Alice Dechant Music Academy
Jan 18

An Incredible 3 Days at LTE 2024: Learning and Teaching Expo in Hong Kong

After half year of hard work, Dechant Music Academy successfully completed a three-day exhibition in Hong Kong.

The Learning & Teaching Expo (LTE) is one of the pioneering companies in the field of education in Asia. LTE 2024 is a special event, exclusively for new and small businesses in Asia, aiming to showcase the most advanced educational methods and tools. Dechant Music Academy was fortunate enough to be one of the exhibitors and had an extremely successful three-day exhibition, receiving support from all attendees.

Irina Dechant, the CEO of Dechant Music Academy, shared her heartfelt thoughts after the long four-month preparation and the introduction of the company’s courses to the booth visitors that day. Let's explore how she prepared and succes

How did you prepare for the exhibition?

It was a long journey. The exhibition registration was announced early, so we registered for it in June or July, which included submitting the necessary information to be listed as an exhibitor at LTE. Everything needed to be completed and registered by the end of September. It was quite stressful at first because it was just me and my companion, Udit, handling everything. To participate in the exhibition, we spent a significant amount of money, around $25,000, covering the registration and travel expenses while staying in Hong Kong. Then there was everything we had to prepare for the booth to showcase and introduce to customers, along with many other tasks that needed to be ready before the exhibition day.

What was the primary goal of your participation in the exhibition?

The main goal for me and Dechant Music Academy at the exhibition was to promote our main products: online piano courses, books, and pianos. Additionally, we were excited to connect with more customers, partners, and local businesses.

Were there any challenges in organizing your booth or presentation? How did you overcome them?

There were many challenges. Initially, we were a team of just two people working to make the LTE exhibition plan a reality. Things didn’t go as planned when we had issues with our visa while working in Dubai. My companion and I had to return to Hong Kong but had to quickly plan to leave again due to visa restrictions. It wasn’t a difficult problem to solve, but the important thing was to finish the project and have everything running smoothly before December. India was also part of the plan, but we later decided to change our course. My colleague suggested whether we should consider Thailand or Vietnam, and we chose Vietnam. We went to Da Nang and got to work. Despite time running short, we quickly found the right people to help complete the project, and I assembled a talented team who contributed greatly to finishing the booth for the exhibition.

Did you collaborate with anyone (e.g., artists, musicians, or companies) for the exhibition?

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to MTL, one of the companies that helped us significantly in the process of setting up the booth at the exhibition. From booth registration to selection, MTL provided advice and helped us address various issues, which made the booth preparation much faster.Honestly, we have a long-established team of teachers. They are professional musicians with decades of performance experience. We had Eric, an expert drummer, and talented pianists at the booth, who attracted many visitors.

How did you feel on the first day of the exhibition?

It was an overwhelming mix of emotions, but mostly I felt exhausted, a little bit of pressure, and drained of energy. You know, because we had so many things to prepare before the exhibition. My colleague and I had to fly to Hong Kong earlier to get everything ready, while my team in Da Nang was working tirelessly to complete the remaining tasks. There were difficulties like forgetting the script or lack of sleep, but we kept motivating ourselves and managed to get everything done. Dechant Music Academy is one of our most cherished and highly anticipated projects, so we dedicated all our manpower, effort, and money to ensuring everything went as smoothly as possible.

What kind of feedback did you receive from visitors during the exhibition?

During the exhibition, more than 17,000 visitors came to our booth from various age groups, mostly music teachers and students. Most of them gave positive feedback about DMA’s products. Our main products, the online piano course with animated visuals, books, and pianos, received excellent reviews.

After experiencing the books and pianos, everyone was very surprised and highly satisfied with the quality of the products. Even more surprisingly, they found the prices of our pianos to be very affordable compared to other pianos in the local market. (Take a look at our product). The students loved our books even more because they were designed to be friendly and vibrant. It’s rare to find a piano teaching book on the market with such lively illustrations instead of just filled with musical notation and sheets.

Were there any unexpected moments or surprises during the exhibition?

Initially, we didn’t expect the crowd at our booth to be so large. On the first day, since it was a weekday, the number of visitors was quite low, and we were a little worried. But by the second and third days, the exhibition hall became packed, and our booth saw hundreds of visitors at a time. Despite the crowd and our team working continuously, we were thrilled and extremely excited to introduce our products to everyone until we lost our voices. The most surprising moment for us was the visit of an official from Hong Kong. He came to check out our products, gave us numerous compliments, and left very positive feedback. It was an incredibly impressive and unexpected experience.

How do you measure the success of your participation in the exhibition?

It’s hard to give an exact answer. Since this was an educational exhibition, the results will take some time to fully assess whether it was successful. A friend of mine who is a CEO once said, “If you can get one big customer, you are lucky.” If after the exhibition, DMA can sell products or partner with big clients, then we’ll know whether the exhibition was a success.

Were there any lessons you learned from this experience that you’ll apply to future events?

After attending two exhibitions in different cities, I realized that each location offers a unique experience, and each team member’s condition can vary, so it’s hard to say that we can draw clear lessons for future events. Of course, there are areas we will definitely improve on, such as booth selection and location analysis, but mainly based on how quickly the project is completed. For DMA, every exhibition we participate in is a valuable experience, and every event offers us different lessons. What matters most is that we know how to improve ourselves and minimize risks when executing such projects.