P2BK 2008 First Annual Forum Review
P2BK is a new youth initiative to organize annual forum for small and startup businesses. A healthy and definitely needed concept I say for startups and small business who can’t afford to take place in big expos like Info Connect and others. Yesterday, 30th April, 08 was the first annual forum which I could not afford to miss. I have to say however I was expecting much more from it. Keeping in mind this is the first annual forum, one can’t expect things to be perfect. They were also very unfortunate in timing with the Islamic Conference traffic jam and the icy storm that struck in the same day. So anyways, the idea is pretty good in general and I would love to see more of it, and here I thought of sharing what I thought was good, bad, and add some suggestions to it.
Pros:
Concept: Great idea and very much useful for small businesses. The number of participants can only reflect how much people want it.
Pricing: The price was meant to serve the small business owners making it affordable to most if not all.
Awards & Surveys: What’s an expo without feedback really? A $1000 award was promised for best design, which is chosen based on visitor reviews. Ofcourse it’s kinda subject to fraud and biased thought, but the idea is good. Also, a lady came in asking for our opinion in the expo which I dont mind at all. Except that my hand writing is bad, and as you can see from the post, I have a lot more to say than a few lines can take.
Cons:
Timing: 1 day expo, 4-10 PM. 6 hours only. I arrived at around 4:30, left around 5:30 PM. If I want to recommend the expo to a friend, he only has like 4 more hours to go. The traffic jam these few days also would make him hesitate more. I understand how the low budget may had something to do with this, but still it’s a point I think worth looking at. 3 days I think is good. Big sponsors can take part of the hosting costs and make it easier for contributors and P2BK to afford 3 days expo.
Space: The large amount of exhibitors condensed inside the small area has made it very difficult to move around, let alone set and talk to exhibitors. To make the most out of these forums, area must be wide enough for a person to walk around and watch. See what he likes and go to it. But rather I literally had to watch my steps while walking, and it’s not the heavy crowd as much as the small areas to be honest. This may have also resulted in the extreme heat inside the place.
Media Coverage: I mostly heard about this expo from the blogs. I may have seen some online ads, not sure though. I also got one spam email somehow about it. But all people I talked to didn’t know about the expo, and I never saw anything about it in the newspaper or streets. Neither I did see any review about it today even in the newspapers.
Varieties: Big portion of the exhibitors were about fashion and food, which would appeal for females maybe, but not for the majority of males.
Preparation: We were there after 5 PM when at least one of the top brand exhibitors was still working out his booth. Taking into account the exhibition is only one day makes it even worse. I know every exhibitor is responsible for his area, but the overall image of the expo depends on it’s exhibitors. So proper time management and more control on exhibitors for the overall good of the expo is needed.
Suggestions:
Categories: Hoping to see larger expo next year with larger varieties, it would help both exhibitors and visitors if the expo is organized into categories. Say Fashion, Food, eBusiness, technology, etc. One would go to the section he wants, finding what he expects. As yesterday, there was almost a whole lane full of women clothes and stuff, for some reason we passed through it and found the car bluetooth hands free device on one of the booths. It was too crowded with women we couldn’t even make a stop and just left. If it’s categorized, people would go to their preferred sections, and exhibitors would get the target audience.
Talk shows: Just like western ones. Certain companies hire the stage to present their new ideas and services to the public. This would attract more attention I presume.
Even though I was in general disappointed, I still like the idea and think there is a potential behind it if some of the points are taken care of.
Last words are: Good luck.
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Dhari Al Wazzan said,
May 3, 2008 @ 12:58 am
On behalf of P2BK Team, I would like to thank you for taking the time and writing about the event in your blog, and would like to thank you again for taking the time evaluating the event and telling us how to improve it for the next time inshalla. Wishing you all the best and thanks
Q8Ba7th said,
May 3, 2008 @ 2:38 am
Dhari Al Wazzan: Thank you too for your initiative and hard work, and thank you for taking the time to write back to us here.
Looking forward for a next year show.