5 Tips for Surviving Retail Industry Events
Because most of these events are like ultra-marathons (with occasional, hours-long sprinting sections interspersed) surviving them takes a fair amount of training and a solid game plan. If you are ready to get in the zone ahead of this year’s event, check out my tips for surviving in Manhattan and Düsseldorf.
1. Hydration, hydration, hydration
Chances are you will need to pause many of the New Year’s resolutions for the days leading up to, during, and after these events. But if hydration is a 2025 goal—and to be honest, it should be—you will be able to stay on track.
Lotion for your skin and chapstick for your lips are essential for going the distance in the massive temperature-controlled facilities that host these events. Drinking water throughout the day is also crucial for keeping energy levels high and negating the effects of the coffee you will drink throughout the day. If you are a happy hour or reception hopper, water is that much more important.
The only downside to keeping your H2O levels high is the constant need to use the bathroom, which is why tea is not the best. Because you will be walking a great deal, to the bathroom and other places, you will need...
2. Comfortable shoes
The Javits Center and Messe Dusseldorf are massive. Even if they were smaller venues, the amount of standing required of many days of talking with potential customers and partners can take its toll on the legs.
Comfort is personal and, in many cases, secondary to style, so the decision of which footwear will not leave you aching after three days of networking on your feet while also meeting business goals is different for everyone. Packing a backup pair of ballerinas is not uncommon for women at these events, and I’ve known more than a few attendees who have opted for the compression socks more commonly found on airplanes or actual marathon routes.
Comfortable shoes are also important for the time you will spend standing in line for food. You can limit the duration of those waits by...
3. Planning meals ahead
New York and Düsseldorf are great cities for eating, and innovation and culinary admiration blend seamlessly at the events. But demand for grub is high and lines can be long. At NRF 2025, the Food Innovation Zone (FIZ) on the third floor of the Javits Center will benefit from the use of real-time analytics, courtesy of Xovis sensors in collab with ShopperTrak, which should help reduce wait times.
If you are a grazer or a snacker, pack plenty of nuts and dried fruit. If you prefer to take lunchtime to sit down and decompress, consider dining hours before or after peak times. Speaking of decompressing...
4. Find a quiet spot
Finding a place for repose among the 40,000+ attendees at the bigger retail industry events is no easy task. But taking just a few minutes to step away from the action will keep your pitches fresher and your eyelids open longer.
Catching a breather, especially after being in the zone, can help prevent expo burnout, especially on later days. I won’t tell you where my quiet place is in the Javits Center and Messe Düsseldorf, but they do exist, and they are important. Find yours, enjoy a few deep breaths and a sip of water, and get back in there!
Of course, getting back in there is tough if you spent too long at your vendor’s complimentary caipirinha bar. And that’s why you always must...
5. Get enough sleep
Traveling to and from New York or Düsseldorf or wherever else is tiring in itself; to show up in advance of a high-intensity event can be exhausting. I and many others I’ve met over nearly a decade of the expo circuit rely on Melatonin for a good night’s sleep post-flight, others meditate, and some don’t need anything to hit the ground running.
Retail fairs like NRF, EuroShop, and EuroCIS are excellent opportunities to connect with new and long-standing customers and partners. They can be chaotic, but that is part of the attraction, part of the energy that helps carry attendees through the long days.
For companies like Xovis, the wow factor of live demos at major events is what makes them so attractive for doing business. And the discussions we have and memories we take away from those days keep us coming back...with comfortable shoes!
Tags: | retail | retail expo | NRF | EuroCIS | EuroShop | in-store analytics | KPI | customerflow |
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