (in the business sense of course). I can honestly say that it was. New contacts have been made and whilst not everybody you meet is going to automatically benefit your company it is with nurturing these new relationships over time that results will come. It is by word of mouth and by being visible to the industry that the name BAC Sport will be remembered.