TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report

Unscientific But Interesting Email Experiment

Those of you who received last week's newsletter may recall my parting thoughts about whether I was nuts to send out a broadcast email after 1pm EDT on a sunny summer Friday.  I said I'd let you know how it worked.

Here are the results:
                                            OPENS     CLICKTHROUGHS          
Previous Thursday newsletters: 56.5%               47.4%
Last week's, sent Friday ~1PM: 60.2%               33.0%

Granted, this is a sample of one email.  But the reason I decided to send it on a steamy Friday was that my gut said many readers were looking to do anything other than actual work on such a nice day.  So I tried it.

Seems I might have been right on that point.  But your attention spans weren't up to the task.  Lot of great content in that newsletter that you didn't see - clickthroughs sunk 30% below normal.

Potential lesson:  If you've got an urgent message to broadcast and you don't want to wait until Monday afternoon to send it, go ahead and send it on Friday.  But keep it short and simple.

Again, unscientific, but I don't think you should fear Fridays as much as you've been told to.

Utah & Michigan to Change Email Laws Tomorrow (July 1)

Most show and conference organizers have little to worry about regarding new laws in Michigan and Utah designed to protect children from emails featuring "illegal content". 

But take a look anyway to see if you are affected.  Marketing Sherpa offers an analysis here (open access through July 10th).

If your emails include links to features on lingerie, liquor, sex, drugs (think Viagra), tobacco, gambling, alternative lifestyles, mortgage and credit card offers,you could very well be affected by these changes.  It's not clear what's labeled as "offensive material".  But as Sherpa notes, expect lawsuits to fly and parents use their kids as an excuse to escape from spam of all kinds.

Both states will be developing "do not email" registries which are not superceded by existing CAN-SPAM regulations.  Having an opt-in - or even double opt-in list is no protection.  Neither is having a previous business relationship.  If someone wants to stop receiving your emailings, you can not mail to them again.

You will need to run your lists against their purge files every 30 days.  Purge files will become available at the end of July.

Have a happy Friday.

Blogpulse: What's Your Buzz?

Just for fun I checked over at Blogpulse to see what the comparison of "buzz" between this week's C3 Expo and last week's Gnomedex.

Here it is:

Gnomedex captured almost 7/10ths of 1% of ALL blog posts at its peak during the event.  That's remarkable considering the millions of conversations happening.

Meantime, C3 Expo fell to virtually zero the week before its event.  Not good.

The difference?  Gnomedex is all about leveraging social networks.  C3 is still about the traditional show model.

You can compare buzz on your show vs. your competitors too.  Just go over to this example on Blogpulse and plug in your show name and your competitor's.

Now you have another tool in your bag of tricks to impress your colleagues.

MORE...  In the comments for this post, Chris Pirillo suggests a more appropriate comparison would be Gnomedex vs. Supernova, a conference focused on "decentralization of computing, communications, digital media and business."

OK... here goes:

I'll add the caveat that there are a couple of issues I haven't figured out yet regarding fine-tuning Blogpulse "searches".  In the C3 example above, I realized my search string would have included all mentions of "C3PO" from the recent Star Wars buzz, meaning that C3 Expo's actual "buzz" was considerably less than I reported.  Likewise, the Supernova search would include mentions from astronomers on supernova stars.  Probably not a big factor, but a factor regardless.

Because bloggers often leave out the words "expo" or "conference" in their posts, it's often difficult to separate "true" conference posts from unrelated conversatons that may include your search terms.  Blogpulse does allow Boolean search strings, so you can refine your search terms pretty well and make your results more relevant.

The New Comdex: Offshored and Innovative

Dana Blankenhorn points us to Computex, a Taiwanese IT show that he says has everything that made Comdex what it was back in its halcyon days.

Dana goes on to riff about innovation being offshored.

Most important it means that the U.S. has been replaced in its previous role of establishing the direction of technology. Americans now to go Computex much as Europeans went to Comdex back in the day, looking to find out what "they" think, what "they" have done, and what "they" have in store for us.

An interesting perspective. 

