The Little Handout That Could
Conferences are overwhelming. You are surrounded by people, graphics, and noise, all trying their darndest to feel relevant to you. Who do you talk to? Which booth do you visit? Where do you put all these damn handouts and tchotchkes? (Wait, you haven't been given a tote yet?!). Throw in some networking anxiety and a couple cocktails, and its hard to tell how any of this will be productive.
There's a lot going on at a conference booth--signage, giveaways, and most important, the people who are there to talk to you. To give them a hand, I'd like to make a case for the hardworking, if often overlooked, single-page handout. Done right, it may be the fastest way to communicate why someone should spend any time learning about your product or service. I've wondered if there is a repeatable system for creating basic design and content building blocks that will ensure that your point gets across, and give it the best chance of standing out in the crush of brochures and takeaways.
I'd like to start with the anatomy of a typical brochure. These examples share some common miss-steps that can cause your audience to abandon them faster than they abandoned that close-talker at the snack bar.
There's a lot going on at a conference booth--signage, giveaways, and most important, the people who are there to talk to you. To give them a hand, I'd like to make a case for the hardworking, if often overlooked, single-page handout. Done right, it may be the fastest way to communicate why someone should spend any time learning about your product or service. I've wondered if there is a repeatable system for creating basic design and content building blocks that will ensure that your point gets across, and give it the best chance of standing out in the crush of brochures and takeaways.
I'd like to start with the anatomy of a typical brochure. These examples share some common miss-steps that can cause your audience to abandon them faster than they abandoned that close-talker at the snack bar.
- They open by talking about themselves. "We work for some of the largest companies in the field of widget formation." or "We're proud of our many awards from the Awards Foundation."
- Or they open by talking about something vague, that sounds good but you're not sure what it has to do with you. "We improve the lives of others by listening and learning."
- The opener is followed by a kitchen sink of what goes into the product or service. There are business line listings, paragraphs of detail, possibly vaguely attributed quotes of recommendation. (Like - Business Owner, or - Patient).
- While there's a ton of information on these, one thing missing. A call to action. If this information sounds relevant to me, what should I do next?
What should you do next, dear reader? You should stay tuned, for ideas on how to remedy this situation--more tomorrow!
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