Are trade shows “back”?
By Linda Forrest
It’s been busy around these parts the past few weeks as we had several clients exhibiting at marquee trade shows, and our own Francis Moran attended these shows to support our clients and get a finger on the pulse of our clients’ industries. If his Tweet, upon experiencing Retail’s BIG Show, the annual conference and exhibition of the National Retail Foundation (NRF) is any indication, 2011 is off to a good start: “Mood at NRF, the major retail trade show, is very upbeat. Quote from a veteran CES attendee equally applies here: ‘Woohoo, America’s back.'”
When I saw this, I was curious to know if this positivity denoted an upward trend across the conference and trade show universe, as, with so many marketing activities, investment in trade shows and conferences had waned in recent years for a variety of reasons – lack of budget, increased focus on no-travel events, virtual tradeshows and webcasts, podcasts and other reasonable excuses to put dollars elsewhere.
But as with all things, the pendulum swings and we’re seeing at least what seems to be a renewed investment in attending trade shows and events. Gone, however, are the days when participation in any and all industry events in your sector is a given part of your marketing strategy and budget, as seemed to be the case prior to the dot-com bubble bursting.
