Entry 2: Be A Manager.

The event I have chosen to attend is "CNY Electronics Fair 2013" which was held at the Singapore Expo, Hall 5 from 4^th of January 2013 to 6^th of January 2013, 11am to 9pm on all three days.

What is the objective of this event? Give a brief background to this event.

The objective for this event would be to clear all the outdated 2012 electronic stokes but at the same time give consumers an opportunity to buy electronic products at an affordable price. This way, it would be a ‘win-win’ situation for both the seller and the consumer.

This fair was organised by Audio House. Audio House is Singapore’s electronics mega store with the widest selection of sound rooms under one roof as well as the longest full HDTV wall. Audio House is also the first CASE Trust certified electronic specialist and the first electronic retailer to be awarded “The Best of Singapore in Service Excellence”, by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

The CNY Electronics Fair 2013 offered top brand electronics including Samsung, Sony, LG, Toshiba, Canon, Nikon, Mitsubishi and many more at madly discounted prices. The electronic products available at the fair ranged from televisions, cameras, IT products to home and kitchen appliances.

Who is the target audience?

I.T. enthusiast: I.T. enthusiasts would usually either need new gadgets and equipment or are seizing opportunities to expand their I.T. collection by getting more equipment at the fair’s heavily discounted prices.

Teenagers: Teenagers these days tend to be more into gaming and electronics. They also like to keep up with the more trendy and newest technology but are not able to afford them at normal prices. Thus, having this electronics fair will give them an opportunity to get what they want at a cheaper and more affordable value.

Parents: Students usually require at least a laptop or a computer at home to do their schoolwork/projects on, especially for those in the Polytechnic where most of the student’s work has to be done online. Having this fair would actually give the lower income parents an opportunity to purchase a laptop or a computer for their child at an affordable price.

Also, since Chinese New Year is around the corner, in lieu of the traditional 'red packet' or also known as 'ang bao', parents could actually take this opportunity to cancel off any items on their children's wish list by purchasing any electronics products that their child has always wanted but purchase it at a much lower price.

Businessmen/business women: They could be deemed targeted audiences as well as they usually use their smartphones as a mini computer. In order for them to be up to date, the latest technology has to be used. At the electronics fair, the items they need would be cheaper and more affordable for them.

How is the event publicised? (in other words, how does the target audience get to know about the event)

“CNY Electronics Fair” was publicised mainly through print.

Besides mainstream advertising, there was also online advertising. Websites such as insing.com also put up details of the fair and also a short description to advertise for the event. These event websites actually have a large following and thus, making it a good platform to make the event known to many Singaporeans.

Is the event in the media? If yes, how widely is it reported? (do a quick analysis of the reports, in terms of the angles that the media take, the importance of the coverage, and your opinion of the impact of coverage.) if no, why do you think the media did not cover the event? What do you think could be done to attract media coverage?

Yes, the event was in the media but at the same time, I would not consider it widely reported.

I guess since it was just an electronics fair, not much could have actually been reported. Even the print advertisements did not contain much, just basic information such as, where the event would be held. The main focus of the advertisement was to showcase how cheap some of the products were going for. That was used as a form of persuasion to lure the readers to the fair.

There were advertisements online and on print but I still feel more could have been done to attract more media coverage. Maybe, they could have brought in a special guest star to make an appearance on the fair’s main stage. I feel that this would actually help gain more media coverage of the fair.

Assume you are the manager overseeing this project, evaluate the success/failure of this event. How would you do it differently for greater success?

All in all, I felt that the electronics fair was a really great success.

As I was walking to the EXPO hall, it was rather quiet so I thought that the fair would not be very crowded. However, when I reached the hall where the fair was held, there were really ALOT of people.  The amount of people that turned up for the fair really took me by surprise.

Also, extra effort was taken to put up directions, signs and advertisement all over the Singapore EXPO to ensure that the fair goers would know which direction to walk when they arrive at the EXPO. Even people who were at the EXPO but not there for the fair would end up knowing about it since there were boards advertising the fair at every entrance and arrows pointing in the directions that the fair was held at.

Despite the great success, I think that some improvements could have been made. One change I would make if I were the manager would be to ensure that there were more exits. Since there were so many people and everyone was packed like sardines, it made it really hard for me to exit the hall. Like any fair goer, I walked all the way to the other end of the hall to see all the different booths. However, once I had reached the end, it was really hard for me to make my way back to the exit/entrance as I had to squeeze pass all the other people. 

Another improvement I would make would be to give different booths an allocated time slot to advertise their products. When I was at the fair, EVERY booth had a person standing on top of boxes and tables and shouting into microphones showcasing and advertising their products. That made things really noisy and messy as at every booth there was someone shouting into the microphone. 

That is why I would actually allocate each booth timeslots for them to advertise on the microphone. So maybe if it is not time for the booth to stand up on tables and advertise through the microphone, promoters could just be standing on the ground at their booths and telling the fair goers about their products and promotions. This way, we would not have every booth shouting and fighting for the attention of the customers.

Overall, I felt that the event was a great success! It was pretty evident that sales were soaring through the roof from the number of people that turned up for the fair.