| August 2006 • Volume 26 • Number 8 • The Meeting Professional |
Feature
Getting Down to (Show) Business
Today’s successful trade show organizers are recognizing the importance of smaller, more targeted events; building a sense of community based on accountability; building closer relationships with exhibitors; and developing appeal for increasingly discerning attendees.
By Maria Lenhart
Making it in show business has never been easy, but now it takes more effort than ever. Like every other aspect of the meetings industry, trade show management is a lot more complicated these days. Whereas show organizers once primarily focused on logistics, now the pressure is to provide evidence of value for exhibitors and attendees.
Despite challenges, the trade show industry is experiencing one of its healthiest years in a long while.
“The trade show industry is back to pre-2000 levels in all four sectors—revenue, square footage, number of exhibiting companies and number of professional attendees,” said Doug Ducate, president and CEO of the Dallas-based Center for Exhibition Industry Research.
Although marketers have more methods than ever to access potential customers, the trade show is still widely recognized as the best means for reaching a broad audience and for face-to-face marketing, according to Ian Sequeira, vice president of Exhibit Surveys Inc., a research company in Red Bank, N.J.
“Advertising used to talk about the importance of making an impression—now it is talking about the importance of engagement. The trade show has engagement built right in.”
But while trade shows have not diminished in importance, the trade show world of 2006 is substantially different than it was in the 1990s. Among the major differences: the typical trade show of today is more likely to be a smaller, more targeted event rather than a mega show encompassing all aspects of a particular industry.
“The big trend is increasingly toward vertical rather than horizontal shows, especially in telecommunications and healthcare,” Ducate said. “There are fewer mega shows and more specialty shows. Instead of the American Nursing Association doing a show, there are shows for operating room nurses, dermatology nurses and so on. Marketing is much more targeted now—what has happened with advertising is now happening with trade shows.”
Ducate believes the vertical trend has been a benefit for both exhibitors and attendees.
“Vertical shows are good for exhibitors in that they can go to the show with specific products for the audience involved,” he said. “These shows also make it easier for attendees to find what they need.”
Another big change in recent years is the increased tendency for corporations to hold private events of their own for key customers in lieu of participation in an industry-wide trade show.
“In the past the main competition for trade shows was similar shows,” Sequeira said. “Now the biggest competition is between trade shows and private events. There is multiple competition for exhibitors and attendees now, and this has trade show organizers very concerned.”
A Hard Job
So perhaps it is not surprising that the show manager’s job has gotten more complex, with more emphasis on the need to provide value to both exhibitors and attendees. Dan Hoffend, vice president of corporate accounts for Freeman, a Dallas-based trade show services provider, notes that concern with value surfaced when the industry faced declining attendance and exhibitor participation after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Since then there is more work being done to build a community around the show, to brand the industry experience and to target the show to a specific audience,” said Hoffend, who is chairman of the MPI Exhibits Advisory Task Force and a member of the MPI Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter. “It’s about determining value and return on investment (ROI), about building an attendance base and creating a productive environment.”
Similarly, trade show consultant Steve Miller, president of Seattle-based The Adventure LLC, observes that trade shows have moved away from the operational business model, where the main concern was finding a location.
“The go-go days are over and now the job has gotten hard. Now show organizers have more responsibility in helping exhibitors and attendees get value from the show. They have to facilitate the relationship on both sides.”
Increasingly, trade show organizers are under pressure to provide hard data about the potential value of their shows.
“The demand for accountability is growing,” said New York-based trade show consultant Ruth Stevens, author of Trade Show and Event Marketing. “More trade show organizers are using technology and auditing services to provide information on the quality and quantity of attendees attracted to the show. Both attendees and exhibitors want to make sure their time and money is being spent wisely.”
Working with Exhibitors
When it comes to working with exhibitors, trade show experts say it has become more important than ever for show organizers to learn about their objectives and to form partnerships that will help exhibitors achieve those objectives.
