According to Decent Marketing, a story I missed in last week’s New York Times was a doozy for the trade show biz. The NYT writer characterized your basic expo as: ” … stale air and fluorescent glare, … ghastly food, the long lines … throbbing feet from walking the show floor, exhausting marathons of schmoozing and wheeling-and-dealing, the tedium of listening to long-winded lectures in windowless rooms …”

Ouch. The truth really does hurt, doesn’t it? While events (including trade shows) are second only to direct marketing in terms of perceived return on investment, according to the recent joint study by MPI Foundation and The George P. Johnson Co., anyone who’s ever limped the never-ending aisles or manned a booth on one of those “bowling alley” days knows, trade shows could use some improvement.

Otherwise, it may just be a matter of time before the Decent Marketing prediction comes true and companies flee the trade show floor to host their own shows. The trend has already started as more companies have figured out what blogger Katherine S. Stone says:”Given the ungodly amounts of money companies often spend on trade shows, they could probably afford to host something in their own backyard, keep it short and sweet, foot the bill for the travel of the attendees, and come up with a compelling alternative to long-winded lectures.”

My last post asked you to envision a whole new industry–let’s start with trade shows. What can we do to make them more experiential, more meaningful, less stressful, and more profitable for attendees and exhibitors alike?

To receive a weekly blog update, e-mail Sue.

According to Decent Marketing, a story I missed in last week’s New York Times was a doozy for the trade show biz. The NYT writer characterized your basic expo as: ” … stale air and fluorescent glare, … ghastly food, the long lines … throbbing feet from walking the show floor, exhausting marathons of schmoozing and wheeling-and-dealing, the tedium of listening to long-winded lectures in windowless rooms …”

Ouch. The truth really does hurt, doesn’t it? While events (including trade shows) are second only to direct marketing in terms of perceived return on investment, according to the recent joint study by MPI Foundation and The George P. Johnson Co., anyone who’s ever limped the never-ending aisles or manned a booth on one of those “bowling alley” days knows, trade shows could use some improvement.

Otherwise, it may just be a matter of time before the Decent Marketing prediction comes true and companies flee the trade show floor to host their own shows. The trend has already started as more companies have figured out what blogger Katherine S. Stone says:”Given the ungodly amounts of money companies often spend on trade shows, they could probably afford to host something in their own backyard, keep it short and sweet, foot the bill for the travel of the attendees, and come up with a compelling alternative to long-winded lectures.”

My last post asked you to envision a whole new industry–let’s start with trade shows. What can we do to make them more experiential, more meaningful, less stressful, and more profitable for attendees and exhibitors alike?

To receive a weekly blog update, e-mail Sue.

Interesting post on the TSMI blog about how one communications company is using a blog to promote its event. I agree with Rich Westerfield that it’s a great–and cheap–idea to use a blog for this–and that the execution really has to be a lot better if they want it to really work for them. And please, guys, that tiny white type on a black background is not a good idea.

I love it that this article from the Columbian in Clark County, Wash., has picked up on the latest news about the economic power of meetings:

“This $102 billion industry outranks most other advertising methods in performance, according to a recent joint study by MPI Foundation, the research arm of Dallas-based Meeting Planners International, and event-planning giant The George P. Johnson Co.”

Drop a hint to your local paper about why they should care about meetings—let’s keep paying this one forward.

If your attendees drink the tap water during a meeting in the U.K., you might find them a bit mellower than usual. That’s because traces of Prozac have been found in the water supply.

It appears that the Brits now consume so much of the drug that it’s still showing up in treated sewage water. Even though I generally oppose using bottled water for meetings (more expensive, environmentally unfriendly), I’d go with it in this case—otherwise, I envision a huge bottleneck at the general session doors where everyone’s saying, “after you,” “no, after you,” until it resembles a Monty Python skit!

To receive a weekly blog update, e-mail Sue.