If you’re reading this, you have an interest in trade shows and event marketing. So it stands to reason you’ve heard the thesis about trade shows becoming obsolete. In one version or another, the idea is that ubiquitous broadband, media streaming and virtual reality will render trade shows unnecessary. We all have to be concerned about evolutions that threaten our business model - whatever business we’re in. So we’ve dug into this trend to see if there’s fire with all the smoke. Bottom line - anyone that feels there will be a replacement for trade shows as a marketing and sales opportunity is way off. Look at the primary benefits of trade show participation:

1. Trade shows are not virtual - they’re face to face, customer to product and competitor to competitor
2. Buyers qualify products faster at trade shows
3. Decision makers are on the floor (>70% of attendees)
4. Your current and future customers are there (it’s up to you to meet with them)

You can’t recreate these advantages cost effectively with any combination of conference calls, web presentations, telepresence, virtual trade shows, etc. Not possible. And importantly, the limitation is not an issue of technology (which is pretty amazing stuff, incidentally). The truth is that we’re social animals and buying decisions are social processes involving the establishment of trust. Face to face will trump “remote” every time. I’m not saying these new technologies don’t have roles in the marketing and selling process. The can be very cost effective in educating and qualifying prospects, and they may be smart additions to a marketing and sales strategy. But I’ll put my money on the “rubber meets the road” trade show phenomena - it will always deliver the best bang for the marketing buck (by a factor of 2:1 in many cases). Pick a show, get a great trade show booth, train the staff and get the leads.   I recently called a CEO friend - he runs a tech company and had recently done a little flash demo on their site promoting a virtual trade show and bashing the real trade shows. This company is always on the leading edge of the curve, so I called him to find out if this “phasing out” of trade shows was for real. Couldn’t get him - he was out of the office. At a trade show (true story). Keep Evolving, Marketing & Promoting!