“Most [trade show] managers don’t know why the companies are exhibiting,” Ducate said. “To add value and ROI you have to spend more time with these companies and learn why they are exhibiting. Things have gone way beyond finding the meeting space and managing the event.”
Consultant Judi Baker-Neufeld, president of TradeShows Plus! in Pittsburgh, advises organizers to have the statistics and data ready that prove to exhibitors the show is worthwhile.
“You need to be sensitive to the fact that a lot of exhibitors are hard put to justify show participation to their managers,” she said. “Sometimes these exhibitors do not have a lot of clout. You need to help furnish the data that [demonstrates] your show is a worthwhile investment. As in other areas of corporate life, there is more accountability required these days.”
Susan Friedman, CSP, president of The Tradeshow Coach in Lake Placid, N.Y., and author of Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies, also emphasizes that exhibitors are under increasing pressure to justify their presence at trade shows.
“We’re seeing more serious exhibits these days,” she said. “Exhibitors are more concerned with ROI, as well as with return on objectives and return on relationships. They are working with tighter budgets, and there is more pressure from management to get the most bang for their buck. They need to address these issues, because even a small-scale booth takes up a big part of the marketing budget.”
Friedman adds that strong relationships between exhibitors and show organizers are crucial in making the show a worthwhile experience.
“While in the past it was more of a dictatorial relationship, organizers are starting to realize the importance of working more closely with exhibitors—to get in and understand what they want,” she said. “‘How can we serve you better?’ ‘What are you looking to achieve and how can we help you do that more efficiently?’ It needs to be a joint marketing effort.”
Friedman notes that while getting leads and selling products are still important, exhibiting companies are also looking at creating brand awareness and are more concerned with the quality of buyers rather than quantity. They are relying on the trade show organizer to bring in the high-quality buyer.
At the same time, attracting buyers to the right booths does not rest solely with the show organizer.
“You need to educate exhibitors on their responsibility because they sometimes think they have none,” Miller said. “They need to understand their roles.”
Sequeira agrees that exhibitor education is critical for a successful trade show.
“Exhibitors often complain that the people they wanted did not come to their booth, but in many cases the people were at the show and the exhibitor did not let them know they were there,” he said. “Exhibitors shouldn’t inundate attendees with information—they can get that on the Web—but they should send them a postcard two weeks out.”
Both Baker-Neufeld and Friedman say scheduling some dedicated hours for the trade show has become an increasingly important issue for exhibitors, particularly since many attendees have less time to spend at meetings these days.
“It is becoming harder to attract attendees to the trade show floor because there is often so much packed into a meeting that there is not much time for the show,” Baker-Neufeld said. “It’s important to scrutinize the schedule and make sure the trade show is not only held during sessions or lunch. Or perhaps keep the floor open longer and at a time of day when people aren’t exhausted.”
Baker-Neufeld also advocates providing exhibitors with a lounge where they can take breaks and talk with other exhibitors, noting that the comfort of exhibitors is often an afterthought.
Smarter Attendees
Just as exhibitors have more tightly focused objectives today, so do attendees. While they often have less time to spend at trade shows than in years past, they are coming to shows much better prepared for getting business done. According to research from Exhibit Surveys Inc., about 70 percent of attendees come to trade shows with planned agendas.
“Attendees are coming to trade shows with higher expectations, and they are more knowledgeable,” Friedman said. “There is more information on the Web, and this enables people to be better prepared for what they want to see and do. They have a list of must-sees.”
Stevens notes that at some shows the number of attendees is down, but the quality is up.
“Companies are more careful about who they send to shows these days,” she said. “These are higher-level people.”
Because attendees know what they want, some traditional incentives to encourage attendees to visit a variety of booths are less effective than they once were, Stevens added.
“Forget about the cards that get stamped at each booth for a reward—people don’t care about visiting the booths, they just want to get the stamps,” she said. “Gimmicks don’t work. A better way is to set up appointments where buyers can meet with exhibitors, to have special areas on the floor where exhibitors and buyers can meet.”
