Sadly, I missed it. But the other day at Ecobuild a group of eagle-eyed marketeers went on a guided tour of the Ecobuild exhibition.

Led by Rick Osman of Highwire Design for CIMCIG - the Chartered Institute of Marketing's construction interest group - they scanned a selection of exhibition stands looking for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Rick then published a very useful and diplomatic guide - the CIMCIG Walkabout Notes (PDF) - which highlighted how many companies could increase the effectiveness of their stand by simple adjustments of the display material.

It's an excellent read. Some of his top tips include:

• Ensure your stand gives clear and unambiguous messages about who you are and what you do (no matter how well known your brand might be).
• Make information readable from the aisle, always keep words above waist level, and provide pictures of case studies.
• The display should be rooted in the product itself and its benefits.
• Ensure well-stocked brochure holders.
• Consider use of good, large explanatory drawings and plenty of examples.
• Avoid any rubbish on your stand (busy-ness and activity should not degenerate into messiness).
• Never eat on your stand.
• Don't create a fortress by putting large displays/counters/products at the front of a stand which act as a barrier.
• Don't put videos at the back of your stand and then stand in front of them!
• A4 is far too small a size to be an exhibition poster.

For professional services companies, Rick's advice is spot on:

"For consultancies and similar companies, the lesson is the same as for a product supplier - tell visitors who you are and what you do, and rather than displaying actual products use the benefits of using the consultancy and ensure this is backed up with case studies."

Of course I'm not as diplomatic as Rick. So when I did a bit of a tour of the exhibition myself each day, I will admit that I was struck even more by the lack of human engagement by some of the exhibitors:

This stand (see above) looks busy but actually the people on it are the guys from the stand next door, picking over the marketing materials and samples on display. The stand itself was entirely un-manned every time I passed it during the three days of the exhibition.

This stand (see above) just made me sad. Maybe he was tired out from a flurry of new business enquiries and decided to have a quiet sit down for an hour or two. But never have I seen a company representative look so bored, lonely or dejected. If you see him next year, please buy him a coffee and stop for a chat?

In contrast, I'm breaking all rules of impartiality and giving the People Make The Difference Award to my client Inbuilt (see above), who put on a series of free '20 Minute Briefings' talks on their stand. Even the youngest consultants there had the gumption to stand in front of a crowd of strangers, put on a microphone and launch energetically into a presentation on some critical aspect of sustainability in the built environment. Every day, every hour, they'd put on a show - even if, at first, there was just a single person in the audience.

So by all means invest in a fantastic stand and the best brochures money can buy, but don't forget that it's your people who make exhibitions commercially successful. There's some great advice on all aspects of exhibition marketing, particularly the people bit, at this website - Exhibition-Stand-Training.com. 

Just back from the first day of Ecobuild 2010, and a fantastic day meeting old friends, colleagues, journalists and many clients past and present.

The show, billed as "the biggest event in the world for sustainable design, construction and the built environment", is definitely one of the highlights of our year, and a fruitful source of ideas for this blog.

There is much I could explore in terms of the exhibition this year (many more products, lots more greenwash), or the marketing strategies on display (including some interesting examples of how not to promote your organisation at an event like this), but for now let me just tell you about a short debate I sat in on this afternoon in the Arena, on the issue of the media's role in promoting sustainability.

The panel was Eve Pollard (former tabloid editor), Alastair McGowan (impressionist, TV star and environmental campaigner) and Peter Bazalgette (of Endemol/Big Brother fame). They were chaired by the ever-sceptical Andrew Neil who revelled in his role as devil's advocate.

The debate confirmed my suspicion that the last people on earth you should ask about communicating sustainability are a bunch of media celebs:

• Andrew Neil focused heavily on Climategate and other examples of eco mis-selling as justification for unlimited cynicism,
• Alastair McGowan sadly failed to counter any of this, instead complaining that the media don't get behind sustainability as much as they should because of "fear of facing our mortality",
• Eve Pollard launched her big idea that Ecobuild exhibitors should all be marketing their products to women via glossy consumer mags because "women are inherently sustainable",
• and Peter Bazalgette insisted that the media's role was to question and interrogate any use of the word 'sustainable' and we should not expect the media to 'promote' anything.

My view? Well, yes I did take the opportunity to rant back at the panel, I admit. 

They all had some interesting points, especially about the damage that is done by greenwash.

But my view was that we should all be a lot more positive. While they were sitting around debating whether green was good and whether the media should or could get involved, the rest of us were getting on with it.

Hardly a day goes by without me seeing a new 'green living', 'green building' or 'green business' column in a paper, feature in a magazine or programme on TV or radio. Most parts of the media are very interested in examples of environmental sustainability, especially when it touches our day-to-day lives.

Journalists are often just as excited as we are by the sorts of innovations we saw at Ecobuild. They are not tuning out to ponder their mortality. They are not dismissing genuine news stories out of world-weary cynicism. They are open to ideas and examples of sustainability in practice - and I for one was very proud of the efforts and achievements of the many people I saw at Ecobuild who were marketing and promoting their work to the media with real flair and enthusiasm.