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Maximising Your Presence At Events - Learning From Eye-Tracking Research

Posted: 31 Jan 2012 01:28 AM PST

If the bulk of communication is non-verbal and done in the first 7 seconds, then eye-tracking research has the power to give us a lot of useful lessons . It has yielded valuable insight when designing for Point-of sale, Web pages, Publishing and Visual Merchandising. Why not apply the valuable common sense rules of engagement observed through eye-tracking research when designing your next event backdrop, stall, POS display or exhibition stand?

What is it?

Eye-tracking research has been used to observe human behaviour as we interact with our environment. It has been used to capture the movements, line of sight and length of gaze on a particular object/ display as a person moves through a venue, exhibition or a shop display. In short it can give you a heads up on how your audience steers itself, their default direction, what and how they see along the way, the nature of their attention levels and our ability to be distracted.

Here's a clip on how it works

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why Use it?

You want more sales leads right? Make it easier for your audience to do the following with a glimpse:

Comprehend your information
Navigate quickly
Hold their attention
Remember more
Feel Satisfied

It also teaches us What NOT to do when setting up displays, so helps us remove the obstacles to grabbing someone's attention.

Insights gained from Eye-tracking reinforce what we already know intuitively. When creating a display or exhibit bear in mind the following:

Less is More. What is Essential? Is that graphic, object or piece of Text merely Decorative or is it Pointless and would empty space be more effective? Does your Signage clearly say who you are from a distance and is central? Is that graphic actively related to the Content you are presenting or is it just covering space? Keep it simple.
Empty Space vs. Clutter . Make it easy for someone to focus. This means avoiding clutter. This is why white spaces in galleries work so well. The void around an object is just as useful as the object or text you are displaying. It allows your eyes to focus readily on one item. Throw too much stuff on show in a small space and nothing gets seen. Make it clear.
Line of sight: a more open stand of displays attract more attention. If the structure is not open plan – does it provide relevant cues on what you do when visitors approaching from different angles.
Keep their attention. If presenting Text in your displays, make it is easy to read using short sentences and bullet points with plenty of empty space in between. If setting up a series of visual displays, make sure there is plenty of room, no obstacles and clear cues guiding the visitor from one object or station to another. Make it easy to Scan & Navigate.
Connection and Empathy: Does the Graphic or Photo actually matter to your audience? Does the Photo show someone engaging actively with the passer-by? People respond more to informative photos of models, who look approachable, smiling into the camera. Do they look like real users actively doing something that is related to your product as opposed to just posing with an object in hand.
The Art of Distraction: Make distraction work for you. Place the wacky, irreverent, unexpected, quirky and colourful eye catching object or visual up front and use it to draw your audience to the mundane but more informative & useful presentation inside.
Dissonance is memorable. Use simple big text in an unusual space and it might make the passer by do a second take. Placing something in the "Wrong" place captures attention. If something is upside down, overblown, or dislocated we will backtrack and look closer no?
2D attraction: Icons are better than Text. A picture is worth a thousand words. Large text is more attractive & memorable than small text.
3D attraction: Using the 5 senses. We actually pay more attention if the displays and samples are irresistibly tactile, give off an inviting aroma, sound relaxing or appeal to our other non visual senses. Do your samples look easy to access without assistance or are they out of reach and don't invite interaction? Having fun samples or unusual textures.
4D attraction: Think Motion. Moving active displays will be the first thing people see. Think Lizard Brain and that Tyrannasaurus Rex in Jurassic Park that could only see by movement. Examples include a multi media display on a Flat screen, projection or a moving device.
Human Interaction : Do your event staff look approachable, busy, mobile and are they smiling? Do they make it easy for someone to walk up or do they form natural obstacles in themselves by using being static, defensive body language, avoiding eye contact and speaking amongst themselves in a huddle. I knew an exhibitor in a furniture exhibition who would open and close cabinet drawers and doors just to make himself mobile, and his products appear more functional.

Know Thyself

It would be easy to say most of us know all this intuitively. It reads like perceived wisdom and common sense.

The thing is, a successful application of these insights still depends on how well you know your product and customer. Your industry, the environment you are operating in, the other exhibits and displays around you. (No point copying what everyone else is doing), the audience you are addressing (What turns them on), the product or service you are displaying, etc.. all these colour how you apply these valuable lessons.

Somehow I doubt it's an exhaustive list and I am sure as more research takes place, more pointers will be brought to light. What have you learnt about attractive event displays on the ground and have you some sure fire tried and tested techniques in your events? Share your thoughts on what works for you.

Six Great Employee Hiring Ideas For The New Economy

Posted: 30 Jan 2012 12:06 PM PST

When you decide to hire a new employee you can either decide to go it alone and hope you make the right series of decisions or you can review hiring practices that have proven effective over time. Let's face it, in this new, emerging economy it is becoming more important to make sure that we are hiring smarter.

There has been a lot of information about the nature of our workforce, yet the most persuasive comment for me is attributed to Peter Drucker: ". . . the center of gravity of the work force is shifting from the manual worker to the knowledge worker."[1]

Think about it - employee selection practices require even more that we understand what talents, behaviors, and motivators are required for employees to be successful performing their jobs. Understanding your employees better can help you to drive your company's success, growth, and performance.

Does it make sense that an aligned workforce increases performance and profitability? What can you do to get a handle on how you can align your hiring practices to hire the right types of people?

Why does someone want to work at your company?

Do you try to understand what motivates someone to apply for a position in your company, what their talents, values, and behavioral preferences are? Once you understand these factors have you developed a way to maximize their performance so that the employee and the company benefit?

Most often I find this understanding helps to avoid costly hiring errors that so frequently have occurred in the past and which can no longer be tolerated in this new economy. In my management coaching training programs I advise business owners to better understand what types of people they need for their company to succeed so they have a better chance of to get where they need to go – and have a more aligned and focused workforce.

How can employees contribute to business success?

We all understand that you need people to run your businesses but do you understand how people can contribute to the success of your businesses? Here are six ways to help you work better with your applicants and employees.

Develop a process to define and communicate your company's needs by defining and communicating your long-term company strategy and plan (with your employees);
Develop your recruitment strategy to include communication of your strategy and plan to attract who you want and need for your future success;
Develop a series of questions within your application and interviewing process to gather information (intelligence) about candidate talents and job advancement potential and interests;
Use assessments and profiles to understand an applicant's current work potential and to diagnose what talents are important, and then perform an apple to apple match;
Use those assessments and profiles to understand how an applicant's long-term potential can match with your company's long-term strategy; and
Based on the results of those assessments and profiles be willing to restructure job roles to better fit a person's natural talents, values, and behaviors – think more discreetly on how you can leverage those talents to benefit your company's growth and the applicant's growth. Try to develop a better "person-future fit."[2]

Position your company for long-term growth

The economy and world we occupy continues to increase their global reach. The competitiveness and reliance we have with each other as businesses gives us a unique opportunity to position our businesses for sustainable, long-term growth. While certain companies continue to utilize management principles that worked well in an industrial economy I believe we need to adopt our management practices that recognize and cultivate our knowledge-based economy.

Utilizing good sound people management practices involving the use of diagnostic profiles can positively impact your company's bottom-line. As you look at your business, ask yourself - are you using strong employee selection practices? Is your workforce aligned for positive, long-term company growth? What can you do now to foster that alignment and increase your business growth?

[1] Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973)

[2] Collins, C. J., Ericksen, J. & Allen, M. (2005). Employee outcomes: Human resource management practices and firm performance in small businesses (CAHRS Working Paper #08-09). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies. http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cahrswp/485

Image: "worker standing on a virtual connection/Shutterstock"