Sponsor - Click to visit; Right Click for samples, personalization, and more offers
Sponsors - Click for samples, personalization, and more offers

Trade Shows Are Dead

No, They Are Not, Yes, They Are

10/26/2021 | Joel Schaffer, MAS, The Take Away

Hundreds of volunteers and paid professionals are huddling now all across the nation trying to resurrect the Trade Show in a post-pandemic world. The past two years taught us that this ain’t your daddy’s world anymore. That leaves us with the question … is the trade show dead? This is not a frivolous question. We are and will always be a “stuff” industry. People need to see stuff, get stuff and learn about stuff. By the way, in all due respect to George Carlin and others, I find “stuff” a pejorative word as related to how we make a living. Until 1985 (+/-), new stuff and special stuff awareness came by mail and via trade shows. Multi-line reps were just beginning to grow as an informational source for stuff. Around this time, the horrendous screech from the fax machine brought black and white low-resolution information about stuff. Short lived as it was, the internet began to take its place and, by the millennium, images of new stuff and special stuff came as an email. In 2004, two industry veterans were the first to bring Webex to the industry and webinars, or should I say “stuffinars”, began in earnest. All along, the menu of trade shows exploded. Regional associations, ASI, affinity groups, private end user shows, traveling rep shows, traveling regional shows and out of industry shows filled a calendar with weeks of stuff exhibits.

The emergency break was pulled in the Spring of 2020 and trade shows were no more -- no more trade shows as we knew them. Attempts were made to have car trunk or garage shows. That reminded me of the Catskill Mountains when traveling salesmen would pull into resorts, open their trunks and sell blouses. Trade shows were suspended until further notice. 

In business, when there is an empty space, it will be filled. WebEx and the newcomer, Zoom, became household names and useful tools. The ensuing 18 months or so, taught the industry a lot about   technologies that can present stuff while in your underwear or fully clothed. Many for profit and nonprofit providers invaded the space. Supplier after supplier rented this space. In any given hour of the day, I dare say “stuff” was broadcast through this industry with more frequency than Friends reruns on cable. 

As a veteran of 54 years and over 1,000 shows, enough history.

Trade shows as we know them are dead. However, because of the diversity of distributors and their needs, trade shows will still go on. Who will exhibit and who will attend them is still unknown. The little guy who does not see reps will. The little supplier who does not have reps will cherry pick locations that are affordable and reachable by car and may exhibit. The next few years will give us the “data”.  The top shelf (based on volume) distributors may disappear from the show floor having digested all the new and special stuff through different and more personalized portals. These portals do not have to be general. Because they are more private, they can drill down to the needs of their audience. 

The huddling groups of trade show providers are trying to figure how to fuse the virtual with the real. How to integrate Zoom with a concrete floor. The next few years will see a lot of creative attempts to find the new formula. There is motivation to succeed. For regionals, the trade show is the life blood that keeps it viable, dues alone can’t do it. For ASI, it is a profit center. For PPAI it is the core of their income. For other providers, it is a matter of cost efficiency in reaching the market.

Until a hologram brings Princess Leia into your office holding the latest tech toy, the Zoom type meetings are here to stay.

Now the lecture...

I used and abused the word “stuff”. I did that on purpose. Indeed, any stuff, be it a drug, a toy, a pillowcase, etc. needs to be shown to be purchased. Hence, a trade show. However (here it comes), we bill ourselves as “professionals”. Professions, such as doctors (members of the AMA), do not go to the AMA trade show, they go to the AMA convention. That goes for virtually all professions from financial to scientific, etc. Is a convention a trade show? Nope. Conventions have an exhibit component. I recall my attending the Illinois State Banker’s Convention as a guest speaker where we had an exhibit in the corridor between the meeting rooms and the banquet room. 

So, if we are “professionals”, we need to retool and rethink trade shows and convert them into conventions, new types of conventions. We already offer some education, but that is subordinate to the trade show component. Despite the certification requirements, the educational offering is rather helter skelter and tends to offer what the given facilitator proposed for a given show. As an industry under siege by direct selling and the internet, we need to grow our capabilities, our service, and our expertise. This can be done with a gathering of professionals at a convention. It is not done in two minutes on a trade show floor. Our expertise has to add value to our client base. We need expertise in human psychology, industrial psychology, markets, statistical modeling, digital technologies, packaging, manufacturing, legal and even logistics. We bring with us product knowledge and creativity, but we need to be more. Our industry, once a stepchild of the premium business, is now the parent of the premium business. In the spirit of this take over, we need to scale our industry as a whole to expand in the future. A convention, under the direction of volunteer association leadership can navigate while the practitioner’s paddle.

I want to see and hear a convention of professionals tackle the questions and the challenges in breakout sessions, in deep dives into subject matters. I then want to see the massive PR campaign that puts teeth behind the certifications ASI and PPAI offer. Here’s a reality check. Less than 10% of show attendees avail themselves of the education provided at our shows if we discount attendance for keynote sessions. Woe is they who do not avail. They must live by the words of Pink Floyd when it comes to needing education. 

Conventions have by their nature much more social interaction. I am huddling now with many young creative volunteers and their calls are for more networking, more fun. Well then, chuck your trade show and build “The Promotions East Convention – a gathering of the top industry professionals”. So, by inference, if you are not there, you are not a top industry professional.

With the social interaction, the menu of professional development round tables, seminars, etc., the need to attend will grow, the trade show component will remain, and the idea of a physical event will continue. The by product will be a growing industry, growing companies and individual professional growth that a buyer can’t find on Amazon or through 4 Imprint. We need to navigate these new waters and not drift in a dead sea.


Joel D. Schaffer, MAS is CEO and Founder of Soundline, LLC, the pioneering supplier to the promotional products industry of audio products. Joel has 48 years of promotional product industry experience and proudly heralds “I was a distributor.” He has been on the advisory panel of the business and marketing department of St. John’s University in New York and is a frequent speaker at Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is an industry Advocate and has appeared before the American Bankers Association, American Marketing Association, National Premium Sales Executives, American Booksellers Association and several other major groups. He has been a management consultant to organizations such as The College Board and helped many suppliers enter this industry. He is a frequent contributor to PPB and Counselor magazines. He has facilitated over 200 classes sharing his industry knowledge nationwide. He is known for his cutting humor and enthusiasm in presenting provocative and motivating programs. He is the only person to have received both the Marvin Spike Industry Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) and PPAI’s Distinguished Service Award (2011). He is a past director of PPAI and has chaired several PPAI committees and task forces. He is a past Chair of the SAAGNY Foundation, Past President of SAAGNY and a SAAGNY Hall of Fame member. He was cited by ASI as one of the 50 most influential people in the industry.
Next up from The Take Away...

Can We Help the Labor Crisis?

The Personnel Crisis Continues to Loom
Joel Schaffer, MAS

10 Tips for Holiday Gift Giving

...and whatever you do, do it early!
Joel Schaffer, MAS

About Mixed Nuts and Diversity

Adding value and a competitive edge.
Joel Schaffer, MAS
Latest from PromoJournal...

The Roadmaster from Garyline

Enjoy those long car rides
PromoErrday

2024 Eco-Friendly Identity Collection

Products Good for the Earth & Your Customers
Identity Collection

These are no ordinary baseball caps...

Find out why Amelia loves these Infinity Her caps so much!
A. Madl's Closet