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Who's at Your Booth?
By Steve Childs, Assistant Director, Arizona
While attending a local trade show recently, I observed that as I passed by each booth, the people in the booth were always trying to get my attention. Some had catchy phrases:
"Let me show you how to make a million before you retire."
"You can't live without this product."
"You do want to be successful, don't you?"
Some booths I would stop at out of curiosity, or genuine interest; others I ignored and continued walking. Some booths had large fish bowls for business cards (for their free drawing, of course).
Empty Booth Syndrome
Then I came across an empty booth. All of the advertising was there, the banner and brochures, but not a person in sight. Several thoughts went through my mind. Was the person in the bathroom, or on break? Couldn't this company get anyone to work this shift? Why would a company pay this much for a booth and not staff it? Do they have more business than they can handle and just needed a tax write-off?
In the end, the company's reason for the empty booth didn't matter, because without someone to talk to, I moved on to the next booth.
The same holds true for what happens at a BNI meeting.
Everyone has a booth (your seat at the meeting), and the catchy phrase is our 60-second infomercial. We collect business cards so we not only know what each member or guest does, but also so we can give the cards away to others in need of that product or service. Your seat at BNI each week costs far less than a booth at a trade show, yet when your seat is vacant at the weekly meeting, opportunities for business may be passing you by.
So if you aren't at this week's BNI meeting, who's manning your booth?
Gold Club Members
John Lisle, Sacramento, CA
Pam Smith, Elk Grove
John Olson, South Placer
Linda Macedonio, Rhode Island
John Ayers, Cumberland
Sherryl Pond, Newport
Art Radtke, Virginia
Kim Lysik
Pamela Hubler, Santa Clarita Valley and Antelope Valley Region
Cris Santa Croce, Palmdale Power Players
Carlos Ocoro, Palmdale Power Players
Nancy Troxell, Valencia
Dr. Christine Fitzpatrick, Team BNI
Nick Crane, Team BNI
Don Petersen, The Top Guns
Ken Petersen, The Top Guns
John Houck, Road Runner
Linda Dalton, Road Runner
Don Hart, High Desert
Buster Hicks, High Desert
Ken Ohlfs, GROW
Heidi Calka, GROW
Slade Lohman, GROW
Bud Kipp, GROW
Chris Carbaugh, Lancaster #1
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