Well, one economic shoe has finally dropped – the GDP contracted 0.3% in Q3:08. The other shoe will be the Q4 figures – contraction again would meet the academic definition of a recession. Not that we needed a text book to tell us how tough it is out there. 

As we’ve commented before, the instinct to cut costs in economic downturns can be very strong. Many of these cost cuts are prudent or necessary, but it’s easy to lose perspective and cut too much. As the economy recovers, these businesses can pay a big price by not being ready for growth.We see this dilemma all the time in the trade show business.

It often plays out as an all or nothing fight: go with last year’s display or don’t go to the show at all. But of course, there are ways to exhibit at a show and cut your show budget. The following list will help you cut costs but still get the benefit of attending your next show.

1. Go to the Show. Sounds obvious, but you can’t win if you’re not in the race. The worst mistake you can make is to drop the show.

2. Plan ahead. Nothing kills budgets as quickly or senselessly as rush charges. Whether it’s travel, logistics or your displays, plan early.

3. Do More with Less. A budget display can be a better ROI than a more complicated display. So cut extraneous items from your booth or display. If you usually go modular, go with a popup. Need to buy a new display? Consider renting.      

4. Follow Up. Once you’ve committed to your show and economized in all the smart ways possible, make sure you get a return on your show. Follow up with prospects immediately and routinely.

5. Market Your Show. Make sure your customers know you attended the show. Show attendance delivers an amazing PR value, and these “softer” areas of return often dominate hard metrics (like sales).

Good luck and have a great show!

Since we’re located between two great convention cities – San Francisco and San Jose – we can easily get the scoop on the convention business. We just take a short drive north or south and check it out for ourselves. So, with plenty of bad economic news to go around – most of it originating in the housing sector, we watched with anticipation as the Mortgage Bankers Association rolled into San Francisco’s Moscone Center West from October 19 – 22. No fascination with disaster here – we just figured that of all segments feeling the pinch of tough times it would be worst in the residential mortgage business and we were wondering if this would change the conference tone or schedule.            

Well, although attendance was down about 15% from ‘07, the event pulled out the stops and had a cautiously upbeat tone. Consider this: Jay Leno headlined a night and tickets to the Steve Young and Chris Gardner luncheons were completely sold out. Fannie and Freddie were big sponsors and Karl Rove gave a talk. We saw something similar when the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress convened at Moscone October 12 - 16th. Attendance down about 15%, exhibitors down about 8%.

What’s all this mean? Well, it might be the last of the convention budgets being spent, although that’s not the sense we got from the people at the convention we talked to. More likely it’s this simple recognition: industries, including the battered mortgage industry, will survive the current credit tsunami and the companies that will emerge strongest are building market positions now. Successful businesses take share and get well positioned during slumps. It is hard advice to follow since the instinct to conserve is so strong.  But the way we see it is that if the MBA can throw a great conference (as they did), the convention business might come off its recent peak but will remain relatively strong. Great companies are still going to exhibit. And when this crisis concludes (as all crises must), companies that indiscriminately cut trade show budgets are going to be worse off. Our business continues to show strength, so we must (luckily) be working with the next category leaders and the up and comers taking share in down markets.           

Long live the game – go out and take some share!