TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report

Mood at SuperComm Is Upbeat

It's looking more and more like SuperComm is becoming the B2B version of CES. CES has the gadgets, SuperComm has the infrastructure that allow the gadgets to work.

This bodes well for upcoming shows focused on vertical segments of the two behemoth events. This news should also bode well for the next NAB.

Nice touch at the end of article on what various communications luminaries do while they're in Chicago at the show. In fact, I'm making a note of it to pass on to my client's PR agency.

On the other hand, I've been in Chicago since Sunday night and drove by McCormick twice. I had no idea SuperComm was there. Odd...

Give 'Em a Column Inch...

It's now been more than a week since I sent the latest Camp column (on Comdex, naturally) over to TradeshowBlues.

It's still not up. I'm hoping it gets up before Comdex re-launches in 2005.

So I bump into Bob Dallmeyer in Chicago at the IAEM Ohio Valley meeting and he's telling me that he wished I'd write more columns.

Damned if you do...

Then I get a vm from M&C about how my article on n00bs in trade show marketing isn't in the magazine's "editorial voice" and will require editing.

Which came only a couple of days after the guy (who must remain anonymous for time being) who's editing my marketing chapters for a book due out this fall on show marketing wanted me to add pricing information for different emarketing tactics. As if that were even possible.

I could deal with these annoyances if I were getting PAID for them.

/whining

If the Russians Can Do It, Why Not Us?

If you missed the current issue of Exhibitor, here's food for thought...

Russians Auditing Their Trade Shows

And I quote:

Andrey Lapshin, president of MVK, commented: "Our goal is to be the leader of the Russian exhibition industry. Assuming that only transparent business can be really successful we took the decision to conduct the independent audit of our shows by such an authoritative organization as FKM as one more step to achieve our goal."

If Yakov Smirnoff was running trade events, he'd probably say, "Russia. What a country!"

Toilet Racing a Hit

For those of you still using the "I'm in the American Standard booth" radio ettiquette... we bring you toilets on go-carts. I imagine this would be a great sponsorship opportunity for KBIS (Kitchen & Bath Industry Show).

Event producer Cindy Vochatzer tested the racer at a trade show and was hooked.

I would love to know what trade show that was.

Many Trade Groups Struggling for Efficiency, Survival

One of the biggest issues any association show organizer has is that their client's events are generally only as healthy as the industry from which they draw exhibitors and attendees. Many industries have taken huge hits over the past 20 years and especially in the past four. Here's a look at how several are taking steps to ensure their continued survival. The lead:

The nation's 71,000 trade groups are the voices of their industries. A cattlemen's group courts consumer confidence, marble producers promote remodeling projects, appliance makers tout testing standards.

But in a declining economy, those voices can grow hoarse.

As steel companies declared bankruptcy, the American Iron and Steel Institute cut its staff. With textile makers failing, a defunct trade group and another that was about to disappear joined forces in a new, lobbying-driven National Council of Textile Organizations. Even the Marble Institute of America, which has actually grown in membership, still is working to cut costs by working with a floor coverings trade show, which has underwritten the institute's training videos. Other groups are outsourcing their magazines or annual shows.

That "floor covering show" is Coverings, which by interest of disclosure, is a TWG client. While the Marble Institute of America has its own show, StonExpo, which actually competes with Coverings, the Coverings event is a much larger focal point for the industry. It makes sense for the two groups to cooperate.

In our own industry, The Convention Industry Council (CIC) is a worthwhile cause, providing a lobbying voice and standards umbrella on convention issues for everyone from exhibit designers, to hotel marketers.

But how about combining PCMA and IAEM while having SISO (not currently a CIC member) as a SIG (special interest group) within the combined entity? (Same could be said for a TSEA with HCEA, CEMA and ICPA organized as SIGs).

By combining the three large event one BIGGER group for trade shows under one voice, one agenda and more power, CIC's job becomes easier, resulting in more effective lobbying. Plus this new entity would provide more value to members and fewer costs for organizations and individuals who pay multiple dues to multiple groups for essentially the same benefits.

What could be wrong with that?

Flame away, if so inclined.

Convention Centers On Sale. BOGO!

From the Times-Picayune: CONVENTION CENTS Meeting facilities around the country are making deals to land conference business. Should New Orleans play along?

If you've got the flexibility to move your event around, times couldn't be better.

Some excerpts:

To better compete with other cities, officials from hotels, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau say they'd like to create a deal-closing fund that could be used to offer financial inducements to lure new groups to New Orleans. No specific proposal is on the table at this point, but hospitality leaders agree that such a fund, which some prefer to call a "marketing" fund or an "incentive" fund, could help New Orleans land a bigger share of the convention business.

