Are the days of Trade Shows Dead?

I recently returned home from a few days at a trade show for my industry, that being industrial die cutting and specialty print finishing. Oh yeah, really sexy! The point is that it was one of the most disappointing showings I have been to over my long career in the Printing Industry.

I have had the ability to attend many such events over the years and I’m sure all of you have had the same experience. We love to visit cities that we would not ordinarily visit. Stay in nice hotels and enjoy the perks of our expense account. Those of you who have never been exhibitors or been responsible for the organization and implementation of these events would never know what a pain in the neck they truly are. I’ve actually spent 30 straight days away from home exhibiting and attending 4 trade shows with one sales meeting thrown in. When you get right down to it, what’s the point?

It would have been my pleasure to talk to a prospect or an existing customer this last time out. In the days when these shows were actually attended by people, you never could have meaningful and detailed conversations because the clients where constantly distracted or being stalked by the competition. As an attendee, you want to get the most bang for your (airfare) buck that you have scheduled your time so tightly that AMTRACK would be jealous. Just one big rush. What a waste of everyone’s time and most importantly money.

So why do we do it? Corporate Identity, let’s keep our name out there. If folks don’t know you be now, you have a bigger problem. Making new connections, if you build it and they still don’t come what do you do next? Scope out the competition: sure thing. Look for new employees, is anyone hiring? Get new ideas, make deals or maybe buy equipment right off of the floor? No, I think we do it because we don’t know how to get out of doing it.

As a Sales & Marketing Manager, I’ve taken most of these expenses out of my budget. We have one other show remaining (our premier event) in September. My expectations are rather low.

What do you think?

Bye for now.

Let's get started.

This is my first shot at airing my opinions on the web. Bear with me until I get the hang of this.

There will be much more to come, some of it you will agree with and some of it you will not. My goal is to make you think a bit and maybe spark a little controversy.

Let's see where this goes.

Bye for now.
Tom