Engaging Guests at Interactive Shows: Tips and Experiences

[missyciccolella]

I was wondering how interactive everyone show really is...do you encourage/force people to come up and play with the tools or just ask and talk with the crowd? I have started doing the my recipe before the show and only demo a few items (cookware, knives, mandolin, and few smaller items). I think I want the guests to start doing "stations" at my shows, but I'm not sure how I want to do that or even if would be worth it...this is where you guys come in! I know there are people out there who do this well and I want to hear your feedback (good and bad).

Please share your tips on:
1. How you get guests involved?
2. How it affects sales, bookings, recruiting
3. Does it add time to your demo
4. Do you think it working - do the guests/hosts enjoy it
5. Anything else you want to share?

This is your time to toot your horn on how wonderful your show is so lets hear it!

 

[finley1991]

I've done a couple of these and the best advice I can give is to not make participating optional! Don't say, "Would you like to try this?" Say, "This is what we're going to do." If you say it the first way, at least half will say no and then you're in trouble. There will always be 1-2 that won't participate, but that's no biggie... their friends will give them a hard time about it so you don't have to make an issue out of it.

Also, guage your crowd. The interactive might not be their thing. Check this out during host coaching.

Good luck!

 

[missyciccolella]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Brandi2007]

Even if you can get one person to try something they will sell it to the guests for you. Hearing their friend exclaim how wonderful and easy the product is works much better than us telling them. I always at least make sure I am passing a couple products around and also work in personal testimonies. This is why I love loud rowdy crowds... most often they are discussing the catalog and selling to each other!

 

[missyciccolella]

Does anyone do interactive shows? By this I mean, do you get guests to come up and try out the product? I pass stuff and demo many higher end tools as well as asking for testimonials from the group, but I was wondering if anyone created "product stations" or something like that for people to play.

 

[pregochef]

I have only done one show, so I haven't tried product stations, but I think it's a good idea. At my show, I had the guests come up and participate. I started the show by saying that "WE" would be making a recipe to demonstrate how the products were used.

I started with someone I knew well, and said "Jen - why don't you come up and show everyone how _____ is used". Then, for the next step, I said "So-and-so, earlier I heard you mentioned that you were interested in the chopper, would you like to come up and try it out?" I basically tried to be very observant when guests arrived as to their interest so that I could target specific products to certain guests. I also had what I considered to be the "right audience" for participation (I don't necessarily think it would've worked at every party). And, I tried not to put the more bashful people on the spot, so occasionally I said "Would anyone like to come up and try ______?". It also shows the rest of the guests how easy the product is to use, even if you have never used it before. (Especially if the least-kitchen-savvy guest is up there using the item). But I do try to stay away from having guests use more complicated items (like the apple-peeler-corer) as I don't want them to make it look more difficult than it really is.

I promote it as a try-before-you-buy type of thing. Just as you would try a pair of jeans before you buy them, wouldn't you want to try out the knife before you buy it?

It didn't take me any more time, because I tried to do all my prep work first (only leaving a small amount of each item to "try" the tools with). For example, I chopped almost everything, except for enough for about 2-tries of the chopper.

Also, as the guest was trying out the tool, I spoke about the product and/or product line. I enjoyed it, especially because I could focus more on what I was telling the guests. I felt like I was able to say more.

And as Brandi said, when the guests hear their friends talking about how much they like the product, they are more apt to purchase it.

 

[missyciccolella]

Thanks pregochef!