Show Stats Head Up

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 8/30/2004

Los Angeles—Second-quarter tradeshow performance indicates the industry has moved past the baby-steps phase of its recovery.

According to Tradeshow Week's Quarterly Report of Tradeshow Statistics, U.S. and Canadian shows improved in every index compared to the second quarter of 2003: 2.7 percent in net square footage, 5 percent in the number of exhibiting companies and 6.4 percent in professional attendance.

Much of the quarter's strength can be attributed to tradeshows in the medical and health care sector. When the 21 shows in the field covered by this report are separated out, they reflect growth of 7.7 percent in net square footage, 7.8 percent in number of exhibiting firms and 6 percent in professional attendance.

Despite news in recent weeks of the cancellation of high-profile shows in the tech sector (like COMDEX and CeBIT America), information technology shows continued their recovery. The sector's 13 second-quarter shows increased by 1.7 percent in net square footage, 8.8 percent in exhibiting companies and 7.5 percent in professional attendance.

Just as in the second quarter of 2003, growth in professional attendance exceeded growth in net square footage. Show managers said direct marketing efforts to more refined target audiences are the reasons.

Jason McGraw, senior vice president of expositions for the Intl. Communications Industries Assn., said that strategy is behind a 24-percent attendance increase for his June InfoComm Intl. in Atlanta.

"We specifically expanded our target marketing to several vertical attendee buyer segments within our industry to drive end-user buyers to this year's show," McGraw said.

ICIA also worked to increase its outreach through additional partnerships with industry trade publications, more advertising and increased e-mail blasts and e-newsletters.

One of the second quarter's fastest-growing shows was the June NEXPO in Washington, D.C., which increased in all indices, including a 37-percent jump in professional attendance.

Brad Smith, director of exhibition sales for the Newspaper Assn. of America, attributed the growth to heavy promotions targeted at potential attendees in the Northeast, which accounts for 45 percent of NEXPO's audience.

Marketing for several one-day conference sessions pointing out the ease of commuting to the nation's capital was among tactics Smith said he used to draw nearly 4,000 attendees to the Washington Convention Center. He also said his show's success is a sign that attendees are "finally acting on a pent-up demand for capital expenditures."

However, that doesn't necessarily mean there will be increased expansion of the NEXPO showfloor. "There has been a lot of consolidation within the newspaper industry and we had a lot of companies share booths this year," Smith said. "Unless a lot of companies decide to enter the newspaper market, I don't envision the number of exhibiting companies, as well as the total square footage, increasing at the same rate as attendance."