Where Will You Go this Fall?

Survey Results for 07/15/2009:

This fall, I expect my trips to trade shows and meetings will be:

Like us, many of the readers who participated in this week's poll are cutting back on fall travel. Another chunk are either waiting to decide or planning to attend the same number events as they have in the past. Only a small percentage are taking advantage of the down market opportunities and attending more shows this year.

I did get some feedback this week that I'd like to share with you. One Top 100 manufacturer representative expresses his thoughts on industry events:

"First and foremost we are keeping an eye on our spending, so everything we do from a marketing standpoint, including events, must be justified. The shows we participated in last fall performed rather poorly for us and we had considered cancelling shows and events this spring, foregoing early deposits as a sunk cost. However, we did end up attending some spring shows which turned out to be productive for us which we think was helped by the ARRA legislation. The bright spot for us was IBS in Las Vegas this past January. IBS was a great show for us and we are still grooming those leads. We will more than likely participate in IBS next year."

Another respondent notes that show locations may have a big impact on whether or not her company sees a strong enough ROI to attend:

"...a primary reason we haven’t reserved space for the Remodeling Show is the location of this year’s show in Indianapolis. If you recall, the Remodeling Show in Chicago several years back wasn’t all that successful in terms of attendance. Without the foot traffic, we can’t get leads for new customers and a lot of our current customers aren’t planning to attend the Remodeling Show this year. It isn’t about the money; we have it budgeted. What we don’t have is a lot of confidence that the show will draw a big enough audience to create ROI for us. Baltimore and Las Vegas seemed to both be fairly successful locations, but it becomes an East coast vs. West coast-based audience for attendance."

Keep me posted as you finalize your travel plans for the fall industry events, and perhaps I'll see you on the trade show floor.

 

Contact Christina Lewellen, senior editor, at clewellen@glass.org.