Meantime on the domestic front, C3 was held this week.  Haven't read anything other than this release on 'best new product awards' at the show and this favorable review from MSN.  But nothing in the blogosphere.  Any reports from attendees?

THIS JUST IN... we knew we could count on Alan Meckler for a summary on C3:

"C3 Expo debuted on Wednesday and died on Friday... most seminar rooms had fewer than 5 attendees. In most cases the speaker panel had more bodies than those in attendance. Many exhibitors did not appear... times have changed. Vertical is in and big is out and clearly C3 was not needed."

Then again, Alan panned Digital Life Expo last year and it went on to win one of EXPO's "Best New Shows" awards.

Two Guys Walk Into a Bar...

And 164 others follow on their heels.

This is another example of how Web 2.0 is changing models on meetings and content delivery.

Hugh McLeod took a shot at organizing what he labeled a "marketing soiree" in London.  Just an informal get together to share ideas and do a little networking.

The Free Prize Inside?  None other than Seth Godin.  For only £20 which includes a fajita buffet.  (fajitas in London?)

Within a few days mention of it was here here here here and other places.

Are experts in your community magnetic enough to pull these types of "soirees" together on short notice?  Are they willing to do this?  Are your constituents willing and able to promote what you're doing to their contacts? 

If so, what's holding you back?  If not, shouldn't you be looking in this direction?

There's No Need to Fear, Ungerdog Is Here

In Fueldog's comments yesterday on the EXPO survey, they made a good point about how technology shouldn't be viewed as expense as much as it should be viewed an opportunity to accelerate growth.  At least that's how I interpreted it.

The common thread throughout these comments is getting control of data.  Just as event companies have been loathe to sacrifice those meaty margins for technology upgrades (including consolidated databases, integrated systems, elimination of spreadsheets, functioning CRM and vendor management tools, modern reporting tools, etc.), they are turning their backs on the very tools that would allow them to solve these and other key strategic management problems.

EXPO did a great profile of Advanstar's Joe Loggia a few months back that outlined the process of developing and managing an integrated sales management system.  I don't know if it has all the bells and whistles of FuelDog's Javelin or Ungerboeck's EBMS, but seems to have worked wonders for Advanstar to the tune of $10.5 million in increased productivity.

Hanley-Wood had even developed a proprietary SFA solution it felt was so good they took it to market a couple of years ago to sell it to other organizers. 

I haven't seen Javelin or EBMS in action.  I imagine the latter must be pretty comprehensive, considering they've been at it forever (now in release 13.1!).  But their web copy is off the charts on the BullFighter.  Javelin is the new kid and their web site is in English.  Score a point for them.  So why not start there?  (Although skip the bullet for brand management... can't do that with software).

I know many of you have been burned on technology investments before.  Heck, there's even a company that built their new business fixing problems on an application sold by their old business .  We know some scars haven't even healed yet.  But time has passed and (some) companies really do understand how to write code and integrate to other applications.  Happens all the time.

So take another look at your mess of standalone applications and non-functional databases and do something about it.  Take the financial hit this year, you'll probably make it back in spades next year.

Then people like me who ask questions like, "what was your renewal rate for the past three years" don't have to sit around nursing cold coffee while you're digging up the answer.

P.S.  Regarding the headline... Ungerboeck + FuelDog = Ungerdog.  Don't you wish for this merger to happen?

EXPO Survey: Behind the Numbers

This week EXPO Magazine issued results of a financial benchmarking study they conducted with Exhibit Surveys.

FuelDog provided their take on the EXPO report findings yesterday. 

Here's ours:

44% contribution may sound good to the outside world.  But it ain't what it used to be.  A mere decade ago I was running marketing for events with contribution ratios over 70%.  Some were deflated along with the internet bubble.  Others were later convicted in the court of public (exhibitor) opinon for price gouging.  Oops. 

But events with 70% contribution were the exception.  We know this because EXPO did us the courtesy of also including a link to their 1999 survey.

