Last updated: 12 September 2026
Most franchise brands do not work an expo. They attend one.
They pay for the space, stand behind the counter, collect a few business cards, then decide the channel does not work.
I sat down with Tim Collett, who owns and runs the Franchising Expo in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. He has been running it for 15 years and the show itself is close to 40 years old. He has watched hundreds of brands do this well and badly.
The difference is not budget. It is what happens before the doors open and after they close.
My full conversation with Tim Collett on how franchise brands should work an expo.
Who is Tim Collett?
Tim Collett owns the Franchising Expo, held annually across Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. It has run since 1987 and is the only exhibition endorsed by the Franchise Council of Australia.
He came into exhibitions through food and boat shows, and worked the Franchising Expo in Brisbane as far back as 1993. He acquired the event around 2012, after it had been, in his words, “a little underrun for a few years.”
Thirty years of watching people walk past stands. That is the value of this conversation.
Are franchise expos worth it?
Yes, if you commit to working the stand rather than occupying it.
The objection I hear most is attribution. Can I trace a signed franchisee directly back to this show? Usually not. Tim does not dodge that.
Exhibitions are not a cult and they’re not a religion. They’re a tool. And I would say use every tool you’ve got.
Tim Collett, Franchise and Business Opportunities Expo
Nobody sees your brand for the first time at a show and signs that afternoon. Buying a franchise is a decision that runs for months.
What an expo does is move someone along. From the start of the journey to the middle. From almost-there to over the line.
That is the same problem I wrote about in the Trust Lap. A prospect hits 12 to 20 touch points before they enquire, and only the last one is visible to you. An expo is one of the few where you get to stand in front of them while it happens.
On cost, a 3m x 3m stand runs about $6,000. All three shows come to roughly $24,000 to $30,000, plus a couple of thousand for furniture and graphics. Current stand pricing sits on the exhibitor page.
Put that next to the cost of one extra staff member for a year and it is not a big number.
How do you actually work a franchise expo?
Tim’s playbook, built over 30 years of running shows, comes down to five things most brands skip.
- Promote before you go. Tell everyone you will be there. Pre-show promotion drives people straight to your stand and signals how active you are in the market.
- Design for the three-second walk-by. That is how long someone takes to pass you. Be professional and be obvious. Full-size graphics of your actual business, not too much furniture.
- Train your staff to talk to people. No phones. No eating lunch at the stand. Look up and down the aisle and ask open questions.
- Put your best franchisees on the stand. They love the brand, so they sell it better than anyone you could hire.
- Follow up. This is the step almost everyone drops.
On the graphics, Tim’s line stuck with me: “Don’t just sticky-tape things on the wall.”
On staffing the stand, the open question he recommends is as simple as it gets. What are you looking for today?
And on follow up he is blunt about it.
You’ve got to call them. Get their details, get their details, follow up.
Tim Collett
The stand is the easy part. The activity around it is where the return comes from.
Why should franchisees staff the stand instead of head office?
Because a franchisee saying they are happy carries weight that a recruitment manager saying it never will.
This is the most under-used trust asset most brands own, and it costs almost nothing. Your franchisees already believe the thing you are trying to convince a stranger of.
It is the same reason franchisee interviews outperform any brochure we have ever produced. A prospect wants to hear from someone who already handed over the money.
Pick the ones who enjoy talking. Not the biggest turnover, the best communicator.
What makes a bad expo stand?
One that is not welcoming and not obvious.
Tim’s description will be familiar to anyone who has walked a show floor. Staff “sitting there on their phones, or eating their lunch, or talking to each other.”
Here is the part people miss. Visitors are polite. If they sense you would rather not be interrupted, they will not interrupt you. They walk past and you never know they were there.
You do not lose those leads. You never register them.
Why are live events making a comeback?
People have been predicting the death of exhibitions for 26 years. First the internet was going to kill them. Then the GFC. Then digital marketing.
Tim’s last three shows drew his best crowds in a decade.
His explanation is the interesting bit. After COVID, and now surrounded by AI-generated everything, people distrust what they see online and want something real.
People still trust people. People buy from people.
Tim Collett
That tracks with everything I see at Jim’s. The unedited franchisee interview beats the polished ad. The founder answering an awkward question on a phone camera beats the brochure.
An expo is the same instinct with a floor plan.
Tim reckons the next few years will be “golden years for franchising”, driven by cost-of-living pressure, AI taking jobs, and record insolvencies pushing people toward proven business models.
What I would do before the next expo
- Book the follow-up time before you book the stand. If nobody owns the calls for the week after, do not exhibit. You are buying business cards.
- Post that you are going. Pre-show content costs nothing and fills your stand.
- Ask two franchisees to work it with you. Choose talkers, not top performers.
- Get your graphics printed properly. Full-size images of the actual work, readable in three seconds from the aisle.
- Ban phones at the stand. Roster proper breaks away from it so nobody eats in front of a prospect.
- Film while you are there. A day at an expo is a week of short form content, and almost nobody does this.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a franchise expo stand cost in Australia?
About $6,000 for a 3m x 3m stand, plus a couple of thousand for furniture and graphics. Exhibiting at all three Australian shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane costs roughly $24,000 to $30,000, according to Tim Collett, who owns the Franchise and Business Opportunities Expo.
Are franchise expos worth it for franchisors?
Yes, when worked properly. A franchise expo rarely closes a sale on the day, because buying a franchise is a decision that runs for months. What an expo does is move prospects along that journey and generate leads to follow up, which makes it one touch point among the 12 to 20 a prospect completes before enquiring.
What is the most important step at a franchise expo?
Following up. Tim Collett, who has run Australia’s Franchise and Business Opportunities Expo for 15 years, says this is the step almost every brand drops. Collecting details at the stand is pointless without someone calling those people in the days afterwards.
Who should staff a franchise expo stand?
Your best franchisees, alongside head office. Existing franchisees sell the brand more convincingly than a recruitment manager because they already own one. Choose the franchisees who enjoy talking to people rather than the ones with the highest turnover.
What makes a bad franchise expo stand?
Staff on their phones, eating lunch or talking to each other, combined with signage that does not make the business obvious in three seconds. Visitors are polite and will walk past rather than interrupt, so a disengaged stand loses leads the brand never knows existed.
Why are live business events popular again?
Because trust in online content has fallen while AI-generated material has increased. Tim Collett reports his last three Franchise and Business Opportunities Expos drew the best crowds in a decade, despite 26 years of predictions that the internet, the GFC and digital marketing would end exhibitions.
Where to go next
If an expo is one touch point, it helps to know the other twelve. I mapped the full sequence in the Trust Lap.
Dates, venues and exhibitor details for Tim’s shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne are at franchisingexpo.com.au.
I write about content-led franchise recruitment every week at The Franchise Marketer.