The Clarity team were back for the Business Travel Show 2022 at the ExCel in London. The build up to the show was a mixture of emotions, this would be the first proper show since the pandemic, and none of us could determine what the first show post everything Covid was going to bring.
We were not disappointed, what a fantastic job was done by all. As a team, we worked effortlessly to create the brightest stand at the show, generate leads through email and social media marketing, arrange meetings with prospective clients, and do everything we could to prepare our people for whatever was thrown at us.
Our Brighter Marketing team arrived at the exhibition early on Tuesday, the day before the show, to conduct final checks on the stand and make sure everything was tip top! Once that was out the way, the team met up for a few preshow drinks and a Clarity “family” dinner.
Before we knew it the big day had arrived, and it was the morning of day one! A quick hop, skip and a DLR, and we arrived at the show, raring to go! After a final walk around the stand, conducting all the final checks and set up, we were ready to go and meet prospective and current clients.
Clarity, as always, were ready to kick the show off! Our CEO, Pat McDonagh and Director of Brighter Events, Paul Casement, took to the stage and captivated 40+ people with their knowledge and wisdom and engaged in a fantastic discussion on our newly launched whitepaper – Ten Quick Wins to get you started in Travel Management. What a way to kick start day one!
The paper identifies a series of areas to focus on when rebooting your travel program. Targeted at travel managers and procurement category managers of all levels, this paper identifies key themes within today’s marketplace and provides a framework for future success.
Pat had this to say “In many cases it’s taken two years for travel to restart along with businesses working practices and the market landscape has changed dramatically in that time. We hope this informative guide equips those managing travel within their organisations with the tools and advice they need to create a successful travel program.
Louise Kilgannon, consultant at Festive Road, commented “The restart is well underway, but the market has changed profoundly since 2019. We are delighted to support Clarity in the creation of this paper, and we are sure that organisations of all shapes and sizes will benefit from its insight.”
Our Business Development Managers were on fire, welcoming and speaking to anyone who wanted to know more about the brightest TMC in the business.
More meetings, more coffee, and that was that – the end of day one!
Day two was on us before we knew it and the ExCel was a hive of activity and possibility. Our team were ready as always, greeting anyone stepping onto our stand, with a bright smile.
Clarity once again opened the show with our CEO, Pat McDonagh, sitting down with BTN TV and conducting an interview which covered a host of topics such as recruitment and future booking levels for TMCs.
Day two was another successful day spent explaining our Go2Suite to companies such as Sainsburys, or about our membership to the institute of Customer Service to Virgin Money, and before we knew it the final curtain was drawn and that was the end of the show!
All in all, we managed to speak to 60+ prospective clients. Patrick Oniyelu – one of our Business Development Managers and the Stand Manager for this 2022 show – proudly said that this was “one of the busiest Business Travel Shows we have been to”.
Apart from the obvious attraction to the Business Travel Show, which is gaining new leads and potentially new business, a huge part of it is connecting with clients you already service. Being able to see them face to face and have a conversation about how their service is and how happy they are with us, is invaluable. We are lucky enough to have a good relationship with our clients, so we were met with happy faces when we visited their stands and likewise when they popped along to see us.
Having taken a couple of days to contemplate (and recuperate!) on the two days spent at the Business Travel Show, we can safely say that it felt so good to be back! Everything went ahead without a hitch, we managed to make some meaningful connections which could lead to future business, and our whole team had a blast while doing it.
Bring on the Business Travel Show 2023!!