The days of relentless growth in trade show attendance are behind
us, declared Douglas L. Ducate, president and CEO of the Center for
Exhibition Industry Research, at the annual meeting of the
International Association for Exhibition Management, December 1 to 3,
in San Antonio. "These are the good old days," he said.
Ducate was a co-presenter with Adam Schaffer, Tradeshow Week
publisher, at a packed IAEM session in which they gave a sobering
assessment of the future of the exhibition industry. Both men said that
changes in the marketplace have eroded the industry’s "unique
selling proposition," for a variety of reasons.
New product launches traditionally were the number reason for
exhibiting, Ducate pointed out, but these days companies can’t
wait for show cycles to get their products on the market. Further, it
used to be significantly less expensive to generate sales leads through
trade shows versus cold calling, but as the costs of exhibiting
continue escalating the cost differential is nearly negligible, Ducate
said, citing CEIR research.
While some expositions, such as those in healthcare and home
construction, continue to enjoy robust growth, overall the industry
needs to develop a new value proposition for exhibitors—one that
incorporates both quantitative reasons for exhibiting and qualitative
ones as well. Whatever that new value proposition turns out to be, the
presenters pointed to changes that are likely over the next several
years:
Show logistics must be streamlined and exhibiting costs need to be
controlled, but even when this occurs, show organizers are not likely
to see the profit margins they have in the past, noted Schaffer. "Your
margins are going to be healthy, but you need to find new revenue
streams," he said. The cost-shifting model of the past, in which costs
for things like registration areas ultimately ended up in inflated
exhibitor fees, is not sustainable. Moreover, it is costing more money
to attract the same number of attendees, another drain on show
budgets.
Ducate expects to see the "verticalization" of expositions to
continue as niche products seek niche marketing opportunities.
Both presenters said that the demand for continuing education at
shows will grow.
Corporate trade shows are a "significant" trend, but Ducate also
noted that while surveys show that many companies view them favorably,
most attendees prefer shows where they can see all the competition, not
just one company.
