Is a Local Business Festival Worth It?
"Is attending a business festival worth the day off your business? Yes, as long as your hella strategic with your energy and time."
Picture this scene. You walk in the Frankston Arts Centre on a slightly warm Aussie spring day, bustling with activity and people to and froing. With a quick warm but slightly unclear introduction from the business chamber staff behind the desk, you're off on your own to do some business. yay. Make some connections, network, learn about oppourinites, and chat with local business big and small.
No one knew me from a sack of expired flour, and with some people on the expo floor and on the expo tables, that's the impression that you got eww (small town mentality and all that). I walked out of that festival with six new business cards, a recorded podcast episode, and a long list of actions, tasks, and long notes on what a local business festival gets right and where it still falls short.
My honest verdict? Four out of six stars. Good bones, a few curtail gaps, and a handful of things I'd fix before I would make the time again. If you're a micro or small business owner trying to decide whether your first festival is worth the day off? This is your whole breakdown, the wins and the parts I'd absolutely do differently. While using the Frankston Mornington Peninsula Business Festival as the shiny backdrop of our story.
Is the Frankston Mornington Peninsula Business Festival worth it?
Yes. If you have business in the region or want to cater to the local community. Yes, a local business festival is always your best shot. As someone who is an outsider hooowever, slightly less so. BUT as a digital business, who can serve people from anywhere all over Australia and internationally. Meeting people face to face and explaining what you do, while hopefully not stumbling over your words is a lot harder, especially when they don't immediately see use for your work and stare past you as I look for someone else who'd be more worth their time. That may sound harsh, and it feels it, but business is business I guess.
For some slight context: I run a video and personal branding coaching business, which means my whole job is guiding other people to get in front of a room and show up, be seen, get booked. It would quite rich for me to keep saying that from behind a computer and never doing it myself. Frankston Mornington Peninsula Business Festival (FBC) invited me to attend as a pundit, and after 3 trains, sat close enough to get to without air travel, and was general enough that I'd be surrounded by the exact the mix of small business owners that I serve everyday. So I went solo (cue Rocky reference). With no team, no ‘familiar face’ safety net (except N’Dene Riley Aboriginal Artist who I am so grateful for) , to find out firsthand what actually moves a conversation to action in a room full of cold-ish strangers, and to bring the real answer back here. Well done for reading this far. ⭐ gold star for you.
Most of what I learn from a day like this would evaporate by the following Monday (let’s face it next day) if I didn't sit down and write it out properly. Of course, this is for your benefit (you reading this). As everything I do at the Video Confidence Coach is usually for my community’s benefit. Making sure that the lessons learned from FBC survive long enough to actually change not just what I do next time, but what I recommend others doing too. Aaaand (the best part) publishing this all publicly (even if it’s not seen by millions) means I can't ignore my own advice either… It’s like you don’t follow your own advice sometimes.
What actually works at a small business festival
Now your girl is no stranger to small business festivals. I have personally attended and run events at the Geelong Small Business Festival for over 13 years. So you can say… I have skin in the game (cringe or laugh, your choice). Hoooowever, since this is all about getting you ready for YOUR own small business festival, or even choosing to go to one in the first place. I want to run you through my system, my process; What I use to get the most of my resources, energy (chronically illness for the win) and my money. Because if you’re here, you’re not pounding pavement or whatever the older generations say is making money in your business in this day and age.
DO NOT TREAT A FESTIVAL LIKE A LUCKY DIP!
To refresh, I was going in cold on relationships but not preparation. This is what I recommend if you are going into a room/event/festival with any sort of information ahead of time; especially information that provided by members' associations, unions, and chambers. They are very thorough pieces of information so make sure that you mine that page for: people to speak to, event panelists in your industry/field, companies on the expo floor, and anyone who peaks your interest or recognise their name. You’ve probably networked with someone in their circles, and now is YOUR CHANCE! Use those details to better reach out to a select group of people both ahead of the event, during the event, and after the event. And yes, this is WORK, but work well spent.
As part of my pre-event plan (do you want a template by the way, email me and I can send you the template). I reach out to potential connections about a week before the event via LinkedIn or their contact page from their website. With a simple message, no pitch (please no pitching). Just asking for a few minutes of their time on the event day as a warm intro and a “break a leg” encouragement if they are presenting or panelling on the day. In practice, I was a little short on time for FBC and could only reach out a day before the event itself. A few connections I spoke to hadn't even looked at LinkedIn the day before and had no idea who I was (no biggy), and I'd bet money that an earlier outreach message would have changed how open they were the moment I introduced myself. Not expecting warm hugs or instant recognition. I’m just not a fan of approaching people with a cold call agenda.
Work smarter not harder at a small business festival
Something golden worth naming separately from cold hard networking tactics is being PRESENT. I held myself in that busling room all day, and gave every single person my full attention. Gave them the space to say what they actually wanted to say, engaged their curiosity, instead of just rushing them toward my elevator pitch. Now this can be harder especially after lunch, but you are here for a PURPOSE. To build connections and network with people who could and will sustain your career as a small business owner. This is the same thing I coach my clients to do on camera. A stranger can tell within about 3-7 seconds whether you're actually listening (like those sleazy door salesman from sitcoms in the 80s) or just waiting for your turn to talk/speak over them. I would rather walk out of an even with fewer leads and a clean conscience.
