My company develops hardware/software touchscreen solutions for various verticals. Last year, we signed up for a tradeshow that we attend every year. We have put a significant amount of money down so far. Due to the economy, company executives have since pulled us out of the show, it will cost us 2 to 3 times what we have already paid to complete the show. As of now, if we don’t go, we will eat the cost. Without taking our typical large wooden booth (which would cost 10’s of thousands of dollars to ship and build), what are some creative/inexpensive ways to fill our 20×20 booth and drive more traffic?

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Jay’s Answer: Instead of trying to sell anything at the show, why not thank your customers for their years of support and get to know them better. Ask questions, find out what people are using/needing. Find out how people are using your products. Find great stories of how your products have saved lives, businesses, etc. Do market research. Perhaps hire some freelance programmers to create some games that show off your touchscreens and let people sit and play. While people are queued up, talk to them.

I work for a very successful engineering firm that has been in business since 1972. We are best known for the quality of our work, our innovation and commitment to what we do, not too sound so mainstream but it is the truth. One of our retired owners has been writing the story of the company and wanted all key senior engineers to write about past project involvement while they are all still around. I thought it would be a great idea to create a book for our 40 year anniversary. Most of our new engineers do not know the story of our company and I think it is worth telling it. However, there are key close minded senior engineers that oppose to the idea. I need your opinion on why would you oppose, and why you would think it is a good initiative.

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Jay’s Answer: I’d oppose it if: I was embarrassed by the work, didn’t want the recognition, or thought it was a self-congratulatory project that doesn’t have any real value.

I’d be in favor it it if: I had pride in my work, I saw that my story would inspire others, or was a project that could help my company’s bottom-line.

I work in the global marketing and communications team of a leading IT services company. The company has many fully/partially owned subsidiaries and also joint ventures. The senior leaders have realized that these subsidiaries and joint ventures are often kept aloof from whatever is happening in the parent organization and thus the employees of these organizations tend to have a lot of apprehensions about the parent organization. To overcome this gap I have been entrusted with the task to find of ways and means of effective communication with the subsidiaries and joint ventures. Please suggest how can the objective of effective two way communication be achieved. The motive is not just to keep them updated but also to encourage them to share their apprehensions, achievements etc.

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Jay’s Answer: Consider creating a wiki on a company intranet (using wikispaces for example). Anyone can post. Anyone can respond. RSS feed allows people to be notified on changes. Your IT department can quickly set up a wiki (for free) and boost your communication effectiveness.