BY WTT Columnist Bill Farquharson October 21, 2002 -- Graph Expo is complete sensory overload. There are bright lights scientifically created to blind contact lens wearers. There are people thrusting brochures into your hand as you pass by like the New York City street vendors pushing the XXX shows. There is loud noise from one floor presenter trying to speak over the rival in the next booth. Then there’s the odd scent of popcorn coming from somewhere and you feel the sudden need not only to eat popcorn but also to determine its relationship to printing. The vendors’ strategy is simple: bring along (or hire) someone to stand in front of their booth and act as eye candy, thereby gaining your attention and pull you in. In general, their goal is collect leads for subsequent follow up. Then, once the bait has been taken, the VP of Sales swoops in with his LaserClean teeth and before you know it, if you are not careful, you are backing your Volvo up to the dock to pick up a Heidelchromexeroxdigo printer you didn’t need in the first place. Your strategy is equally simple: survey the booths from afar at the end of the aisle, then walk down the middle, avoiding eye contact at all costs. By day’s end, you are drained, your ears ring, and your shoulder hurts from lugging around 20 pounds of product literature in the carrying bag that won’t make it out of your hotel room. Most printers attend Graph Expo with the same reasoning as a mountain climber: they go because it is there. Arriving without a plan, they meander the halls for a couple of days, hit the House of Blues, and head home. It can be overwhelming. Last year I personally witnessed a most peculiar sight. I saw a man pacing off the footprint (length and width) of a certain digital printing device. He would walk heel to toe, then scribble his findings down on a piece of paper. Waiting for him to finish, I approached the man and asked what he was up to. "Market research," came the reply. He explained his thinking: if the device fit in his shop, he was buying it. Had he spoken with any clients about the market potential? No. Had he conferred with his sales people? No. On what basis, then, was he considering the purchase of this $400,000 printer? He had been reading about it in the trades and had been to a few trade shows where it was featured. That’s it. His idea of market research would likely lead him to failure, but will he blame his own short sightedness? No. It will be the equipment vendor’s fault. The curse of the trade show strikes again. Here’s my idea for a TRULY effective Graph Expo of the future. Let’s tell the equipment vendors to stay home. We know who they are and if we want to see a salesman, all we need to do is wait a couple of days for one of them to show up at our door. Software peddlers, too, need not apply. Paper manufacturers, gizmo vendors, personnel agencies…everyone who is selling something must go! Finally, the trade publications must stay home. I get your magazine. Why are you here? The people who do massages can stay. Cool idea. Good for you. And the popcorn machine is always welcome. What’s left are two classes of booths. First, I’d let trade associations stay. These people bust their behinds for some mind share and I think this should be their forum. Having worked with PrintImage International, the PIA, GATF, and NAPL, I can tell you first-hand that its members are getting far more than a simple value for the dollar while at the same time underutilizing the services available. Trade associations are independent sources of information, education, training, and government representation. You get a lot for a few hundred bucks in membership fees. I want them here to tell you more about what they can do to make you money. In the other booths, I would include some business services experts. I am writing this column in seat 18D on an American Airline’s flight from Chicago to Boston and the talkative passenger next to me asked, "What is the biggest issue faced by printers today?" My answer is what led to this month’s ranting: printers need help with basic business issues. Let’s get printers some help with recruiting good people, marketing their company, effective sales management, motivational issues, effective compensation plans, leadership skills, and the like. Fill McCormick Place with booths of business experts, not expense line items. Printers need basic assistance first. They struggle with some very rudimentary issues that must take priority if survival is to happen. Once the printers’ skill levels are on the rise, we will invite the equipment vendors and software peddlers back, now that we understand our own businesses a little better. However, be forewarned, vendors, that you will find a smarter and tougher client thanks to the New Graph Expo. He or she might actually ask you to provide a training program to accompany the equipment purchase. Hey, now THERE’s a concept.