Why was last week’s’ Danish tech fair TechBBQ so successful?
Why was last weeks’ Danish tech fair TechBBQ so successful?
Roughly 7,500 companies attending, tons of international investors, journalist and miscellaneous software business people – were all there in very unorthodox expo surroundings.
Despite being a Danish citizen and sales and marketing professional, I have never attended a real Danish expo before in my 21 years business career.
Rather I have – like probably many other DK biz citizens – attended loads of international tech fairs i.e. BI, Analytics, AI, ERP, DM, Content Mgt. e.g. Big Data Paris”, “CeBIT Tech”, “IFA”, “Microsoft Business User Forum”, “Microsoft Inspire”, “Qlik Partner Consulting Days”, “Visualize your World”, “I-series”, “Management Events”, “Microsoft Convergence”, “Directions EMEA” etc.
Last year when I heard about a Danish expo called TechBBQ I was exceedingly skeptical. Can Danes really attract international tech companies, investors etc.? Would it be arranged professionally? Any potential for us as a European sales company?
At Develop IN Europe we knew that only a fraction of DK software companies sell their software solutions in Western Europe. If succeeding in Scandinavia, UK, parts of the US they – we as first-mover Danish Vikings – sell our companies – as we Danes are not “inimitators”. In conclusion our European team had a hard time to persuade ourselves to expose on Danish Expo soil – but we finally did it.
With German, French and Dutch colleagues on board I had a hard time to explain that it was “normal” – without really knowing it – that a Danish organizer only at a late stage (in our standards) would publish the exhibitor names, booth placements, program, speeches, equipment renting, booth number etc. I said, we Danes are cool and loose, and that we (I hoped and it worked) will fix it but not too long in advance – everything was eventually perfectly orchestrated😊!
IT WAS A MAGINIFICENT EVENT!!!!
Despite our combined hundreds of European Tech Events – this one was amongst the most relaxed, down-to-earth, disrupting and SUCCESFULL expos for us ever! As European tech sales professionals ca. 100 companies attended our booth – seemingly because Scandinavian software companies’ “waterfall” approach seem to be incrementally changing. Still being lonely sales wolfs in foreign sales jungles, more and more Scandinavian software companies realize that you must be – onsite for your business, thinking locally, challenging and helping your prospective customers and software partners.
The Develop IN Europe team – let’s Develop software sales in Europe together with you – will definitely join TechBBQ in 2020 again! Thank you so much all you TechBBQ’ers!!!!!
Written by Rasmus Lyhne