Tradeshows 2.0

What will the next version of tradeshows be like? How will the look and feel of the showfloor experience change over the next few years?

We've already seen the next version of convention centers, with their modern designs and high-quality finishes. Hotels, even second-tier properties, have been adding spa services at a rapid rate. Airlines are upgrading their membership clubs and lounges.

Shows may develop a new logo occasionally and sport a new theme annually, but the look and feel of most events has stayed remarkably similar for years, even decades.

The most dramatic showfloor changes recently have been driven by exhibitors and exhibit houses with the proliferation of flat-screen monitors and the use of sound, lighting and lighter booth materials.

The show-management model and the showfloor's general layout have remained the same, for one, because the model works and can be highly profitable. Maximizing showfloor revenue dictates the layout and feel of a show, and there are many masters (and a few computer programs) adept at the art and science of floor-yield management.

Yet, the standard show experience is getting dated. All dynamic show experiences are unique in their own manner, but average, run-of-the-mill shows seem to be dull in the same way. With more competition in the marketing and media sectors, the showfloor and booth experience will need to evolve further.

One industry that may foretell what could be in store for trade-shows is the $4.1 trillion retail industry. Retail is being rapidly transformed by more intense bricks-and-mortar competition and shoppers migrating to the Internet. Even the ho-hum grocery business has been undergoing radical change. The classic 1970s-1980s mall has been passé for years.

Comparing the consumer retail industry to business-to-business tradeshows is not a perfect match. But both are marketplaces, and tradeshows are somewhat like "business stores," even though most shows are more marketing- than sales-focused.

The main difference between retail and tradeshows has to do with competition. Most shows do not have a strong head-to-head competitor. Sure, there's competition, but nowhere near what a standard grocery store faces from the likes of Wal-Mart at the low-cost end or Whole Foods Market on the high-end, not to mention all the other grocery chains across town. (How would you like a profit margin below 1 percent?) Moreover, there's rarely an intense market-share battle in the tradeshow business like the one that exists between electronics retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City.

The Internet has forced retailers to focus on customization and the importance of providing experiences. Here's what's happening in the specialty retail industry:

• Customization and new store layout – According to a recent Financial Times article, Best Buy has identified five core customer groups (affluent professionals, busy suburban women, family men, younger male early adopters and small business owners), and the company is tailoring each of its store layouts to fit one of these particular segments.
• Data-driven customization – Retailers in every sector are capturing more customer data than ever and harnessing this information more effectively to segment their markets, stock shelves and push
• additional services. The new corporate-controlled data is usurping the power once given to regional store managers. The new approach is to balance local market knowledge with mountains of customer, census and survey data.
• Staff training – Specialty retailers have known the value of highly trained expert sales people for years. Now the mass merchandisers' customization strategies call for more experts on the floor that can move product while building customer relationships.
• Beyond merchandise and warranties – Retailers continue to move into services and consulting. A great example is Best Buy acquiring Geek Squad in 2002.
• High end or low end – The middle is going away in retail. You're either a Dollar Store or a Neiman Marcus. Even Wal-Mart is experimenting with higher-end goods.

The changes taking place in retail may not hit the exhibition industry in the short term, and shows are already customized to their markets – in fact, that's really the definition of a tradeshow. Also, the B-to-B market is simply much smaller and nowhere near as competitive.

But tradeshows and consumer shows will need to add more value and raise the experience level over time, especially to attract high-quality buyers. Here are issues for exhibition industry executives to consider:

• Floor layout – The symmetrical showfloor is efficient, but there's no sense of wonder or anything unique about walking aisle after aisle. What if booth footprints could be more circular than rectangular, or if the show layout were closer to a Main Street or Village Square than, well, a tradeshow? Also, many shows are still set up to serve exhibitors more than attendees. Competitors don't want to be next to each other on a showfloor. But wouldn't it serve the buyers better, and make things more interesting, if they had to be?
• Additional services – Just as retailers provide personal shoppers, why couldn't show producers or other groups offer enhanced exhibition attendance and information-gathering services for time-strapped executives? Exhibitors outsource their booth staffing chores all the time. (Can't make the show this year? Pay us to go for you.) Or provide expert show guides (people, not publications) to make the attendee experience easier to navigate (and charge fees for this service). The exhibitor's job will not get any easier, and the opportunities to assist them with choosing the right shows, booth staffing and tracking ROI will only increase.
• Data and information collection – Most registration forms only capture the basics about the attendee or buyer, not the person. Many show producers conduct only a general post-show survey. Even some of the biggest and best shows are still simply industry-specific mass marketers – few are true best-of-class, target or niche marketers. Just tapping a little more of the collective market intelligence that bounces around shows could translate into hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in revenue and value for an industry.

One day, sophisticated data collection will transform the tradeshow industry as it has retailing. Eventually, the look and feel of shows will be even more segmented and customized, and new services will be offered to both attendees and exhibitors. Competition with other marketing media will drive this more than explicit attendee or exhibitor demand.