TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report

Who Said Booth Babes Were Dead?

This one's got her own press release. Even more impressive, E3 has spawned a fan site just for booth babe aficiandos.

Maybe this is what Internet World needs to make a comeback!

Flash Mobs - The Instant Crowd Every Show Manager Dreams Of

If you live in a "cool" city (i.e. not Pittsburgh), watch out for this trend.
Eventually, this too will become a sponsorship sales opportunity. I can already see the product placement opportunities. Can't be long before the cellcos get involved either.

If your show is failing, hey, why not start your own flash mob. You could build attendance by the thousands. Of course they'll all leave in 10 minutes, but your exhibitors won't know what hit them ; )

Another Example of Our Industry Not Getting It

Dear Sylvia,

Where's the community? If you're going to do a blog that's nothing but a promo for your sponsorship book and services, open up your pocketbook and buy a damn web site.

At least Alan Meckler's cdXpo promoblog has links to other humans.

Comdex Loses Chili Cookoff

As if things weren't bad enough for the fading mega-event, now the chili-heads are bolting. For Dallas.

Somehow, I'm surprised that Alan Meckler isn't involved. I would have thought he'd respond with something like a roadkill recipe contest.

Signs of the Times

This one is just for fun.

And here I was worried about phones with video capability. This entire site only features graphics from video/photo watches.

I am looking forward to the day when a show with tight security demands all attendees strip before entering to ensure no photos are taken. Unfortunately, that's when you'd really WANT a camera.

How to Tell You Have a Branding Problem

Once you read any of the surrounding entries on his blog, you will agree this New Yorker is a first-class geek, with management responsibilities no less.

Exactly the type of person that CeBIT or TechXNY would want to have as an attendee.

But it's apparent that Scott has no clue what the name of the show is or its genesis. And I don't think its his fault. That's bad marketing.

Poor guy will be really confused when TechXNY actually does take place in September. But I think he'll remember which show is which. TechXNY is the one with the butt-ugly Flash animated home page that you can't skip over.

Sponsorship Ads That Are Real Grabbers

Somehow I can't see the folks at McCormick or Javits agreeing to this, but here's a novel escalator sponsorship idea I've never seen, which I believe was done in Japan.

Excuse the photo's accompanying text. In fact, I encourage you NOT to read it. I just link to 'em. I can't edit 'em.

Another Reason Not to Fudge Numbers

I've always been in favor of attendance audits. Even when figurative revolvers were pointed at my head insisting I cooperate in a corporate lie. When the first organized attempt by a independent third-party auditing firm was made a few years ago, I was on the inaugural Board.

While I'm still in favor of audits, I'm thinking that maybe the issue will go away, at least in certain segments. Part of that reasoning is due to show reviews on blogs like this one, again on MacWorld CreativePro.

If you (or more likely your company's executives) contribute to the promotion inflated attendance numbers, you'd better hope blogging never catches up to your event. You simply won't have the wiggle room to fudge.

At the same time, take note of the positive comments. When your event is interesting and offers value, you'll get good 'press' from your community.

I Don't Suppose IDG Will Be Launching a Day Care Event...

This week's Tradeshow Week had a cover story on the recent MacWorld in NYC. Among the problems IDG World Expo has faced are: Steve Jobs not coming to keynote, a shift in attendees from end users to professional users and the upcoming probability of losing Apple as an exhibitor.

You would think that in the face of these challenges, the folks at IDG World Expo would do everything in their power to understand their core audience. Particularly as so many Mac users are SOHO types with concerns about what to do with their kids when they want to attend the show.

But you'd be wrong.

Certainly most shows have good reason to not allow kids on the floor. But in MacWorld's case, the rationale and execution of a change in attendee age policy created some bad feelings.

Does Your Event Have a Fan Site?

Although the event has lately suffered, Networld+Interop still has loyal fans.

Perhaps the most loyal would be "Roy", who worked on the N+I NOC (Network Operations Center) at several shows in the 90's. His shrine to N+I includes graphics of pocket guides, an event timelines and other trivia.

While I don't think Roy's efforts will have any impact on halting the event's decline, this paean to his favorite event is at least emblematic of the potential of developing community.

However, if I happen to find out that Roy is in his 40s and living with his mother, I'll recant.