Expo Etiquette: From Hawkeye to Hijack

Jeff Klineman Mar. 4, 2024 at 9:14 AM

The Hawkeye. The sidle-and-speak. The straight-up hijack. The walkaway. You might not know the names for these practices, but by the time you’ve been through a day or two at Expo West, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered them – or even done them to someone else. Like backpacking, they’re customs that live in the gray zone between mosh pit survival and bad manners that emerges from the frenzy of introductions, catch-ups and transactions that define most Expo conversations.

As longtime beverage consultant Bill Sipper stated in a recent blog post about conferences in general, “the only thing thicker than the crowds is the catalog of unspoken social faux pas.”

To put definitions to the names, the Hawkeye is the act of speaking with one person while roaming your glance around and over their body to see if someone you’re more interested in meeting or seeing might come along.

Consensus is it’s rude: You shouldn’t be speaking with someone you aren’t really paying attention to. But amongst a crowd of thousands, it’s a rude but necessary evil. You wouldn’t unleash the Hawk at a dinner, or a high school reunion – we’ve all outgrown that. Expo is, along with an opportunity to market and sell, a chance to create serendipitous connections – and sometimes the emphasis is more on the creation aspect than the serendipity. After all, you never know how many chances you’ll have to chase down, say, John Foraker in the wild, and you know Expo is one of them, so if it’s on your mental priorities list, you can’t help but keep an eye peeled.

So do it, but just don’t be rude about it. Let people know up front that you’re on the lookout for Foraker from the get-go.

“You’re going to be bombarded with all sorts of people you may or may not want to talk to,” said BFY Capital’s Gigi Lee Chang, who has attended as both an exhibitor and as a capital provider. “You’re likely looking out for the buyer badge or the investor badge, but if you choose to engage with someone, you need to be respectful. Just say ‘I’m expecting a meeting, I’m looking out for someone.’”

Beyond avoiding bad manners, letting your partner know in advance makes them your ally, your co-conspirator within the social construct that is this island-in-the-whitewater-stream moment of conversation. Also, it gives you a natural out – “Ok, I’m back on the hunt for John Foraker!” – whether or not you actually want to see John Foraker.

The sidle-and-speak is less about getting out of conversations than getting into them. As with at a cocktail party, you lurk and wait for a chance to join a conversation. Again, it’s a fine line – you are interested in making a connection of some kind, but you don’t want to be a jerk just to get the card of the assistant buyer at the South Provo organic gas station and youth hostel.

“Be mindful of your surroundings and the other person’s agenda,” noted Interact Marketing founder Blake Mitchell. “If your agendas align, awesome. But keep it loose and flowy.”

“Of course you want to be present, but you want to be aware of what’s going on in the room,” Mitchell adds.”I’m not trying to have any one conversation in that room – I’m trying to get as much knowledge into my mind as I can. And then I become very dangerous.”

Meetings are tough on the floor, Chang agrees. It’s better to set a time or propose one for later, because there’s a ton of crowding and competition

“If there’s a serious conversation to be had, try to do it outside of show hours and the show floor,” Chang said. “You might be able to get some more attention then.”

Still, trying to get someone off the show floor can also bring you into another frowned-upon move, the hijack. In the Expo environment, taking up too much of someone’s time for your own agenda – or blocking someone out of their own important conversation – is a cardinal sin. Just don’t do it – if you have to interrupt, return the person to their original conversation, if it’s still available, or risk burning in heck. Meanwhile, if you’re approaching a booth, remember that you have stuff to do, but so does that person on the opposite side of the sample station.

“If someone is really monopolizing your time and not picking up on your verbal and non-verbal cues, it’s fair to be honest and polite,” said Susan Hartman, co-founder of Recoup beverage. “Say, ‘hey I’d love to chat more after the show, but this is a really big opportunity for us so I need to get back to the booth.’”

Remember, though, that brushing someone off politely is very different from ignoring them completely, because just about everyone is at the show to do business. Be mindful that just because someone isn’t your gender, ethnic background, age, or other marker, it doesn’t mean you can’t work together – and it certainly means you shouldn’t pretend they don’t exist.

In other words, be conscious of your own biases. At times, offenders aren’t aware that they’re brushing off people from a lens of exclusivity or inclusivity. Other times, behavior gets even worse – the harassment policies in place are a reminder that Expo is for everyone, and everyone deserves at least human respect, even if they’re not on your daily task list.

That’s a serious piece to remember. Less serious: Stop crowding the aisle. Let the people pass, no matter how hard you’re trying to keep an eye – just one eye, of course – open for John Foraker.

Read more: Nosh’s Unofficial Guide to Expo West

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