Comments on: Trade shows: How many is too many?

By: trade shows

trade shows — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:11:49 +0000

yeah,he question we must ask ourselves in considering consolidation is whether the benefits outweigh what is being sacrificed.

By: Herman Bolger

Herman Bolger — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:14:00 +0000

We are a small repair shop, and most of these shows are geared for high volume mass produceing builders. We attend because we like to see what is new and coming down the line, so to speak, that we are going to have to repair soon enough. It would be nice to have larger, but consolidated shows, instead of a small shops like ourselves that are trying to keep up with whats new and coming,trying to decide which show might be most benificial and chance missing something interesting at a show that we did not have the funds to attend.
I also like the shows to be in the winter, when it slow time for most dealers, repair shop etc, instead of the fall, our busy time ?? Who thought that was a good idea ??

By: Chris Ruisi

Chris Ruisi — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:48:43 +0000

Liz – interesting way to plug your event.

By: Jim Rhodes

Jim Rhodes — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:59:13 +0000

Phil: Ah yes, the “joys” of exhibiting at IMTEC in Chicago. Remember when you had to get a union electrician to screw in your lightbulbs in your booth? They always managed to get there just after the regular 8-hour shift, so we had to pay time and a half for the electrician and his assistant, who handed him the light bulb. Then,finally, the NMMA came out crowing that they had finally negotiated a new contract that would allow exhibitors to chane their own lightbulbs, but we still weren’t allowed to plug them into the electric circuit ourselves. It was hailed by the NMMA show manager as a major victory! Jim

By: Phil Friedman

Phil Friedman — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:10:13 +0000

Liz,

Those of us who have been around long enough to have attended a dozen or more IMTEC shows, and watched the progression of recreational marine industry shows in general, know that the reduction in the total number of shows is a case of strangling the golden goose.

The earlier profitability of shows for the show producers encouraged the proliferation of the number of shows. Venue’s became more expensive. Local labor, especially when unionized, became more difficult and expensive to deal with. Show managers became more truculent and less accommodating. All while promoters constantly beat the “be there or be labelled as belly up” drum. The result is that a commitment to a major show presence generally requires annually more dollars than the average marine firm can sustain. Add the recession, and just about everyone’s back is broken.

Going forward the only answer is to consolidate into a manageable number of shows that will return genuine value for marketing dollars spent. Whether the competing show producers can, as a group, make that happen is a good question.

By: Twitted by camcollins

Twitted by camcollins — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:47:31 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by camcollins [...]