TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report

Does Your Event Own Its Twitter ID?

I was exchanging tweets with an old colleague about using Twitter for her upcoming show.  I noticed that her show's name (and logical variants, like <showname year>) have not been claimed.

A Twitter ID may be meaningless to you today if you're not planning on using it right away.  And maybe it doesn't have and will never have the value of a URL.  But it has value.  And just like there were squatters holding URLs hostage, it's bound to happen with Twitter.

Grab your show name and open an account now.  Before I do.

Difference-Making

Let me get this out of the way first:  I lopped it off.  Turns out I really didn't even have to rationalize the haircut.  It's just one less complication in life.  Can't tell you how many times I've searched the house high and low for a small rubber band. No regrets and the staff thinks I look cuter.

So I went on an interview Friday.  Good company.  Owner is a very nice guy and knowledgeable about his product.  And I admire his conviction to sticking to specializing in one small corner of the exhibition world. I could sell it.

But at the end of the day, it's comes down to this being one of those product categories that doesn't really have much of a barrier to competition and isn't changing the playing field.  It's just your ability to sell vs. your competition's ability to sell basically the same thing.  That turns on some people.  And it's certainly why excellent salespeople are compensated excellently.

It may very well come down to working just for the money at some point.  But over the past decade, I've been fortunate enough to find myself in situations where it wasn't just the money.  It was making a difference and an impact, from both product and marketing perspectives.  No blowing smoke up anyone's butt.  That's not necessary when you're too busy changing the entire game for your market.  Did it at Passkey.  Did it with Aldo Coffee.  In some respects we even did it at Coverings.  And before that, the Internet World shows.

In each case, anyone else in that market had to react to what we were doing.  In each case we had many more customers who wouldn't think of going elsewhere because the falloff in value and benefits received was simply too great.  The product delivered.  Customers were allies, not adversaries to conquer.

It comes down to this.

Where's that gig?

Ponytail. Or not.

Conflicted at the moment.  The four years I've spent in coffee has helped produce a different guy.  One of  those old-hippie-ish balding dudes with a grey-brown six-inch ponytail.  Quite a difference from the shaved head look I was sporting at even my most recent speaking gigs.

So, without the promise of a job, but with interviews lined up, should I just lop it all off or take my chances?

Job Hunting

After four years of working full time at the coffeehouse, it's become apparent that there's less than a snowball's chance in hell that revenues from the shop will ever be enough to support both my wife and I. 

One of us needs to get back to work.  And since I'm the minority owner, it looks like that's me.

So, if anyone is looking for someone with a ton of experience in marketing trade shows, marketing and selling services (technology or otherwise) to exhibitors, or is looking for someone to handle research and/or due diligence for launches or acquisitions, drop me a line. 

Particulars are here.