There is a lot to learn and see when 70+ franchise brands of all different type, sizes and experience get into one room.

On a typical weekend at a franchise expo, I'll clock up around 18-20km a day walking around the venue, meeting and interviewing new people, talking and checking out information on new and established franchise brands exhibiting. 

I see every single brand and the way they present themselves to would-be franchise prospects dozens of time each across a weekend.

On this occasion it was made a little more difficult after literally tearing my calf muscle the day before - running from the airport carpark to check in. Ouch! (I'll spare you the photo of it)

From all those exposures to so many brands over so many years, I know what stands out and has an impact in that environment. You just know what brands are going to attract a lot of interest. 

And it's not that others who aren't mentioned below did not do well, but it was obvious these had an impact.

Many franchise brands 'launch' at an expo

A lot of emerging brands actually use franchise expos as kind of like a 'launch' of the franchise offer to the market. 

In my experience, I do think that they build it up a bit too much, thinking it is going to be some grand occasion with visions of crowds of people anxious to engage and find out more about their particular offer. 

Equally in my experience, I find many of these brands are left feeling flat as the 'launch' they were hoping for doesn't end up feeling like a 'launch' with a lot of focus on them, as they are just one brand amongst maybe 100 or so in the same location vying for attention.

If they treated it more like a real launch with a specific launch program, and had photography and videography properly capturing the moment and events, and curating that for their socials and story telling, they'd leverage so much more out of it.

What makes a good franchise expo presentation?

Nonetheless, if a franchise offer is;

• Easy to articulate,
• With warm and engaging people welcoming all comers,
• Professionally and well-presented,
• With a general script or structure (yet still personal) and clear process for what they are trying to achieve (with prospect engagement),
• With eye-catching display components, and
• Professional to-the-point collateral,

an expo will be a good place for it and probably generate a good result and add-value to the audience while there. 

You can, and should judge your would-be business by how they present themselves there.

If you're looking for a franchise

And if you’re a person looking for an opportunity, what can you take from all this?

Well, if all the components above are broadly in place, your experience with that brand is going to give you good value in your search for the right business whether you proceed further or not.

The way a brand presents their opportunity at events like this are a window to the way that brand operates. If a brand and it's people at the expo present as sloppy or worse still, disinterested in the process that they paid considerable $ to be at, then I'd suggest that you carefully factor all of that in.

I'd say don't write people off too fast, as we all have bad days and moments, but at least see it as a little bit of a red flag to re-check if the comparable professionalism you see in others, is not there.

My hope on this list below is that you might be able to find a new or interesting offer that might be of interest for you.

Lokahi Wellness

Health & wellness, salt therapy, cryotherapy, IV therapy, massage, Lymphatic drainage (and much more)

A very interesting offer that was getting people quite excited. Personally, I had four (4) franchise executives come over to specifically tell me about the brand they just saw and how impressive it was. These are large centres with multiple therapies on offer in the wellness space.

The brand had arguably the most impressive and impactful display of all at the event. Clearly, a lot of effort, expense and planning went in to making this launch of the franchise at the event a considerable success.

On talking with co-founder Kerry Thurrowgood, they started the brand after experiencing the challenges of finding and traveling to health support for  husband Scotts' back injury treatment.

One to watch in a fast-growing space.

See the brand HERE

Celebrity Ink

Shopping strip / centre-based tattoos

Clearly tattoos are undeniably mainstream, and this brand is in the market with 25+ studios located across four countries. Their focus of placement in high-traffic shopping centres is what is the standout in the pitch and growth of the brand. 

Presented really well and engaging at the expo with an impressive and interactive display. 

Simple but effective attention grabbers like the tattoo chair, cabinet and instruments, and especially having a large table with the ability to do mock designs with ink on paper - a great presentation of the brand!

Interestingly I thought, CEO Andrew McCulloch also had a lengthy stint as the CEO of Ray White, so that experience of operating a business at that scale is a good sign for this one going forward.

See the brand HERE

Pudu Robotics

Smart delivery robots for retail and other applications (think waiter)

Not a franchise for sale, but it was very effective in presenting it's offer. The brand does robotics for business purposes, like having a robot waiter in a food business bringing food over etc. A good investment for the brand with multiple good sized QSR / fast food franchise businesses and aspiring owners all around it, as well as potential distributor opportunities exposure.

The theatre of having these robots operating throughout the expo environment was an excellent presentation of their abilities.

See the brand HERE

Tropical Glow

Mobile spray tanning

An interesting offer with an engaging team, with a strong price point of entry from $40k.

The brand brought the mobile equipment with them, along with visual displays of it in operation. They always seemed quite busy with potential owners interested in the offer of a mobile tanning service with natural and organic ingredients for a comparable price of going to a salon. 

Another interesting lower price point offer that I see attracting considerable interest in the market.

See brand HERE

Studio Pilates

Health & Wellness studio

I wanted to include this brand in this list purely due to their massive video screen being the talk of the event!

Not without some expense, the eye-catching presentation of their opportunity on a roughly 6 x 3 m screen along the back wall of their stand was a huge drawcard. A serious effort and dedicated commitment to presenting their opportunity.

See brand HERE

Charlie Wilde 

Mobile Teeth Whitening

Another brand in the from $40k+ price range as a mobile option to a service where we'd traditionally go to a fixed location with much higher over head costs. Again, a great presentation, yet simple, but sophisticated, with a large chair centred that clearly caught the eye of passers-by, that resulted in stopping and chatting.

I like the offer, it is a unique offer into the market and one to keep an eye on and potentially look into.

See brand HERE

Of course, there were many more great brands and presentations!

But this set just stood out to me across the weekend for those few reasons mentioned above.

And another thing, all of these brands were great to talk to and engage with, and we're very open in our chats, so I have no hesitation in highlighting and mentioning them.

You may be surprised to know that some brands I / we approach at events like this to introduce ourselves and find out more about what they do, are not very open at all. 

Some are even downright rude and unprofessional can you believe it! For me, that says a lot about a brand...

But that's a story for another day :-)