I am trying to remember when I last attended a technology trade show, and I am failing! There was a time when I attended every Windows World, PC Expo, Comdex and a few others whose names escape me now. I know I was younger then, and maybe that is why I think I enjoyed going to these shows.
What happened to them? Was it 9/11 and the fear of travelling? Was it the clamp down in marketing expenditure after the bubble burst? Was it that corporate IT budgets were slashed so much that there was no point in buyers going to shows? Or did the Emperor finally admit to having no clothes on?
I am not sure I know exactly why. I am however happy that I don't have to plan for another booth, spend weekends putting booths together and then spend all day on my feet. Maybe Internet search replaced the need for trade shows!
I remember one year when a trade show manager was busy opening boxes in preparation for her show, and she let out a huge scream. The box contained leads from the previous year's show - nobody had touched all these leads that the company had paid tens of thousands of dollars to acquire!
Having said that, next week is CeBIT week in Germany - only the most gigantic trade show on the planet. Why has this show survived when our own Comdex has gone? Anyone know?
I have noticed that the big, horizontal trade shows are dying off, in favor of the vertical, specialized shows. For example, I spoke at a trade show last week in New York focused exclusively on search engine marketing. Attendance was record breaking.
I think with people's time at a premium, they laser target their shows to the topics that most effect their daily business lives.
Posted by: Ron Belanger | March 11, 2005 at 08:50 AM