Let's compare:
                                     1999*        2005**
Average show size:        194,128    a lot less***
Average # attendees+:      24,635      15,456
Average $ revenue:    $2,715,019  $2,733,700
Average % gross profit:       47%           44%
Average $ per sq. ft.:       $16.04       $24.15

+ Avg. number of attendees at respondents' LARGEST shows, not all shows
* yeah, I know that $16.04 x 194,128 = $3,113,813 (and that's not counting sponsor and reg revenue) but these aren't my figures. Blame Skip Cox. (note: I like Skip).
**reporting for 2005 was different than 1999, so had to do some extrapolating here.
*** if my extrapolating is correct, seems to be in the 94,000sf range.

On the one hand, you could say that over the past six years an investment in the average trade show performed worse than a garden-variety passbook savings account.

On the other hand, maybe this is progress after all.

Throughout the past decade, even before 9/11, our industry was being right-sized by our markets.  Just as water seeks its own level, exhibitors and attendees were seeking alternatives to the one or two big shows per market solutions we were offering.  We responded by flooding the market with verticals, usually at the expense of someone else's behemoth.  Sometimes we even cannibalized our own big events. 

The shows that survived are smaller, but as a whole, stronger.  More nimble.  More responsive.  More valuable.

As I'm sure you've noted by now, the one number that's gone up in comparisons between this year and 1999 is average price per square foot.  We've been levying an average annual price increase of $1.35 per square foot on our customers every year since 1999.

I found this surprising.  I would've thought the annual "let's see if we can get away with this" square foot increase would've been squashed by the right-sizing trend.

And maybe it finally is.  EXPO reports that the price increase between 2004 and 2005 was a mere 4.9%, which comes to about $1.15. 

Which means we just saved our exhibitors twenty cents a square foot.  Without lifting a finger.

Now that's progress.

Blog Voices: Who Knew NAM Could Be Funny?

Regular readers know that TSMR is fanatical about blogs having a "genuine voice", that is, an actual person "in-the-know" steering the keyboard.  Otherwise why waste your time or ours? 

As many of you are currently considering blogs (for right or wrong reasons), we ask you to consider who will be your voice.  To help you answer that, we've been on the lookout for some great blog voices from whom you could learn a thing or two.  Jon Price was one.  Now we give you Pat Cleary.

Kevin Holland over at Association Blog points us to the blog for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

As NAM's senior vice president of communications, Pat Cleary is the voice behind NAM's blog.  And NAM isn't small potatoes.  It's an extremely accomplished lobbying organization with more tentacles than a box jellyfish.

So doing a blog for NAM is serious business, right? 

Well, sometimes.  Seems while Mr. Cleary clearly knows his topics, his audience and how to both preach to the choir while imploring them to take action, he also possesses a wicked sense of humor.

Cleary served in both the Bush I and Reagan administrations.  Who knew Republican ex-White House policy wonks could be funny? 

Seriously, the NAM blog provides a short cut for NAM to reach into its members' inboxes.  No waiting for official statements or press releases.  Just check your RSS feeds for Cleary's (and for the most part, NAM's) thoughts on whatever is happening today.  That Cleary adds a personal touch and some humorous posts mixed in adds to the blog's appeal.  These high-powered lobbyists are just like you and me.

Well, maybe not just like you and me.  But they are human.

I'll add that, if a senior VP at one of the nation's most influential associations can find time to post regularly to promote his organization's agenda, finding the time to post to your own blog shouldn't be that big an issue. 

OT: WiFi Everywhere. Maybe Even Heaven.

Saw this and had to share...

If you're attending church in Cardiff, Wales, you can now email your prayers and surf the web for redemption.

Which makes one wonder if there will soon be webcams in confessional booths.  C'mon, you know people would pay to watch.

And your excuse for not offering wireless access at your event is what again?

Exhibitor Blogging at Conferences

Is exhibitor blogging the next trend?

Tyson Foods to Blog Hispanic Convention.

Makes perfect sense.  If you read the background you'll see that this is more than just a promo stunt, although there's no denying the marketing benefits.  Especially when your CEO is also the event keynoter.

And hey, they've got a Flickr photo set, too!

But no trackbacks... so Tyson will probably never know that we've just cited them as a pioneering trendsetter in trade show communications.