After the first recorded use of the phrase "very important person" by British authors in the 1930s, the concept of handling dignitaries with special care quickly passed into popular usage. In the context of face-to-face marketing, however, VIP status is typically bestowed upon highly treasured clients, prospects, and attendees. And, whether they realize it or not, the underlying reason why exhibit and event managers covet these important individuals is based on a 124-year-old concept called the Pareto Principle, named after the Italian economist and philosopher Vilfredo Pareto, which posits that 80 percent of a company's revenues will often originate from just 20 percent of its customers.

For exhibitors, how to attract these profitable clients and prospects – who generate the lion's share of their sales, revenues, or other objectives – can often prove challenging, as typical trinkets and traffic builders aren't likely to confer the appropriate status this desirable lot deserves. So to help you develop a successful VIP strategy for your next trade show endeavor or corporate event, here are five examples of companies that found the key to these exclusive customers' hearts and minds by offering them everything from high-value lures to gold-star laurels.

Nothing to Lose
VIPs are in constant demand, both from inside their own establishments and from outside firms that hanker to do business with these movers and shakers. This makes drawing them into the booth at highly trafficked trade shows an obstacle for exhibitors that sometimes can only be hurdled with an irresistible come-on. So for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) show, which can host more than 1,200 competing exhibitors, Iatric Systems Inc. needs an exhibit strategy that will ensure it holds in-booth conversations with a target audience of hospital chief information officers and executives who wield enormous decision-making power in their institutions.

While prepping for HIMSS seven years ago, the health-care technology firm began developing a powerful lure: nothing at all. It initiated this empty gesture by mailing 25 VIPs a package for an upscale Bose noise-canceling headphone. But when the highly valued recipients opened the mailing, they found not a headset, but a note informing them that they could claim the coveted item if they came to the Iatric booth for a private meeting to discuss their most pressing needs.

Iatric's quid pro quo worked as well as the Bose headphones themselves, prompting all 25 recipients to show up for one-on-one talks and, of course, to accept their gifts. In fact, teasing its VIP audience with a bit of delayed gratification worked so well that Iatric has dangled a tempting thank-you gift at every subsequent HIMSS show, expanding the pool of VIPs it targets and consistently offering a high-end lure that is positively au courant (and tied into each year's booth theme), such as an Apple Watch, iPad, Kindle, GoPro, or analog Rocketbook Everlast Notebook. As a result, the company routinely draws at least 100 out of 150 VIPs to in-booth meetings with little more than empty packages – proving that, contrary to centuries of folk wisdom, you can get something for nothing.

House Party
At the ConExpo/Con-Agg show in Las Vegas, Caterpillar Inc. gave its premier current and prospective customers, as well as its leading suppliers, a chance to schmooze with company executives while reveling in a celebration on a scale as large as its 1,080-ton hydraulic shovels. Featuring a band complete with a harpist, magicians displaying dazzling sleight of hand, Cirque-esque aerial contortionists emerging from the ceiling on strips of flamboyantly colored silks, and a DJ spinning a playlist of tunes spanning from Donna Summer to Beyoncé, Caterpillar's three successive nighttime events in the 51,000-square-foot Forum Ballroom at Caesar's Palace was the ConExpo/Con-Agg equivalent of Elton John's Oscar party.
But the event was only the first part of Caterpillar's one-two promotional punch. Knowing how well the celebration would resonate with its audience, the company also constructed a serene discussion area where guests could easily step out of the party for a parley with senior executives, dealers, and other Caterpillar personnel.

Designed to feel like an outdoor garden area, the room featured a pergola-like shaded walkway and tranquil green LED lighting. Here, momentarily removed from the convivial commotion of the event, dealers and customers had in-depth shop talks. And when they were done, a few footsteps took them right back into the blowout to celebrate whatever business was just closed. Simply understanding the way its top clients like to volley between the business and boisterous ends of the spectrum allowed Caterpillar to give them a kind of VIP experience they were likely to value far more than a mere tchotchke.

Personalized Pendants
Health care is an industry in which the more personalized the provider's treatment is for a patient, the more productive it is likely to be. In a similar vein, the more personalized an exhibitor's treatment is for a VIP, the more productive – and maybe more profitable – it will likely be for the exhibitor's bottom line. Derse Inc. took that very approach at the Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association's HCEAConnect show, where it planned to celebrate the craft of what constitutes an extraordinary customer experience. Before the event commenced, the face-to-face marketing company invited VIPs to visit the booth and talk with staffers about how Derse can help them create touchpoints that feel less like prefabricated, cookie-cutter experiences and more like ones individually curated by human hands.

