The B2B Exhibition made its debut at Norfolk Showground on Thursday 17th October, opening its doors to the business community 21 years after it first began. The move to Norfolk Showground saw the event grow significantly with more attendees joining us for a day for face-to-face networking and problem solving. Overall, the event had an increased sense of community with all exhibitors together in one hall, as well as a fun and buzzing atmosphere from start to finish. Doors opened at 10am and all 99 of our exhibitors were ready to go, including event sponsors Desira Group who welcomed businesses to the exhibition with an outdoor display of their vehicles. As visitors began registering and queues built up to get inside, Norfolk Chambers CEO Chris Sargisson began judging the best stand award with guest judge and Norfolk Chambers President, Fiona Ryder. Our judges went around the exhibition spending time with all of our exhibitors, taking part in interactive activities and meeting top Norfolk businesses. Although our judges encountered everything from puzzles, sweet treats and even puppies on stands, GGS were crowned winners of the best stand award 2019 with their fun and interactive photo booth – that they built and designed themselves! Our judges agreed that this not only allowed you to have a fun at the event, but it made visitors to the stand re-engage with GGS Norwich by having to visit their Facebook page to view the photos. The stand also showcased the work GGS do, with an exciting exhibition display, photography and the graphic design work. Photos from the photo booth can be found here. Chris Ball, Creative Director/Photographer at GGS said: “We always look forward to the Chamber of Commerce B2B exhibition as it is the only one we do on a regular basis, and, in fact, I think we have been at every one since it started. We love it that we can connect, face to face, with so many of our clients; many of whom we normally only deal with on the telephone, and that we have the opportunity to meet plenty of new people, too. The new venue was excellent. There was a real buzz about the place on the day and the increased ceiling height and roof space gave us the opportunity to be a little more creative with our stand this year. It’s always a challenge to come up with something a bit different and which will engage with and attract visitors. Previously it’s been cakes or a competition, or even a game; but this year’s Photo Booth was a real hit. Feedback was fabulous, and by only making the photos we took available next day on our Facebook page we managed to extend visitors’ engagement with us over a number of days after the event. And we were absolutely delighted that it won us ‘Best Stand’, too! Result!!” Throughout the exhibition we had 20 minute workshops taking place from Matt Sykes from Salescadence, Aimee Konieczny & Hayley Leech from Indigo Swan, Neil Foley of Business Growth Club, Kathy Ennis of Little Piggy and Eleanor Bougie-Smith of SocialB. Their expert workshops provided attendees with key takeaways covering customer service on social media to business boosting tips. We were also delighted to have Ian Hacon of Energise.me leading on some speed networking sessions in the centre of the exhibition. This provided attendees with the chance to meet various businesses in quick, 1 minute chats before moving on to the next person. Ian gave our speed networkers some useful advice before they started each session, including the tip to tell the person something interesting they’ll remember, don’t just pitch. For 2019 we took a big leap from previous B2B exhibitions, with a new venue, new opportunities and much more happening both behind the scenes and on display. The B2B Exhibition will return to Norfolk Showground on Thursday 15th October 2020. A big thank you goes to our sponsors and partners at this year’s event: Archant – Media Partners Desira Group – Outdoor Sponsors Birketts LLP – Bronze Sponsors Zing Insights – Feedback Partners