Note your conversations and don’t feel the need to move on right away as soon as you wave goodbye to your connection. Breathe in and out, and register what they said and how you can serve their people. At FBC, I had 2 conversations that stood out from the rest. One was with a pre-event connection I made from Burst Brand Agency that ran a lot longer and went a lot deeper/gorunded than most of the small talk around me. Of course, this is not a competion. I just want you to be able to recall these things after the work you put in your next event/conversation. The other stand out conversation was with a freelance graphic designer who was down to earth, and was clearly good at building thier own connections. Someone I'd happily grab a coffee with just to hear how she runs their business and their side of things. NOw, neither conversation closed a massive deal on the day. We are not wolf of wall street pushers here. Both convos were worth the trip and both are already on my list to follow up properly. Rather than let the spark fade and a business card left in the drawer.
Speaking of business cards, a nice rule I like to set myself for business festivals and networking events is to walk away with a certain number of business cards by the end. This practice forces you to actually SPEAK to people and get the business cards. This can push you out of your comfort zone if you're someone who doesn't enjoy speaking to new people, but it is worth it. My number for this festival was 6. 6 conversations with people who may not necessarily be leads right awy, but are good connections to have for whatever area of focus they do in their businesses and especially the people that they work for. What would your number be? Make sure it’s achievable 😎
On top of all the conversations and branded corporate gifts. I got a podcast interview recorded right on the expo floor. It is called The Chamber Conversations/FBC Hour. Which was a surprise and a genuine win. Another asset out in the world and I didn't have the week before. Thanks to Jason Tolley of Business Class Media for organising that. Looking forward to our episode. Once it’s up, it will be working for me long after FBC has wrapped up, ready for anyone who missed the actual event in person. It cost me nothing extra (beyond the time already spent on the floor of course). And I plan to repurpose that once it’s public, which is always a good idea.
What I'd fix before doing it again
Especially for expos, panels, and large events like this, you want to make sure that you conserve your energy. The crowd on the expo floor at the start of the day was very warm and very inviting, switched on, curious, and happy to have a talk. But by the early afternoon (especially after lunch) that very much shifted. Everyone got a little shorter and a lot more guarded with what they were needing to, probably just to get through the day. Best thing to do is adjusted your expectations for the rest of the day instead of spiralling to “everyone hates me” territory. I personally left the day at 3pm, since there was no more I could do, and my energy reserves were depleted. Keep that in mind for your events, it’s okay to leave when you need too.
A bigger mistake that I made on the day was my intro. Since I was introducing myself cold to people who had no idea what I was about except my vibe and energy (as I was told by a few people), I got out a couple of words about what I do. They would just look blankly and it would be clear that they had no interest in pursuing a conversation because they didn't understand what I did. Even though I tried to be interesting and compelling and curious-building, for a lot of people it just didn't cut the mustard.
What I recommend for you is being able to describe what you do as if you're talking to an 8-year-old and using as few words as possible. This may sound derogatory to the people that I was speaking to on the day but you have to imagine that they are speaking to a lot of people with a lot of businesses. I definitely should have spent more time honing that skill. Something like “personal branding coach” may have worked? But yours will be different. A three- to four-word answer enables them to pique their curiosity and continue a conversation with you. As long as you let them do most of the talking, they will walk away from the experience having felt better for it and in turn your follow-up will be a lot more impactful.
An issue with mixed industry expos: you will come across this when you especially are coming to local business festivals. The only thing keeping everyone in check is the fact that they have a business or a franchise in the local area. You will have a large proportion of people who have no interest in what you do and you have no interest in their services.
It's to be expected but it can be a little bit alarming when you walk into an expo and 80% of the people there are just not a good fit for you. That is why you need to put your focus on those 20% who do, making sure that you follow them up and, if possible, reach out to them ahead of the event. Do your best to bridge those network connections during the event as well as after, because when you are networking it's not just an "oh hi, great to meet you, I will never see you again" type mentality. Networking is about building those relationships, maintaining them, and especially following up after the fact.
A good recommendation that I have for you, if you are able to prep properly for your local festival event, is having a quick zero- or few-clicks way of following up with you. Yes you can take their business card but having something as simple as a QR code (either on your phone screen or maybe on the back of your phone) enables people to scan a QR code and be brought to a landing page of your website. They can give their details to you to join their email list or have a clearer picture of what you do, especially if you are someone who sells products.
Taking them to somewhere they can see what you do and it's already on their phone is a great thing that I have seen a lot of people fumble in that follow-up aspect. A lot of businesses can't bring to an expo what they do day in and day out and if you are a service-based business, you can't physically bring your clients to every expo you attend. Making that easier for you and for them will mean you can make the event worthwhile long afterwards instead of a waste of a day.
Should you go to your first local business festival?
Yes wholeheartedly yes. Even if the festival itself does not mean any long-term gains for me, it is an opportunity to practise my networking skills and take the time to build a personal branding network of people who are actioning what they say they will action.
“People do business with people” and this is where you will meet them.
If you're still weighing up your first/or hundredth local business festival here is what made a difference for me on the big day:
Research who's attending and reach out to a few people beforehand, may be even set up a time to chat on the expo floor.
Cut your intro down to three or four words before you walk in the door.
Have a fast way to capture someone's details on the spot. A QR code, a quick link, or examples of your products are a great option.
Have a clear goal that you can achieve and maybe even set it lower than you originally intended. Something like collecting six business cards or having a list of three people that you will follow up with is a great number to go in with.
None of these cost money, other than a bit of time, but you’re spending time at the event. So use it wisely!
Every one of the lessons in this article (no matter how unclear some of them may be, my apologies for that. I am new to long form writing) was formed from over a decade of experience in attending these types of events. If you're sitll sitting on the fence about your own visibility, (whether that's your first local festival/your first time on camera/just getting your personal brand off the ground properly) that's exactly the conversation I have in a DISCO Chat🪩 right here 👉 https://vcc.training/disco
