Here at kdm, we love to get out and about, meeting both prospective and existing clients. There’s no better way to do it than by attending an exhibition, which is why technical writers Dasha and Lucy recently accompanied Managing Director Annabel on a visit to the Lab Innovation Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham, and this was their account of the day:

We started the day as two exhibition novices, guided by our much more experienced leader Annabel. Despite being relatively new to the exhibition scene, we are both scientists at heart, and our experiences from working in labs – albeit of very different kinds, one of us being a physicist and the other a biologist – made us feel right at home among the names and logos of iconic laboratory providers.

We arrived at the NEC mid-morning, and were welcomed by a busy and bustling hall filled with enthusiastic innovators, distributors, key opinion leaders and publishers. There was plenty to see, from eye-catching displays to a schedule full of shows and demonstrations to watch. Although we were eager to get started, there was one stop we needed to make first – coffee. After indulging in (probably) the largest coffee possible, we worked our way around the hall, meeting stallholders and discussing potential opportunities, explaining how kdm’s marketing expertise can be applied to benefit different laboratory suppliers and distributors (and of course, enjoyed a free chocolate here and there).

Over lunch – a delicious vegan buddha bowl with halloumi fries, if you were wondering – we discussed the mornings’ experiences and successes. We learned that there are definitely two types of exhibition goers; the confident, experienced, organised Annabel – who systematically worked the room in a pattern, ensuring that she visited every stall – and the Dashas and Lucys of the world, who chaotically pick stalls that catch their eye, greet you with a friendly smile, or have the most welcoming displays. We then returned to the exhibition where we continued to visit stalls – in a much more orderly fashion this time – and made sure to take photographs of our client’s products and stands for their social media.

Having the opportunity to experience new events is one of the many perks of working for a smaller, tight-knit company like kdm since, even as writers, we are offered the chance to attend exhibitions and different networking occasions. This exhibition was not only a wonderful day out with colleagues, but an opportunity to see laboratory products and talk to clients in real life – something that has obviously been missing recently. These kinds of interactions provide a broader understanding and greater appreciation for the latest innovations in the field, which we can relay through our writing to provide more accurate accounts of company products and personas. We look forward to attending more in the future as the exhibition industry returns to normality following the pandemic.