economy

This is the first of a series of contributions by Billy Raygun - www.billyraygun.com

Controlling cost is becoming a business imperative more now than ever before. Exhibit managers are stretched to the max with rising costs and a lack of new ideas. Under the current industry business model as we know it, it doesn’t surprise me prices increase and quality and ideas suffer.  We’re at a time where new ideas are the most critical success factor a business can have. As Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same thinking that created it”. If you really want to reduce or control costs, you need to change the way you’re currently doing business. 

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Submitted by Rhiannon Anderson from Steelhead Productions - www.steelheadproductions.com

Your business may be more vulnerable than ever before, however, many say it is not the time to stop or even slow down marketing efforts.  Corporate America relies on trade shows to generate interest in and sales for its products and services.   Trade shows provide a unique 'live,' selling opportunity unlike any other marketing avenue, one that can generate outstanding results given proper planning and the right show presence.

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Exhibitslist was on the show floor of the North American International Auto Show 2009 at Cobo Hall in Detroit this morning during the massive dismantle.  Guess what?  Doesn't seem like the poor economy is affecting exhibit sizes at this important show!  There were some truly awesome booths.  Exhibit Works and George P. Johnson seemed to rule the show floor, however there were a number of quality installations by German exhibit houses including KLARTEXT.

One thing we did not notice was a great evidence of a tilting toward "green" exhibiting.  Maybe next year.  We talked with a lot of the installers on the floor and heard a little bit of apprehension about the upcoming months in the industry.  The circuit continues next week in Chicago when the install for the Auto Show starts at McCormick Place.

Were you at the Auto Show?  What trends did you notice?  What booth impressed you?

With the recent announcement that Apple is not exhibiting or participating in the Macworld Trade show, chills have been felt through the industry.  Shortly after that the Paris Macworld show was cancelled outright.  Is this an industry trend?  A recent Tradeshow Week article featured the thought that show size was down, but new media marketing was up.  A survey by trade show week showed that the average size of exhibitions had gone from 250,024 sq. feet to 231,451 sq. feet.  That is an interesting figure.... however, anecdotally I can say that this may be a trend towards smaller square footage in booths and not necessarily a turning away from event marketing.

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