John Blaskey, managing director of The Exhibiting Agency, will explain to visitors the art of live marketing which he describes as "the nearest thing to showbiz".

"Get it wrong and instead of promoting your business as a successful brand you could just as easily make a total exhibition of yourself. But get it right and it could not only make a big difference to your order book, but inject enormous confidence in you as a business person. It's a great motivator," said John, who has spent 32 years honing his skills in exhibiting and passing on those secrets to others.

"Live Marketing - or delivering brand experiences - is also the best counter-argument to website and internet marketing. Long term business depends on face to face encounters to initiate and develop relationships. You can't create long term personal relationships over a website."

John has already briefed exhibitors at a pre-show seminar on how to get the best out of the exhibition and the success of that event led organisers to book him to speak at the show itself which is expected to draw more than 3,000 visitors to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on June 13th and 14th.

"He left a big impression, challenging many of the assumptions people make about live marketing and exhibitions but his record at producing results for SMEs speaks for itself," said event organiser Will Allen.

"There will be a lot of visitors at the event considering live marketing themselves who will be very keen to listen to his advice."

John points out that the biggest pitfall is failing to plan and there are five key questions you should have answers to:

• What is your ambition/vision/belief as a company in your product and your business?
• Can you express what you sell in less than eight words. Two or three seconds is all you have to attract the attention of a potential customer - either visually or verbally?
• Who are your key competitors? Who will a potential client/customer be benchmarking you against?
• Who are your key targets?
• Why should your potential customers buy from you? This one's the biggest question of them all - ie what makes you different/unique/better from all the rest?

John added: "Unless you can answer these you cannot develop and deliver your message. And that message needs to be expressed in three seconds to break the ice and grab the attention, 30 seconds to qualify whether the person you're talking to is any good to you, and 120 seconds to pitch to them."

John's key message to exhibitors at an event like Ideal Business Show Wales is - Less is More. Telling a potential client/customer all there is to know about your business or product on the stand means they have no reason to need a follow-up meeting.

"You must ensure that every potential client either makes a follow-up appointment from the stand or commits to taking a phone call from you the next day to fix a date," he said.

"Exhibiting should be all about 'flirting' with a potential client - and the date comes later."

Cardiff Blues are exhibiting at the event, if you would like to come along and see the team register for the event at www.idealbusinessshow.co.uk by filling in the details in the registration panel. Or to find out more about Ideal Business Show Wales, or to book your company a place at the event, contact event director Will Allen on 0117 908 4611, or e-mail will.allen@idealbusinessshow.co.uk