Episode 010 – Harnessing the power of improvisation at trade shows

Episode 010 – Harnessing the power of improv at trade shows (Part 2) – Interview with Roger Miller of Tues@7

Notes from an interview with Roger Miller (Part 2)

Introducing Roger Miller – a right brain guy in a left brain world. Roger has a unique combination of background, working in the not very exciting health insurance industry, and being a special effects makeup artist! Roger has worked on many shows in both of his fields – insurance and special effects makeup. He draws inspiration from both to give you great advice and value and tell you how to do things differently at your booth to get better customer engagement and results.

Improvisation skills:

Train your team to answer the 20 most common questions they are likely to hear at a trade show booth

o Have your team brainstorm 20 key questions and things attendees might ask

o Then come up with valid answers to each question and give them to your team (i.e. your actors)

o Practice these 20 answers in the weeks leading up to the show. The more you practice, the more prepared your team will be to answer these common questions, as well as unexpected questions that may arise.

o This is really the heart of improvisation!

· Remember – During the GO phase, you need to observe and listen, which will prepare you for the next step of your response.

Listening is so important! Listening leads to appropriate responses, which in turn leads to deeper conversations.

o If you don’t listen, you may be wasting your own time as well as the time of your attendees.

o Not taking the time to listen will result in you only giving the points you want to give and may fail to impress the attendees at all. You may actually disappoint your potential clients.

· Engage all the senses. How to use…

o Visuals – use of holograms, VR headsets, creative lighting

o Sounds – music, a spinning carnival wheel, industrial sounds, etc.

o Smells – food (e.g., coffee, popcorn, freshly baked cookies), flowers, dirt, etc.

o After using something to engage the senses, one exercise is to simply ask attendees, “What do you think?”

By taking some of the more creative aspects and introducing them into a more traditional trade show, you’ll stand out and attract more attendees

· Combined with training on the top 20 questions, you will increase the memorability of your booth by:

o Unique – Unique is always more memorable. Just make sure it is relevant to your brand or product.

o Provides effective, direct answers to questions raised by trained staff.

o You’ve broken the “fourth wall” and stepped out to interact with attendees.

For those who think they lack creativity or extroversion, or are reluctant to go out and interact with attendees, we have some suggestions:

Remember, business is like a play and the actors are the characters

Roger shared a story about his wife working as a waitress at Pizza Hut when she was in high school. The manager would occasionally have them wear different name tags – She went from Beth to Sassy.

o This new name not only set a new level of expectation for her customers, it also allowed her to become a “character” and do things she wouldn’t normally do – and create a positive experience.

· Brainstorm what qualities you want in yourself and your team members and create some “characters” that you can emulate, if possible.

o Do you want to be more aggressive, outgoing, interesting, and charming?

o Do whatever it takes to build this personality

o Allow yourself to bring these characters to the trade show

o Research other popular and iconic characters to see how you can draw on their personality traits – like the weightlifters Hans and Franz from Saturday Night Live a few years ago.

o Your “role” may not lead attendees through the entire facilitation process, but may simply be there to initiate the interaction

Stage – Departure – Participation (Return to the first part of this interview to listen to the program’s introduction)

· Stage – You can bring a stage. Want to stand out? Then stand on the stage so that you can be taller than others!

o Take steps to make you and/or your character visible to people in other booths and in the aisles

o It doesn’t have to be too dramatic, but it just needs to be memorable.

o This unforgettable experience keeps customers coming back again and again

· GO – You and your actors can participate in the Go process without leaving the stage (or the Go).

o Put into action memorable experiences that make people notice you in a positive way

Engagement – ​​This is all about getting attendees involved in your experience and process

o BMW Example – Using the auto show as a stage, invite attendees to special private events to test drive cars on a large race track.

o It is a unique opportunity that many people will be excited about and allows them to interact with you and your products after the show

o Remember, the engagement portion doesn’t always have to happen at the show! Get creative!

· The system is designed to move attendees and prospects through the buying cycle process. Identify the steps and figure out ahead of time how to get them to step 1, then 2, 3, etc.

Words change the world!

Roger’s gains:

Commit to viewing your business as a play and your employees as actors

Break the fourth wall and really invite attendees into your world

· Integrate STAGE-GO-ENGAGE into your regular processes and culture

· Create those characters and go from “Beth” to “Sassy” if you want!

Ask the top 20 questions and rehearse your answers so you are well prepared to answer unexpected questions

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How to contact Roger Miller:

Roger’s Facebook page:

Tues@7 Facebook page:

Tues@7 YouTube channel: