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uLesson
Jul 20

TOSSE 2022 welcomes uLesson as official partner

The organizers of Africa’s biggest Education event, the Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) officially welcomes uLesson as a TOSSE 2022 partner.

According to the CEO of Edumark Consult, Mrs Yinka Ogunde, the partnership clearly demonstrates the commitment of uLesson towards the transformation of the Education sector across Africa.

She stated that as the leading learning App for students in the Primary, Junior and Secondary School, uLesson is adding a lot of value to the Education sector.

uLesson leverages best in-class teachers, media, and technology to create high-quality, affordable and accessible education for students. The uLesson app offers students in Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary School a holistic learning experience as well as those preparing for WASSCE, JAMB, NECO and GCE exams.

The uLesson app features over 10,000 interactive quizzes with detailed solutions; making it an excellent tool for preparing for and cracking their exams. Students can also take advantage of quality resources put together by subject matter experts to pass their exams. The app also helps students learn time management, exam formats, and accuracy skills.

Other product offerings ranging from uLesson’s education tab to its coding school will be displayed at TOSSE 2022.

The Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition( TOSSE) is an annual event that brings together key stakeholders in the Education Community.

The 14th Edition is scheduled to hold on the 1st and 2nd of September at the Ten Degrees Event Centre, Billings way, Oregun, Lagos.

To register for the event, click here.

Exhibitions stands at TOSSE
May 30

5 Steps to attract more customers to your exhibitions booth

It is said that to be outstanding, one must do things differently. This is a trait in any business/organization that is currently dominating the market, especially when it comes to exhibitions.

Perhaps, your business or organization has been exhibiting at events and have not seen the desired results on your investment there. Then it is time for a change.

As organisers of the biggest trade show in Africa with over 7000 attendees, we have listed 5 steps to help your business/organization attract more potential customers to your booth at exhibitions.

Exhibitions at TOSSE

If you want to get a good return on your investment, then you must be able to separate yourself from the crowd of other exhibitors at the event by attracting the majority of the traffic to your booth. Below are the steps to help you achieve that.

Steps to help you attract customers to your exhibition booth

  1. Create a buzz factor: One feedback every marketing executive would like to hear from customers at exhibitions is that they saw their stand and patronized them at the event. One way to maximize this is to create a social media buzz even before the exhibition day. Use your social media pages to tell your audience that you will be part of a particular exhibition and begin to warm your prospects up by showing them irresistible offers and packages you have prepared for them at the exhibitions. This way, you have aroused their interest, and they will be on the lookout for your exhibition booth at the event.
  2. Use mini-influencers: You may wonder what this means? This is basically getting your best customers or people around you with a strong following both online and offline to promote your presence at the exhibition. Remember, this is a 5-step list and they are to be followed semantically. You will be getting a customer or good friend to post something like this: “(name of product/service) has helped me develop myself in so many ways. They will be at (exhibition name), make sure you check out their stand at the exhibition”. Remember, nothing travels faster than word of mouth whether online or offline. With these testimonials, you are beginning to build the interest in your booth.
  3. Pre-event Follow-up: Before a tradeshow starts, usually, there would be a buzz weeks before and depending on the magnitude of the exhibition, people may have been posting their attendance confirmations online or offline, and this is another goldmine where you can trap leads from. One easy way to do that is to simply follow the hashtag on social media e.g #TOSSE2022, and see all the posts of people who have signaled their interest, and begin to filter them to see those that fit your customer description. Then send them personal invites and materials to educate them about your products to show that you want to see them in your booth at the exhibition.
  4. Get inbound traffic: Note that we are talking about doing things differently to attract potential customers to your booth. One of the traditional things done at exhibitions is that exhibitors get one of their staff to distribute their flyers or brochures to the attendees. This still works, but there is something better, which is using challenges, contests, giveaways, mystery games and other ideas that naturally calls people attention. People love freebies, and these kinds of things, hence increasing the amount of leads you are getting into your booth and that also increases your chances of converting them while they are inside.
  5. Post-event Follow-up: Remember, you are trying to get them to make a decision and it may not necessarily be at the exhibition, so you must follow them all through the decision making process. Get their social media handles and thoroughly check up on them to see how your products and services can help them, lookout for their needs, celebrate them on their special days and build a relationship afterwards, and you will have some become lifetime customers of your business/organization.

These are 5 steps which when followed will bring a vast amount of traffic who are potential leads that can become your customers. It may sound like a lot of work, but if you want to make sales and achieve your goals as an exhibitor, you must be ready to do this.

