This article was written by Luis Suter, Sales Director at MapTiler. He recently took a team to Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 in Barcelona at the beginning of March and has written up his key takeaways from the conference. Curious about nailing your strategy at an industry show with nearly 110,000 attendees? Read on!
Context is key: How did MapTiler end up at MWC25?
MapTiler is proudly Swiss. As I’ve spent time in the Swiss business ecosystem, I’ve seen that the associations of excellence and finesse live up to expectations. Switzerland has been the perfect platform for our success, and it continues to yield fruit.
Since 2021, MapTiler has participated in the Innosuisse Start-up Coaching, a consulting programme for companies transitioning from seed to scale-up. With Innosuisse, we were able to apply to “Pick your Fair”, a financing package aimed at strengthening participants' GTM strategy through relevant industry fairs.
Surprise, surprise, we chose MWC. I first attended in 2023 with a small team of 4, and it was a resounding success. Buoyed by positive team feedback, I decided to bring a bigger team back this year and as part of the Swiss Technology pavilion organized by Switzerland Global Enterprise, to take the bull by the horns!
Planning for such an event can be daunting, but seeing that work pay off and representing your company is doubly rewarding! I’m writing this article to paint a picture of what it’s like to lead a team at a major industry show, and share what I learned in March.
In a nutshell, these were about:
- Brand
- Product
- Team training
- Sales strategy
- Team bonding
Learning 1: Think about your brand, think about your stand!
As well as the usual work you’d expect from a Sales Director, I also have a focus on brand strategy. I love it! It’s varied, creative, and requires a different skill set from sales. I was recently reminded why events are the best way to validate your brand strategy
Standing out at an event this size requires rigorous attention to detail. I can’t stress this enough: every detail matters.
- What will people look at?
- What will they hear?
- What will they taste?
Yes, taste! Like merch, it can and should be used meaningfully to tell your brand’s story. Everyone loves free stuff, especially premium Swiss chocolate.
Think of the experience like a game. How will your stand attract your prospects past the floating crowds, the background noise, and dancing robots so you can engage them enough to either have a productive chat or so that they never forget your brand?
Already part of the SwissTech pavilion organized by Switzerland Global Enterprise, which had an impressive presence, we kept it simple. A logo positioned top-centre to capture attention; a TV screen showing our maps, and tables with merch and laptops for demos. The minimalism worked really well, but with hindsight, we could have gone bigger for the demos — something like an interactive kiosk screen.
Regarding merch, do not overlook it! Someone who takes and then uses one of your pencils, for example, or the trendy cool running scarf with a map of Barcelona (we do maps, remember?) will have MapTiler brought to the forefront of their memory. It’s powerful when done well — only 3 pencils remained.
Learning 2: Note down everything said on your product
I also come away from MWC with a new appreciation that there are huge opportunities to improve your product and validate market fit available if you prepare your team and get them all on-board with active listening, note taking, and insight sharing.
Managing a team of 7 added a layer of complexity. Some of the structures I put in place for targeting competitors and logging conversations fell away in the heat of the moment. You have to strike the balance between preparing well and unnecessary over-prep!
Our team included sales, customer success, and marketing personnel, but if I have one regret, it’s not bringing someone directly from the product team. The conversations around the stand make for wonderfully unfiltered and honest product analysis compared to demos, where guards can be up and both parties have business goals!
When I decided to write this article, I sent my staff a quick form to collect feedback on the event. I’m glad I did, because it teased out some key product insights from MWC, like our 3D displays appearing more impressive than our competitors. Most interestingly, many people chose our product as a European alternative to major US companies.
Learning 3: An event like MWC25 is a big moment for your team
In a similar vein, you need to properly prepare your sales staff because it is possible that, for a distributed team like many companies have today, an event like this is one of the first times a sales rep is exposed to direct, in-person selling.
As many of my staff discovered, capturing someone's attention face-to-face in a 10-minute conversation is a very different kettle of fish to doing everything online!
My team are world-class at delivering online sales experiences as that is what they do day in, day out. In a mostly inbound operation, they know exactly how to answer complex discovery questions. However, the people visiting the stand weren’t interested in highly technical analysis — they just wanted to get excited!
Sometimes it’s harder to sell the dream, but sometimes it has to be done.
Watching my team grow in confidence and competence during MWC25 was an absolute pleasure.
Learning 4: Manage your pipeline expectations
Events like these can be incredible pipeline generators if you understand what type of lead you’re getting, manage expectations on what can be achieved, and get your team hyper-focused on achieving these goals.
From watching my team at MWC, I picked up on the following key characteristics in sales conversations:
- People are in a rush — everyone at these events is busy! Your average passerby has many stands to visit, their own sales ambitions to meet, and their own networking to do. You’ll probably only be able to get 3 minutes of their time, if you’re lucky!
- Events attract a diverse group — it’s not just about potential buyers! Expect CEOs scoping your business for a purchase, random curious passersby, people from the media, and existing product users looking to give direct feedback. You’ll need to prepare your team to handle each conversation lightly and individually.
- Prepare for new opportunities and existing ones — you will get some brand new business, but it’s also possible you’ll meet existing customers who represent opportunities for upselling. You’ll need to research who might attend the event.
The rush of an event like MWC25 means any attempt to hit specific metrics just isn’t realistic. I’ll set simple targets for my team next year that respect the nature of these conversations better.
Learning 5: It’s really, really fun!
Look, I don’t mean to point out the obvious, but how can it not be fun? Working remotely can get lonely sometimes, but that’s not to say it’s without connection. We all understand that with time, we start to care for the people we work with as friends.
Getting your team together for these kinds of events boosts buy-in, makes it all make sense and creates memories that can be shared in team meetings afterwards. After all, is there really any point in committing so much time to something if we don’t enjoy it?
Look at the smiles in these photos and tell me it won’t make a difference! It is “just a bit of fun”, but it counts! It all counts.
What more needs saying?
And now some final cheese
I’m so, so proud of my team. I saw my team grow in confidence in just a few days, and I know that, ultimately, the positive impact will be felt for many months to come.
Of course, there are areas where we can improve, and it’s my job now to take stock over the coming months and prepare for next year’s event even better.
I need to think deeper about providing the strongest possible foundation for my staff to enter that stand and perform at their best. But after my experience this year, I’m pretty sure my objectives are:
- Refining our brand strategy and thinking deeper about our stand
- Improving the presence of the Product at the event
- Integrating Sales training for the team in the months leading up to the event
- Simplifying our stand pipeline generation strategy
- Getting the most out of our valuable in-person time together!
A wonderful experience I’m looking forward to repeating.
Thank you for reading!