But even while attendees have more serious agendas, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to enjoy themselves at the show. According to Miller, entertaining events that showcase the industry involved are not only fun but enhance productivity for all concerned.
“There should be an event that relates to the industry and makes people proud of their industry,” he said, using as example a golf course green built with actual dirt, grass and sand and installed in the middle of the trade show floor at a recent gathering of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. “It became a focal point of the show. People were drawn to it and it became a center for networking. The attendees couldn’t get enough of it.”
When it comes to attracting attendees to a show, Hoffend says more effort is going into quality rather than quantity.
“The ROI comes when you have the right people—those who make the buying decisions,” he said. “Many trade show organizers have created task forces to guide them on this. More surveys and advance research are being done. It’s a cycle—good exhibitors attract good attendees and vice versa. So the organizer has to address the concerns of both.” TMP
MARIA LENHART is a freelance writer based in San Francisco.
SIDEBAR #1: The Virtual Trade Show: Enhancement, Not Replacement
A decade or so ago the advent of the “virtual trade show” struck terror in the heart of the trade show industry. Would attendees elect to stay in front of their computers, visiting scores of virtual booths without leaving their desks, rather than attending the physical show?
So far that has not happened, and there is no indication that it will happen anytime soon.
“Virtual trade shows have not replaced physical shows because the relationship factor remains important,” said Doug Ducate, president and CEO of the Dallas-based Center for Exhibition Industry Research. “Our research shows that companies want conversations with their customers.”
But if virtual shows are not replacing physical shows, they are increasingly playing an important supplemental role.
“The virtual show works best in combination with a real show—they are a great way for attendees to see the layout of the show and get supplemental information,” said meetings technology expert Corbin Ball, CSP, CMP, president of Bellingham, Wash.-based Corbin Ball Associates and a member of the MPI Washington State Chapter.
According to Gonen Ziv, senior vice president of Unisfair, a growing number of companyies are using online trade show services to make their physical shows more successful.
“In some cases, they are using the virtual trade show as a pre-show to promote the physical show. In other cases, we can extend the life of the show by recording key sessions and speakers and re-launching them as a virtual show. People can view aspects of the show on-demand for up to three months afterwards.”
In this way, the trade show reaches a wider audience and opportunities for sponsorships increase, he adds.
“It provides extra value because you get extra involvement—sometimes attendance is boosted by as much as 25 percent by people who may not have been at the show or who missed parts of it. You also get the potential of additional sponsorship for virtual booths and presentations.”
SIDEBAR #2: Product Launches Zero-In On Top Customers
Increasingly, the biggest buyers attending trade shows have already seen—and purchased—some of the new items most prominently featured on the trade show floor. Private corporate events that showcase new products to top customers before they are exhibited at trade shows are part of a fast-growing trend, according to Doug Ducate, president and CEO of the Dallas-based Center for Exhibition Industry Research.
“Many companies are recognizing that their biggest customers want to make sure they are getting the newest products ahead of everyone else,” he said. “For example, if you are Home Depot, you don’t want to go to the hardware show to see the latest Black & Decker equipment—you want to already have that equipment on your shelves before the show even happens. So this is why companies are staging private events for their biggest customers in advance of the show.”
While it may seem that private events are stealing the thunder from trade shows, Ducate says this is not the case.
“It means that when the big customers go to trade shows, they can focus on other exhibits and products, and the exhibitors can focus on smaller customers,” he said. “It makes for a more efficient experience for exhibitors and buyers alike.”
When product launches happen during trade shows these days, they are more likely to be pitched toward specific customers at invitation-only events, according to Susan Friedman, CSP, president of The Tradeshow Coach in Lake Placid, N.Y., and author of Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies.
“The product launch may be done in a private hospitality suite. Companies are more interested in reaching a targeted customer, and they are also very concerned with competitive intelligence. They may not want their competitors to know what they are unveiling.”