The Public Turns Out: Consumer Shows Grow in 2003

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 6/21/2004

Consumer shows in the United States and Canada in 2003 continued a healthy growth pattern — as in the previous year — particularly when compared to traditional tradeshows.

Consumer shows grew substantially in every index in 2003, according to Tradeshow Week's Annual Report of Consumer Show Statistics, and show managers were eager to say so, evidenced by the fact that Tradeshow Week's report features 223 shows, a nearly 40-percent increase in the number of shows included over last year's report.

Shows in 2003 grew 4.9 percent in net square footage, 3.9 percent in exhibiting company participation and 0.8 percent in attendance over shows in 2002. Those figures are down slightly compared with the previous year, when consumer shows grew 4.8 percent in net square footage, 4.5 percent in exhibiting company participation and 2.6 percent in attendance.

However, once again in 2003, consumer shows performed better overall than their trade counterparts. Tradeshows declined 0.4 percent in net square footage, and increased 0.6 percent in the number of exhibiting companies and 3.6 percent in attendance, compared with 2002.

And although show managers may be able to draw conclusions about their success from the same economic indicators as other business people, many have more idiosyncratic explanations.

Caryn Cohan-Bates, World Wide Pet Supply Assn.'s director of trade and consumer shows, said she feels that her consumer shows, the America's Family Pet Expos, were successful in 2003 because of the strengthening of the human-pet relationship. "They're looked upon as family members," Cohan-Bates said of her attendees' pets. The April America's Family Pet Expo increased in net square footage by 57 percent.

Responding to market demands doesn't hurt either. An adjusted marketing strategy was a factor for Pat Riha, president of Pat Riha Productions.

Four of Riha's six shows saw increases of over 25 percent in net square footage, with one show (Kansas City Boat Show) increasing 54 percent in number of exhibiting companies and another (KC Fall RV Boat Show & Sale) attracting 113 percent more attendees than in 2002.

Riha said he targeted his promotions at perceived buyers for his shows, which cater to the home and garden, boat, and recreational vehicle industries. Growth came despite a rough year for his hub, Kansas City, where residents suffered job layoffs and salary cuts in 2003.

"We lost the attendance of people who were just coming for entertainment purposes," Riha said. "There's nothing more depressing than looking around at stuff you can't afford."

Riha wasn't the only one who had to dodge an economic bullet, despite the conventional wisdom that things are turning around. Kathie Ritchie, show manager for dmg world media's West Coast Harvest Festivals, "pumped up advertising" for the 2003 shows but several factors, specifically the volatile California economy and the fall wildfires in the San Diego area, left her "trying to keep up with the status quo."

One thing that seems to help is location. For instance, it doesn't hurt to situate your show in the nucleus of your industry's top markets, as Reed Exhibitions did with the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show. Picking Harrisburg, Pa., for its February show put it in the center of the nation's No. 1 hunting market and No. 7 fishing market, according to Group Vice President Bruce Goldweitz.

"The outdoor industry segment continues to be a fairly stable market due to the nature of the products," Goldweitz said.

The Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show grew 23 percent in net square footage and seven percent in the number of exhibiting companies.

Goldweitz would not provide attendance figures for either 2002 or 2003, but he cited passionate attendees as the show's ever-present enthusiasts.

Excitement remained an understatement for the perennial powerhouse, the April Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, said senior project manager Glenn Geffcken.

"Everyone was ecstatic with the event," he said of the show, which grew in each index compared with 2002, the most substantial being a 7-percent increase in attendance.

Geffcken said he was forced to turn away hundreds of attendees who flocked to the show's 97 author sessions, featuring well-known writers such as Elmore Leonard, Mary Higgins Clark and Ray Bradbury.

Geffcken credited his 2003 success to an explosion in the national and local media coverage of the event and his staff's ability to adapt and evolve with the event.