As we close off on our fourth year of running a stand at EMCON, the Engineering & Manufacturing Network’s annual exhibition and conference, we take time to reflect on the event.

For us, it was a very positive day of activity that involved learning about other local businesses and their services, connecting with like-minded individuals and sharing knowledge on what we do.  It brought together the movers and shakers of the North-east manufacturing and engineering world and enabled the showcasing of a diverse range of services with a footfall of a couple of thousand feet from all walks of industry.  We choose the events we attend quite strategically and EMCON always delivers on our objectives.

For us as a business with priorities and goals, it’s now time to get down to those facts and figures and look at the return on investment, both time and money.  We set out with leads targets and afterwards, we reflect on whether we met them.  We were, in fact, five short of the fifteen we set, but we were very happy with the ones we got. It’s definitely the quality over quantity argument for us getting the right leads as opposed to the number.  We are not a traditional model of transactional business selling widgets, but one that is educating high energy-use businesses on energy transformation and the switch to heating and chilling systems that are kinder to the planet.  We are not a click-a-button-and-buy-now business, we meet to engage and educate first, sales come later.

Our products and services [renewables solutions, heat and chill system controls and maintenance services packages] inevitably come at a higher financial cost short term but the return on investment comes medium term due to energy savings and it provides the added feel-good factor of being much kinder to the environment and meeting net zero targets. It’s a longer, but more worthwhile journey for all parties, and events like EMCON facilitate this process for us in a far more superior way than an email, call or even face-to-face meeting, as it comes with an added dynamic – the buzz of the masses with aligned outlooks and objectives.

It’s a bit of a finger in the air calculation, but if every exhibitor at EMCON got ten leads like us, that equates to roughly a thousand collectively, which is no doubt a very conservative figure. This is when the power of these events becomes evident.  If you consider the numbers translating into pounds, one day in the diary has helped to sustain our businesses, energise the wider supply chain and inevitably boost the North-east economy.  One event becomes a win on multi-levels.

With the EMCON event wrapped up for another year, we will pick up with our contacts over the next week or so, whilst we continue planning for our up-coming event, the North East Automotive Alliance Expo at the Beacon of Light on 26th September.  This is another network membership we chose carefully to meet our goals, aware of the benefits we can bring to our local automotive industry.  If you would like to find out more, join us on the day and book a meeting in with Nick, our Business Development Lead, on our booking form Meet us at NEAA Expo, Sunderland Beacon of Light. – Calibrate Energy Engineering.