As someone who has attended many trade shows in my career, I was most intrigued by this short note in a recent Sales & Marketing Management email (sorry, no link):
How bad are trade shows? A new survey by transportation-services provider BostonCoach reveals 70 percent of attendees harbor some negative feelings about their experiences. From boring presentations to the hassle of travel, trade shows are getting low marks.”The results of this survey have important implications for organizations staging events,” says BostonCoach president and CEO Jonathan P. Danforth. “Producing a truly successful event requires focusing on activities and logistics that extend well beyond the show floor or a meeting room.” Here’s where trade shows fall short:
* They are no fun. More than half of those in the survey said they were not stimulated or energized by events in or outside the meeting hall, and a great lineup of speakers was not enough.
* There’s little return on investment. It costs money to attend a show, from travel and registration to days away from the office. And 48 percent of trade-show attendees have negative feelings about the lack of value trade shows provide.
* Travel is a drag. Thirty percent of attendees said they didn’t like the hassle of air and ground travel, and didn’t enjoy time away from home and the office.
I always viewed industry trade shows as some evil concoction dreamed up in the back rooms of the marketing department. I cannot recall any valuable leads coming from those events. The best part of the experience was seeing customers in a different setting. Yet, it didn’t make up for the missed selling time from being away from phone, email, fax, office, etc.