Analysis - Opinion: tech trade shows need a rethink

[HEXUS]

The latest attempt to get the channel together was underwhelming, how can things be improved?

Read more.

[directhex]

the decline in tech shows happened at the same time they stopped having so much t&a on display

coincidence?

[Saracen]

There are several issues with many of these shows, not least of which is that they are FAR too busy. Bythat, I mean there are gazzillions of people milling around just looking at stuff, far too few of whom are actually trade. The real buyers have, in my experience, largely given up because they can't actually get to see the stuff they're interested in or the people they want to talk to.

My advice .... many shows are the victims of their own "success". In the drive to make them appear bigger and better, and probably to justify ever-increasing costs levied by organisers, they've shot themselves in the foot.

For instance, I used to go to Comdex (Vegas) every year, and the spring Comdex (Atlanta usually) pretty regularly too. But with :-

1. The cost
2. The hassle
3. The crowds
4. Researching via the net and then organising a one-on-one visit is far more effective, because instead of spending several days traipsing round a show (and a couple more travelling), I get real business done. Small quantity, but real quality.
5. Using 4), no jetlag.

I've given up and haven't been for years, because it reached the point where they were more trouble than they were worth. And, increasingly, manufacturers are reaching the same conclusions.

As the article header so succinctly put it .... "Demonstrate ROI or die". For me, they've already died, and precisely because there was minimal ROI.