Don’t forget to also check out our article on how to improve your Brand presence at exhibitions.

Brand flyer
Apr 19

How to maximize your Brand presence at Exhibitions

It takes a lot of marketing efforts to sell-out innovative products/services to key decision makers in most sectors.

Event hosts will propose a value driven partnership that will offer your organisation different opportunities, but you must also know what you want to achieve with your marketing objectives.

An exhibition event

Here is a checklist to help you maximize your brand presence at exhibitions, trade shows and seminars and generate .

  1. Branding of Seminar Room: With sponsorship, your organisation has the opportunity to brand any of the seminar rooms making your brand visible to thousands of participants and other exhibitors at the event.
  2. Official Bag Branding: Your organisation’s logo on official bags to be given to all participants. The below-the-line advertising keeps your brand name in the minds of the audience.
  3. 3m by 3m Well-located Stand: Your organization should be allocated a 3 meters by 3 meters exhibition stand in a unique position that is open to the traffic of visitors and prospective clients.
  4. Presentation Opportunity: In-event speaking engagement to boost your brand equity. It is best practice to get a time slot to make a sales pitch to thousands of participants at the event.
  5. Press Conference Right: A special mention and participation at the exhibition’s press briefing will further put your brand out there to the prying eyes of the media.
  6. Ushers Branding Right: Your Company’s logo at the back of the T-Shirt of all Ushers will give your brand 360 degree awareness at the event.
  7. Pre and Post Event Advisory Service: Get pre/post event advisory services on how to better chart your path in the Education sector for greater customer conversion.
  8. Pre and Post Event Brand Publicity: Pre-event offline and online promotional campaign for brand presence at the event will drive footfall to your exhibition stand. This will create some form of familiarity between your brand and prospective clients.

Get access to over 7000 attendees at Africa’s biggest education show, register here

The list is not exhaustible but your organization can use this checklist to negotiate for the best deals that will maximize your brand presence at exhibitions which will ultimately convert to quality leads for your business.

Furthermore, organizations also need to recognize the value of leads acquired to put that information into use after events. You can read more about this here.

To exhibit at TOSSE 2022, register here to apply for stand.

TOSSE Covid-19 restriction flyer
Apr 08

TOSSE to operate at maximum capacity as FG lifts Covid-19 restrictions

In March of 2021, we called for a meeting to debate if TOSSE 2021 event should hold or not. There was a mixed feeling across the roundtable, some people expressed their fears of the federal government restrictions on numbers, while some others were optimistic and put in their vote to go on.

We had the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSC) with its Safety Marshals in charge of permit and monitoring attendees’ control to contend with, we worried about the COVID-19 scare and we also had limited time to convince stakeholders that we had put in place adequate measure to keep everyone safe and secured.

TOSSE 2021 was not just a successful event, it was an edition that reaffirmed our belief that anything is possible with the right team and the right plan.

On the 6th of April 2022, the Federal government of Nigeria lifted the restrictions on the limited numbers of persons at gatherings and the nation-wide midnight curfew imposed in 2019.

The removal of restrictions was decided in view of the declining number of cases; the reduced risk of importation of new variants, as well as the availability of vaccines. Other parts of the world are also beginning to open up to businesses, international travellers, events and tourists.

TOSSE 2022 is now open to welcome attendees from the 36 states of the federation and visitors from around the world to partake in the 20+ seminars for school owners, administrators, teachers and stakeholders in the education sector.

There will be an impressive display of innovative products/services that can positively change the way schools businesses are managed and how knowledge is delivered.

TOSSE also presents an opportunity to international and local producers/suppliers of Educational resources or solutions to meet key stakeholders in the sector for a profitable business transaction.

TOSSE offers a 5% early bird discount for exhibitors that come in before the end of April.

For more updates on TOSSE: Follow us on our social media pages below:

Like us on Facebook @Total School Support Seminar/Exhbition

Follow us on Twitter @TOSSEAFRICA

Follow us on Instagram @Tosseeducationshow

May 24

How Likely Are You to Buy from Yourself – Thinking Like The Customer

Marketing your business has evolved over time. Apart from the traditional methods of marketing, one way to get a proper marketing strategy is by getting into the mind of the consumer. Let us do a little exercise to help do this.

Everyone is familiar with role-playing games. Let’s do a little role play now: You are the customer and you want to purchase an item or service from your franchise. Be completely honest, will you be willing to sanction the purchase? There are a few parameters you can use to evaluate this. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • How easily did I find the product?
  • How does the product compare with other competitors in the market?
  • Is there any benefit from further patronage?
  • How good is the customer service?
  • Does the product keep up with recent technological trends?

The idea of this exercise is to make you understand exactly the thought process of the consumers. This will give you a basis to work with a  better strategy.

Reverse-Engineer Your Findings To Your Benefit

After going through the process of getting into the consumer’s mindset, you most likely would find areas where improvements or adjustments can be made. You would find that you would be able to understand your customers better. This will help you to be able to tailor your correspondence to them in the future.

Showcase Your Product/Service At Africa’s Biggest Education Tradeshow & Conference 

If you can see yourself on the same level as your customers you can better drive customer loyalty and develop the trust that is so important these days and it humanizes your company and enhances your marketing capability. In the end, you will be able to anticipate your customer’s needs because you are thinking just like them. It will put you in the best spot to market with confidence.

Apr 09

Creating Virtual Opportunities in Business During Lockdown

Quite a number of places had some degree of lockdown imposed on them in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has sorely affected most businesses, big or small. In a previous article, we visited the possibilities of making social media a veritable tool for your business marketing and visibility. This article will discuss important steps to digitise your business.

Working from home has gained popularity over time, however, it has been a slow process. Running a virtual business has numerous benefits, not least of which is that it costs arguably less to run. Despite reservations about the idea from many, it has become a necessity for businesses to explore this mode of running a business as the restrictions to movement lingers. The following are some steps that can be followed in creating a virtual workspace.

Create Online Awareness

This is a very obvious step, so it goes right on top. For the same reason you would expect your physical business to be known around its physical location (unless you run a shady business of course 😉), your virtual business can do with online publicity. Social media remains a primary tool for this. This space gives you visibility and engagements, as has been discussed earlier.

Social media does not do it all, though. Your business needs its own private space, space where all your offerings and information can be seen. You need an up-to-date website that is easy to navigate. Websites do not personalise your business, however. For this reason, it is encouraged to run a blog also. Blogs provide a personal feeling about your business. People are more likely to patronise you if they feel there is a person behind it and not just a “mindless bot”.

Create a Business Plan

You need to identify what your business offers in terms of goods and services – what your business CAN offer. You need also to have a clear vision and set boundaries, create an effective working process, and have realistic targets. This helps you and members of your team to be able to be effective and have the best possible ROI in the shortest possible time.

Let all employees understand how working remotely differs from working in an office environment. Be selective when picking members of your team; not all are well suited for remote assignments and not all tasks can be handled by all members of your team.

Keep the Communication Line Open

This works for both customers and employees. There should be an open channel of communication across the designated hierarchy of your organisation. All members of your team should be comfortable coming up with ideas and putting them to those higher up the ladder. This gives them a feeling of belonging and drastically improves their input as they feel like a part of the system and not a misfit.

Regular meetings should also be set up. This will help to keep tabs on the progress of the team, communicate new plans to all, and maintain a personal relationship. Virtual meetings can be held using various platforms. Popular ones include Zoom, Skype for Business, Slack, Zoho Meeting, and WhatsApp.

Measure Productivity

Your business must first and foremost be productive. So you must have set down metrics to analyse the productivity of your business. Try not to only focus on the final outcome of a particular process. Evaluate various stages of the process. Use quantifiable data to measure how well you are doing. Analyse key performance indicators (KPIs) diligently and be willing to make changes to certain areas that seem to be lagging.

For every observation, you need to be willing to train members of your team to make them improve in that area. Do not stop at measuring the team as a whole, observe individual members of the team and help any such who might be behind to keep up. Make sure to have a rewards system as well as extra motivation.

Be Realistic

It will not be easy getting used to the remote working system for sure. There might be some losses along the way, maybe more. But with proper planning and determination, a virtual workspace will yield dividends. Overall, it’ll pay off!

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Mar 13

Edumark Unveils Exciting Plans for TOSSE 2020

Edumark, popularly known as the “education company”, has made known its plans for the 12th edition of TOSSE (Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition). The educational exhibition has been a haven for educational bodies, institutions, educational influencers, teachers as well as students to connect, share ideas, and learn from each other new innovative strategies and techniques that can bolster educational productivity in their schools.

