Zonar just came back from the 2016 NAPT (National Association of Pupil Transportation) Annual Conference and had an incredible experience! In addition to the traditional booth experience (although our booth is pretty awesome) at the show, we launched our first annual Zonar After Dark: Tailgate event and a new Z Pass partner integration experience.
The Tailgate Party replaced the legacy event of the Pajama Party and ended up being a complete hit. The intention was to create an experience where we could get our partners engaged and our guests excited to participate. We were lucky enough to have the Seahawks playing the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football and planned our entire party around the football/sports theme.
To get our partners involved we had six sports-themed carnival games that each could sponsor by bringing prizes and someone to man the game – giving the partners an extra chance to chat up potential customers and new leads. With so many NAPT attendees in one place, we took advantage of the opportunity and launched the official Z Pass partner integration experience by including a Z Pass kiosk at each game to track how many people played each game and spoke to each partner.
Our Marketing department has worked to create a trade show game experience using our patented Z Pass technology in a small table top format. Our partner CI Solutions graciously printed and configured a Z Pass identification card for each NAPT attendee, and our six partners in attendance proudly showcased their Z Pass kiosks at their tailgate game, attendees were encouraged to scan each kiosk to win an NFL Shop gift card. Dennis Leach, Fleet Manager of Hazelwood School District in Missouri, was our big gift card winner.
This event brought about 200 customers, prospects and partners together for an evening full of sports themed carnival games, tailgate food and a Seahawks win– the most well attended After Dark event we’ve ever had. We also had a little over 1200 Z Pass scans between the seven kiosks we had throughout the show, giving each partner an average of 171 scans.
The final highlight of the night was getting to honor two of our amazing founders’ retirement, Bill & Brett Brinton by retiring their jerseys. This was the best place to honor them given that the pupil industry is where Zonar found its footing and so many legacy customers were in attendance.
The following day was the trade show where were able to take the Z Pass partner integration to another level by setting up a kiosk in each partner booth. Attendees of the tailgate party all received a map of the trade show floor and were encouraged to hit all seven booths to be entered to win an Apple Watch. Melissa Alto of Beaverton School Districts in Oregon was our awesome winner from the trade show! During the trade show, there were about 600 scans, giving the total number of Z Pass scans throughout the event 1803.
We want to give a big shout out to all of our amazing partners that helped make the entire experience feel like a family reunion: CI Solutions, First Student, Student Transportation News, Transfinder, Thomas Built Bus, and School Bus Safety Company. We also wouldn’t have been able to pull off any of this without the Zonar dream team of fantastic execs, sales reps and marketers.