Proving it could not just talk the talk but also walk the walk, Derse showed the VIPs what such an experience would feel like firsthand. Harnessing the visually and personality-rich aspects of the DIY craft concept familiar to most attendees through sites such as Etsy and Amazon Handmade, Derse invited each VIP booth visitor to choose an inspirational word, e.g., "shine," "aspire," "believe," and "joy," that described what's most important to him or her, as well as the role he or she played in face-to-face marketing. After pondering for a few moments, guests selected their word of choice from a list of options.

While staffers engaged the booth visitor in conversation about Derse's capabilities, another staffer manning a dedicated station assembled a custom necklace with the VIP's chosen word embossed on a slim piece of metal and then presented it to the prospect to take home as a wearable keepsake. A tangible embodiment of Derse's ability to create highly unique and personal experiences, the necklaces resonated with recipients, most of whom donned the trinkets before exiting the exhibit.

We Are the Champions
Every company enjoys and even exalts the customers that champion its brand. But IBM Corp. takes that appreciation to another level entirely with its IBM Champions, an annually selected group of 650 to 700 influencers in a variety of industries who are known for their innovative use of IBM technologies. Every year the technology giant celebrates these high-tech tastemakers by bringing them en masse to the company's Think event, where it showcases its latest products and developments. And to draw as many of the august trendsetters as possible, IBM offers neither gifts nor giveaways, but enviable status.
First, the group receives personalized invitations to the global event. Once those who RSVPed arrive on site, they're offered special dedicated seating in any of the general sessions they'd previously registered for, including workshops on quantum computing and artificial intelligence. When the Champions enter the sessions and move toward their seats, they find their pictures, names, and quotes about them running on a looped video displayed on a large screen at the front of the room. As a bonus, their seats are placed near the stage where IBM execs also assemble, giving the guests a chance to hobnob with the corporate honchos before and/or after the session.

The special treatment continues with skybox access for the event's concerts, which feature such entertainers as Barenaked Ladies and the Chainsmokers, as well as meet and greets with celebrity speakers, including the famed astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dr. Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space. But the feeling of being a valued part of an inner sanctum doesn't terminate when the event does. Following Think, IBM Champions are invited to participate in a special focus group where their feedback is solicited on every facet of the event.

After they return home, the elite conclave receives routine follow-ups, such as quarterly calls during which IBM gauges their gut reactions to its plans for the next event, subsequently tweaking and modifying Think to ensure its ongoing success – and to foster a sense of ownership among the Champions. Besides scoring front-row seats at sessions and fraternizing with celebs, Champions enjoy an additional fringe benefit that results from IBM putting them in the spotlight: They're often offered various speaking opportunities that enable them to further raise their visibility, build their personal brands, and extend their professional spheres of influence.

Blueprint for Success
Exhibitors often nestle their VIP customers into their booths' meeting rooms, where attention can be focused on them with the intensity of a laser beam. Trouble is, those private locales are typically as generic as an Ikea outlet, and the meetings themselves are about as exciting as Skyping with your grandparents. That's why Cisco Systems Inc. turns its meeting space for CIO-level customers at the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo into a minimalist-cool setting that would charm even the most jaded hipster.

When executives arrive at the company's exhibit for preset appointments, staffers usher them into the Cisco Blueprint Studio. Designed to look and feel like a trendy urban studio, the custom-constructed space boasts brushed concrete walls and brick and rustic-wood accents that seem more like a tech startup's HQ in Brooklyn, NY, than a by-the-numbers in-booth meeting space.

Once inside, the Cisco staffer and VIP guest sit down for a deep-dive conversation facilitated by a proprietary app loaded onto a Microsoft Surface studio tablet. While they chat, the staffer makes notes about the VIP's pain points and Cisco's possible solutions. When the convo winds to a close, the staffer transmits the collected info to a nearby 24-inch mobile laser device that proceeds to etch a kind of hybrid artwork/document onto an 11.7-by-16.5-inch sheet of dual-layer plastic. Much like making a high-tech stencil, the laser burn off parts of the dark top layer, thus forming words and images where its patterned cutting reveals the white layer below. The result is a blueprint-like summary of the meeting's key takeaways that acts as a singular keepsake and an ingenious illustration of Cisco's cleverness and creativity.