Blogs

Hello Everyone!!!

I would first like to apologize for the "hiatus" that we have taken. It has been a crazy year for us. That being said I would like to officially say we are back. So please check in often and continue your support by adding your comments to the articles. Also, don't forget the formus and classifieds are a great way to drum up some business.

I will be touching on some fairly "hot topics" in my upcoming blogs that have the exhibit industry buzzing. If you want to know what they are keep checking the site. I know these topics will get the online community on exhibitslist fired up.

For all of our users, thank you for your support and please continue to add your 2 cents. Look forward to hearing from all of you.

Ok, so first off sorry for the hiatus, things have been a little crazy for the exhibitslist team.

However we are back and ready to roll!

So my blog entry today is dealing with competitive agreements that are signed by employers and employees.

Are these a good thing? Do they really work?

I mean, ok I get the fact that the company is trying to protect themselves as they want to keep their clients but I know way too many stories of sales reps leaving the company and taking their client with them. I mean it might not be the next day or anything but it always happens.

So what do you do? Do you sue them over this? You can, and in my opinion you should, but you really have to think of the money it's going to cost you and in the end the client isn't going to come back to you, especially after you've dragged their sales "guy" (or girl) through the legal system. So basically its a lose lose scenerio.

So here is the real question we have to ask: What type of ethics do people have these days? I mean can't anyone play by the book so to speak and win clients honestly? If it's not them breaking their NCA then it's money getting thrown under the table, slamming your company name, or something like that.

I don't know maybe I've just been involved or around a lot of bad people.

How is it in your world? Do you deal with the same problems? How do you deal with it?

Would love to hear from you!

“I will say that the attendance is down, but the leads we are getting are more qualified then the years past.”

Sound familiar? This statement has been the cornerstone statement for the 2009 trade show year. It seems that every one who ever gets asked “How has the show been?” has been told to answer this way.

But is it really the case? Are the leads more qualified?

First of all, I just want to say that I hope this is the case. I really hope that companies are sending out the decision makers due to the economic downfall this year and not the information gatherers.

From shows that I have attended and from companies that I have asked they all seem to say the same thing and agree with the statement above. However, as they are telling me that the people that they talk to are more qualified it almost seems like they are being forced to say this, like their boss is telling them to say this so they can justify the expense.

In the end though, does that really help anyone? If the exhibitors say that they are happy with the leads / attendees that they talked to why would show management change anything? Then, the next year the same effort will be giving by show management as they are being misled that they did a good job. Who, then, is really to blame?

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that show management always does a great job or isn’t in some way responsible for the poor attendance. But how can you get mad at them if the message isn’t consistent?

Take for example the TS2 show. Some said that the show was not good for them at all, and then others said that they had great results. Is this a case of the company telling themselves what they want to hear and not being truthful? Or maybe they just did a better job a grabbing people as they walked by? In my opinion if the message isn’t consistent and the exhibitors aren’t brutally truthful then it will never get fixed.

What is your take?

So I know this blog is a litle late but hey, better late than never.

Now that GES & EG have combined and Freeman already doing something very similar, is this a case of unfair trade?

What do I mean by that? Well, think about it for a second. EG goes up against say Derse. They both have competitive designs, the price is very similar, and in fact the client may even be leaning towards Derse. Then all of a sudden EG pulls out the show service card and cuts their price by 20-40% by giving the drayage to the potential client for free.

It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out who the client is going to sign with, obviously EG.

But how is that a fair competition? I mean, you think of any other business who tried to do this and RED flags would be raised right away.

The only reason the show service / union rates are so high is because these companies like GES and Freeman are giving the services away for free so they need exhibit houses to pick up the tab.

What can be done, it's not like you can't order show services?

Could we maybe do our own drayage, perhaps just pay for the rental of the forklift to unload the truck? Or maybe these organizations like EDPA, TSEA, IAEE, etc... should step in and say enough is enough.

Now I know BigM (a user on this site - Check out Trade Show Transit - www.tradeshowtransit.com) has mentioned that it has been a topic that the EDPA has had on their plate, but how much longer do the exhibit houses have to wait?

Will things ever change? Can things ever change?

In my opinion this would be a drastic change to the trade show industry. One we may need!

Zach

Well since we just had the TS2 show, which I was able to attend, I thought it would be fun to analyze both of the exhibit professional trade shows.

First lets start with the Exhibitor Show.

This show has been for years, known as the show to go to if you are looking to see what's new, who's who and everything in between. It really hasn't had any trouble (except in 2001 and during recessions...2009) to turn out a great crowd of attendees. Companies like GE, Boeing, HP and alike all come to the show to make sure they have the latest trends by the biggest exhibit house.

How does this show have so much success? Is it the simple location of Las Vegas that brings everyone together? Or do the show managers really know how to put on a successful show?

In my opinion it is a little of both. I think that the location of the show does help twist the attendees arm to coming. However the Exhibitor Show Managers do a great job in creating hype and making companies almost feel like if they don't go then they are missing an opportunity.

Now for TS2

Well I have only had the opportunity to attend the TS2 show for the last 4 years and I have to say that it is definitley getting worse every year.

How?
Where to begin?

Lets start with the attendees. They are getting less interested and more irritated. The show I am sure brings some companies ROI or else it wouldn't have lasted this long. But I mean evey person I talked to said: "they weren't expecting much" or "this is TS2." How do you expect to keep attendees coming back when the exhibitors are losing interest in the show, and therfore becoming more how you say bland with there booths.

Then we have the show cities...can't we just pick one and stay with it? I mean are we going to a city where Hargrove wants to try to get an in with? Chicago is a great East Coast trade show city, leave it at that. Washington...ok, Philly (I can't sayanything or else the union will hunt me down), Boston...no thanks and then Atlanta COME ON!! Its like the show managers don't care enough to make it a real show.

In fact, this year I heard they chopped down the show floor as a lot of companies backed out (welcome to 2009). But they didn't try to work with the companies that had good second aisle spots they just threw them to the curb and said there was nothing they could do about it. I even know of one company that had only exhibited in 2008 and they got a main spot in the front row. So it's no wonder that hardly anyone signed up for the TS2 Show next year and that it is becoming a "joke" of a show to the industry.

Should they combine forces with the Exhibitor Show and hope that somehow they can turn the show around? Or is it to late? My opinion...Exhibitor Show stay away as the TS2 Show is a sinking ship and you will only drown with it.

Zach