When New Orleans loses a convention, it's generally because another city has offered $100,000 to $150,000 in incentives. And those conventions might generate tens of millions of dollars in spending and, therefore, tax revenue, which would more than offset the cost of the inducement, Wandfluh said.

Michael Hughes, director of research at Tradeshow Week, a leading convention industry publication, said deal-closing funds are now common. Hughes surveyed trade shows and found that 29 percent have been offered free exhibit space in at least one venue in the past two years. Another Tradeshow Week survey of convention bureau and convention center executives found that 41 percent have been offering more exhibition hall discount rates since 2001.

Also note the part that says Orlando gave the DMA $200,000 because the DMA felt "insulted" by an article on telemarketing published in the Orlando Sentinel. That alone probably paid for DMA's PR agency for the next couple of years.

The article doesn't say anything about shows with long-term contracts at one venue. I wonder, are they being rewarded for staying?

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Speaking of incentives, since the article mentions my current hometown, had I been an attendee at RCMA in Pittsburgh, I would've skipped The Lion King in favor of a Primanti's sandwich and a couple of cold Iron Citys. Good thing the opera Dead Man Walking hadn't yet opened when RCMA was up here. They RCMA would have never come back.

Dateline Las Vegas - Old and Busted: Comdex. New Hotness: Furniture?

The new billion-dollar World Market Center in Las Vegas plans to challenge High Point, NC as THE destination for the furniture market.

Summary: The April and October markets in High Point draw 70,000-80,000 buyers to see more than 3,000 furniture exhibitors occupying 11 million square feet of furniture showrooms spread all over the Triad area of North Carolina, which is somewhat of a logistical nightmare for attendees. Not to mention the Triad isn't exactly known as a magnet for entertainment and dining.

The Las Vegas building is planned to offer 7.5 million square feet of showroom space right in the middle of downtown Las Vegas. Easy access, all the entertainment and dining you could ask for right outside.

The developers of the World Market Center have announced a July showroom with more than 240 exhibitors, 70% of whom also exhibit at High Point. And they plan to grow from there.

This will be a story worth watching over the next few years as additional phases of the World Market Center are completed. Is it a gamble by the developers? As a venue Las Vegas certainly seems capable of drawing any audience for any type of product imaginable. Even in July, when it's 107 degrees outside.

Software Marketers Spending Less On Trade Shows?

Steve Johnson at Productmarketing.com offers some sobering thoughts on reduced spending on trade shows that should alarm organizers of IT events.

Here's the nub:

In the 2004 study on Marketing Practices by softwareminds, trade shows are the most utilized marketing communications tactic -- used by over 75% of us. We use shows primarily to generate leads (69%) and build awareness (29%). While shows were rated as one of the top three most effective tactics by half of the vendors responding, almost one-third plan to reduce their expenditures in the future.

We're realizing that trade shows can rarely be justified by the leads generated. And too often, we burden the show with secondary objectives such as meeting press and analysts, trying to close big deals, gathering competitive intelligence, and so on. But in retrospect vendors wonder if the money was spent wisely once show costs including shipping, travel, printing, and tchotchkes are added up -- not to mention the opportunity costs of using the time and money for other purposes.

Although Steve is writing from a software standpoint, the same points could be made for most products and many shows. Can't say it enough: As organizers, our value propositions have to be clear and measurable.

Society for the Status Quo

Sue Pellitier over at MeetingsNet posted an article on the SSQ a couple of days ago.

It's not a real organization. But their one-page website is a hoot.

Admit it. If you're at one of the larger show management companies or associations, you've lived this philosophy from time to time.

While the SSQ is fictional, the folks behind the site - the Society for Leadership of Change - are for real. They don't yet have an annual convention. But when they do announce one, I want to attend, just to see how they'd 'change' the traditional convention model.

Free Event Marketing Case Studies

EVENT magazine has come out with its list of winners from its "2004 EX Awards".

Better still, there are a few short paragraphs outlining the objectives, strategies, executions and results for the top three campaigns in each category.

Of particular interest to TSMR readers are the awards for "Best Trade Show Exhibit" and "Best Integrated Trade Show Program", the winner of which achieved some $10 million in sales from a single medical show.

If you don't already subscribe, EVENT magazine has a boatload of interesting - and apparently successful - ideas for face-to-face/event marketing, many of which can be applied the trade show environment.

It's certainly a must-read for exhibit managers, and smart show managers should read it to stay ahead of F2F marketing trends. It's no secret more money continues to flow away from 'traditional' shows and into corporate events, so the challenge is how to capitalize on this trend and use your show management expertise to provide greater value.

(As an aside, hope you like the free plug, Kerry. Even if you did stiff me on a handshake deal nine years ago when you were at PROMO. There, I got that out of my system. I feel much better now.)

I gotta start selling ads on here.