Discussion

By Peter Schwarz on Nov 13, 2013

More so disturbing is that on a trade show the large companies take visitors of the floor and carrying them for a day or so in to there demo facility. As done by several press manufactures in the past few years. This made me decide not to participate as a vendor in this shows anymore.
It looks like the small vendors support the show company so the big companies can remove the audience from the show floor to there advantage.

By Joe Webb on Nov 13, 2013

Consolidation has a lot to do with this too... when multi-plant ownership groups slim down and have a technology director or a production director to whom those plants report, that key person can get the "full treatment" at the demo center. The local management may rarely attend shows, when before they were purchased, they would travel with the owner and cfo/controller to most all of the national shows and attend their regional shows as well.

By Mark Pellman on Nov 13, 2013

As this industry tries to find the "New Normal", it has become obvious to many companies both small and large that the tradeshow venue does not provide the return on investment that was previously seen. It is also interesting to see previously traditional printing industry driven companies changing their focus, entering new markets, and using other marketing venues to move forward. Most companies have already adapted to these changes while the tradeshow industry continues to try to hold on with costs that cannot be sustained by the industry. Tradeshows may still be a part of marketing but in a more limited capacity.