The announcement was made by Mr. Ibrahim Oguntoyinbo who emphasized that TOSSE has been the go-to event for school owners, businesses and influencers in the educational sector to converse, share and sell ideas that would improve the quality of education in Nigeria as well as enlighten and train the teaching workforce about the dynamism of education and why they need to be abreast of new educational changes and how to adapt to it.

He stated that the TOSSE 2020 theme which is “Think, Innovate, Impact” is targeted at revamping the educational sector to promote explosive creativity and innovation at all educational levels, seeing that innovation is the spark that lends credence to productive learning. Having achieved so much in previous years through quality Teachers Training Seminars and effective branding and marketing for productivity in school business, TOSSE is set to hit for higher milestones through its insightful seminars and discussions, some of which Mr. Ibrahim Oguntoyinbo highlighted being:

  • Leading for Progress, Profit and Purpose
  • 10 Principles for Principals
  • Becoming a Winning Leader in a Difficult School
  • Beyond Academics: Teaching for Social Progress.

Edumark’s TOSSE has, in previous years, raked in over 7000 guests and is set to witness an explosive attendance of 10,000 guests and above from every part of the world. The event also promises an array of insightful activities and experiences where educators and guests can meet, chat and do business with over 120 companies from diverse countries. Educators and students can also brush up their skills and learn through several Masterclass sessions, free seminars, and IT classes.

TOSSE 2020 promises the very best of educational exhibitions, as several well-respected companies would be present at the event. Some of these are:

DLA Toys

DLA Toys offers parents, schools and the general public the opportunity to create the dream playground for their kids, in a secured and safe environment as well as various types of playground equipment, toys, modern, classroom, and decorations and facilities.   
Evans Publishers

Evans Brothers Nigeria Publishers Limited has continued to thrive in the development of high quality educational and curriculum-based books, as well as leisure books, all of which would be readily available for school owners to browse through to update their school’s catalogue of books.

Zeco Schoolwears

Zeco Schoolwears is one of the leading clothing companies focused on providing top quality school uniforms, school accessories for top schools all over the world. Zeco School wears have also featured consistently in previous TOSSE events, providing school owners with top quality school accessories.

Several other companies such as Nocett Academic Services, Safe School and Nexcel Group would be in attendance at the event with an aim to providing quality educational services and offers to educational institutions present at the event.

The event which is set to run for a week, starting from June 1st to 5th, would be held at Ten Degrees Events Centre, Billingsway, Oregun, Lagos, and would be the first of its kind as it would be a week-long experience to learn, meet international educators like Prof. Kirsti Lonka (Author of Phenomenal Learning from Finland) who would be lecturing on leadership for teachers. The TOSSE Event 2020 is where teachers, educators as well as education-focused businesses should be to learn, do business and improve the educational sector of Nigeria.

For Inquiries and Registration, contact the TOSSE team via the following channels:

Website: www.tosse.com.ng or www.edumarkng.com

Email: info.tosse2017@gmail.com,  info@tosse.com.ng

Phone Numbers: 0708 480 8659 and 0701 120 2454.

Seminar ticket can be obtained at Eventbrite

Mar 12

Support your Alma mater by sponsoring teachers to TOSSE 2020.

 

We all desire to see consistent, strategic improvement in our Alma mater, so as to keep the banner of our alma mater flying higher than ever. This is why we are encouraging old school students of legacy schools in Nigeria to make a definite impact in improving the educational infrastructures as well as personnel development in their alma mater.

The gift of education was once given to us all, now it’s time to give back to our alma mater, to strengthen it, reinvigorate it so that more children can be educated and more success stories can be created.

This is our reason for believing that old students of legacy schools in Nigeria can help to restore the glimmer and hope that their alma mater once was to students, so as to contribute to the improvement of  quality education in their alma mater and to also inspire the current crop of learners that quality education matters.

The Total School Support Seminar and Exhibition (TOSSE) presents an opportunity for old students to make their impact felt in their respective Alma mater. TOSSE is an educational event that has produced amazing results in teacher trainings through extensive educational seminars and workshops which has greatly improved the quality of teaching personnel in the educational sector of the country.

TOSSE is also the biggest education event in Africa, with an impressive attendance of 7000 guests and exhibitors from all over the world in TOSSE 2019. It is a worthwhile event where parents, teachers, students, NGOs and educational facilitators meet to grow, network and advertise their schools.

The TOSSE 2020 promises to be even better with several insightful programmes like: Teachers Leadership Seminars, IT training for teachers and three Master class teacher training sessions which would imbue and certify teachers with the knowledge they need to compete favourable with their counterparts’ home and abroad.

