I really enjoyed the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco earlier this week. Here are some messages that stuck with me from the 4 days of talks.

While walking around the expo (exhibitor booths), I was struck by how few of them bothered to make it easy for attendees to quickly get a sense for what problem they solved. Many not only didn’t display their name, but they had no 5 word description of their value-add! Also, the popular companies were easy to find, because of the crowds around their booths (reminded me of P.T. Barnum’s quote “nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd”).

This led to a few ideas for exhibitors:

• If you aren’t a well-known brand, make sure you have a 5-word explanation for your company easily visible at your booth
• It’s a little smarmy, but consider ‘hiring a small crowd’ to hang around you/your booth, to attract other visitors. As the crowd builds, they can wander off a bit, and then come back. This allows the actual visitors to get to your representatives.
• Obviously, have an easy handout for people — a single half-sheet card that quickly lays out benefits, with URL to get freebie