Yeah, I know. I've already quit doing trade shows. So why would I want to get involved with something like the High Point International Home Furnishings Market?
Because it's more than just a show. It's a community. And for all intents and purposes, it's a way of life.
In some regards, it's kinda like coffee. People are invested in High Point. There's tradition. There's "origin". There's craft. And there's some "old" ways of doing things that probably need to change.
And that's what would make being VP marketing for such an enterprise an interesting job. At least a lot more interesting than running yet another show clone.
Long time readers of this blog will recall I've posted more than once (Nov 04, Oct 04, June 04, about the upstart Las Vegas Furniture Mart (one reason to hate them - their annoying Flash site) and how the Vegas startup has complicated life for the folks in High Point. It's an interesting story and I think the Vegas guys were onto something when they started their new venture.
In the broad scheme of things, competition is good. We know that intrinsically.
But you know what, Las Vegas can't have EVERYTHING. That's bad.
Personally, I'm tired of going out there just because every show wants to be in Las Vegas. It's hot, it's plastic and these days, it's even expensive. You can get me for CES and maybe even Surfaces and SEMA, but not for furniture. Enough is enough.
Besides, Brian Casey is now involved with High Point as their president. I've talked with Brian a few times over the past couple of years about doing something together and I think I'd bring some assets to the table that would be very complimentary to his skills, particularly in the non-traditional and social marketing arenas.
So if you happen to see Brian or anyone else associated with High Point, let 'em know I'm interested.
Don't know to what show you're referring but what you bring up is one of those facts I refuse to buy into because it's too convenient. Something like the Surgeon General saying secondhand smoke "accounting for" thousands of deaths instead of being "a contributing factor to" said deaths. I haven't seen the control groups that allowed this one factor (Vegas, secondhand smoke) to be considered the ONLY reason.
However, I'm grudgingly getting on board with the Vegas thing. The most popular show is American Idol, the most popular music and movies usually offer no redeeming artistic value and the most popular radio hosts preach isolationism.
So having Vegas be so popular seems less and less a surprise.
Glad my livelihood is no longer dependent solely on the show business.
Posted by: RichW | June 30, 2006 at 09:47 PM
I hear lots of tradeshow folks say this including exhibitors. What most fail to realize is though you may have to go to Vegas a dozen times a year the attendees are usually going once a year.
They like it and thats what counts. We moved our show to Vegas last year and attendance was up 22%. Before you start with the yeah but they were all gambling. Exhibitor leads were up 35%. According to exhibitors buyer quality was up.
The bottom line is many exhibitors increased their booth space for the next show (which tells you more than any survey ever will) and our booth sales are up over 30% from the same period of our last show.
Things will certainly change one day but for now Vegas is hot in more ways than one.
Posted by: A tradshow guy | June 30, 2006 at 06:51 PM