This is a window of opportunity for old students to actively support and sponsor teachers of their old school to acquire modern teaching knowledge and leadership skills in TOSSE 2020 Master class sessions, which is focused on training millennial teachers who would make education in Nigeria, a revered profession.

There are several other advantages of supporting and sponsoring teachers of your alma mater to TOSSE 2020, aside from knowledge acquisition, attendance at TOSSE event places schools on the educational map of Nigeria, so they can create networks that would help the school grow and develop in the educational sphere of Nigeria.

Make your Alma mater proud again by supporting and sponsoring your old school’s teachers and educators to ensure that the future of your alma mater remains bright.

 

Mar 03

Running A Successful Business In A Fluctuating Economy

With the economy fluctuating these days, making a profit from businesses has become considerably harder. This is even more so for small/medium scale businesses that do not have the financial stability to weather the storm. How then can these small businesses not only survive but also thrive? What can the owners do about it? The following tips might be helpful in running a business in a fluctuating economy.

Leverage on existing clients

Existing clients and customers are an important key to surviving a fluctuating economy. They are a means of generating steady income while incurring minimal costs in the process of finding a new customer.

Focus on the existing clients. Tailor your products to their needs. This will give you much more sales opportunities. You might also want to build customer loyalty. Look for cost-effective rewards to endear these customers to your business. Remember, however, that the quality of products/services offered is the major selling point, so focus on improving their quality to retain clients.

Cut down unnecessary costs


In order to stay afloat, it is necessary to be wary about spending on trivial or unwanted items. Be sure to do regular analysis to determine what products sell better and which does not, and then refrain from stocking up on products that do not give any real value of sorts.

Review your inventory management practices. Could there be a way to get your wares at a cheaper rate without reducing the quality? Can you get shipping alternatives that are efficient yet cost-effective? You are under no obligation to stick to the one supplier, be ready to explore other options.

Be different from competitors


However important old clients are, you are always going to need new ones to boost income. Thus, you need to research your competitors. If you are going to stand out in order to gain new clients, you are going to have to do things differently from your competitors.

Find out how they operate and look for ways to better their processes. Identify opportunities to entice prospective customers into becoming your customers.

Focus on core competencies

While it is encouraged to diversify, it will serve you far better to focus your attention on goods/services you excel at. Diversification just for the sake of it is generally a waste of time and resources. It can damage your core business by taking money and time away from what you do best and could possibly ruin your reputation.
Focus your attention on your core competencies. Any diversification should be well-calculated to achieve a particular purpose.

Do more marketing


When trying to cut costs, most businesses first slash marketing costs, at times dropping it altogether. This is the wrong approach. In times of economic fluctuations, consumers are usually restless and are looking for new options to purchase from. This provides a perfect opportunity to put your business in their faces. So don’t stop marketing. If possible, up the ante and do more marketing.

Feb 12

How Likely Are You to Buy from Yourself – Thinking Like The Customer

Marketing your business has evolved over time. Apart from the traditional methods of marketing, one way to get a proper marketing strategy is by getting into the mind of the consumer. Let us do a little exercise to help do this.

Everyone is familiar with role-playing games. Let’s do a little role play now: You are the customer and you want to purchase an item or service from your franchise. Be completely honest, will you be willing to sanction the purchase? There are a few parameters you can use to evaluate this. Ask yourself the following questions:

Secure Your Space At Africa’s Biggest Education Tradeshow & Conference

  • How easily did I find the product?
  • How does the product compare with other competitors in the market?
  • Is there any benefit from further patronage?
  • How good is the customer service?
  • Does the product keep up with recent technological trends?

 

The idea of this exercise is to make you understand exactly what the thought process of the consumers is. This will give you a basis to work with a  better strategy.

Reverse-Engineer Your Findings To Your Benefit

After going through the process of getting into the consumer’s mindset, you most likely would find areas where improvements or adjustments can be made. You would find that you would be able to understand your customers better. This will help you to be able to tailor your correspondence to them in the future.

Showcase Your Products & Services at TOSSE 2020

If you can see yourself on the same level as your customers you can better drive customer loyalty and develop the trust that is so important these days and it humanizes your company and enhances your marketing capability. In the end, you will be able to anticipate your customer’s needs because you are thinking just like them. It will put you in the best spot to market with confidence. How likely are you to buy from yourself?