Last week we sent our Sales Manager and Head of Marketing to the B2BX Expo held in the Village Hotel near Portsmouth. They went along as attendees, and also to take part in some of the mini seminars held on the day. Here's what they said:

"We arrived early, close to the start of the registration process. As they say, 'there's nothing like getting a head start!' And this proved to be the case as both parking areas were already very busy. From this we knew the day would be informative and useful. 

Once inside, there was a well staged delegate booking-in area with electronic sign-in points and a lanyard collection point. Plenty of staff were around to provide assistance and we were impressed at how quicky and easily we were registered and ready to go. 

The hall was laid out logically making it easy to move from one location to the net, and sufficient space had been allowed around each stand so that people t could chat without feeling crowded or constrained.

The array of businesses exhibiting was varied and interesting. Banks, IT specialists, Educational Institutes, as well as accounting experts, legal experts, and accessibility organisations, as well as others, were all represented. We tried to speak to everyone but couldn't quite get round all the stands. However, those we did speak to were interesting and informative and we made a number of connections which we'll be following up back at the office.

For example, our Head of Marketing had a pleasant chat with Direct-Aerials who told us about their mobile phone deals and tariffs, explaining they used the O2 network. Further along we spoke to Portsmouth Football Club. They had the most delicious brownies so we just had to stop and taste them. Yummy!

We also spoke to the Federation of Small Businesses. They explained some of the benefits of membership such their legal support and insurance brokerage. Of course, there are other organisations that provide similar services, but as they were there on the day, we decided it would be interesting to see what they were all about.

We also spoke to some of the more innovative businesses such as Blyndsyde. The company had developed a method of hiding a screen through what looked, to the casual observer, as nothing more than white noise, needing  specific 'decoding' glasses to show what was concealed. Although the product wasn't something we would necessarily use, the demonstration showed how effective it is.

One of the most interesting and definitely the most engaging elements of the day were the mini seminars. These were only twenty minutes long, a sort of quick-fire introduction to the topics. As you would expect, they reflected the variety of businesses at the Expo; everything from AI to finance to marketing. Our Head of Marketing went to two of these; 'How to Convert More Conversations Into Sales, and 'Your Brand is Costing You Money.'

Despite the short duration, the information packed into these sessions was impressive and extremely useful. In both sessions the audience were engaged and at the end, there were plenty of questions being raised and answers being given; all of which the presenters somehow managed to fit into their allocated time slots.

So what did we learn? Well, firstly, our day out of the office was informative and useful. We made several new business connections and look forward to seeing how these develop. We also learned that these events can be a valuable opportunity to meet businesses who may not seem to fit with your operation, but who may be looking for a service just like the one you provide. We also learned that, these occasions are an invaluable opportunity to network with other people, even on a casual basis as we experienced chatting to other attendees whilst waiting for the seminars to start.

As we said earlier, we couldn't get round to chat to everyone at the EXPO, but we did take some pictures, so here is a small montage of some of the other stands at the show:

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Based on everything our Sales Manager and Head of Marketing said about the event, there remains one question: 'would we go again?' And based on the outcome of the event and the people they met, we think our answer is 'yes.'

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