The Natl. "What" Expo & Forum?

Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 9/18/2006

The editors of Tradeshow Week frequently run across news of shows that make us ask, "Huh?"

Recently, a handful of shows made us do double- and triple-takes, including the Natl. Toilet Expo & Forum, which debuted outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last month.

Just like when we catch glimpses of car wrecks, we couldn't look away from the toilet show news — and we discovered more than we ever thought there was to learn about the Malaysian toilet scene.

First, the show's tagline was "Quality Toilet, Quality Life." Interesting, but is it really that simple? Apparently so.

The show, organized by the Quality Restroom Assn. Malaysia and officially opened by the country's deputy prime minister, included sessions like "World Perspectives on Public Toilets" by World Toilet Organization founder Jack Sim (someone has to do it) and the "Concept of Learning Toilets" by Singapore's Zhangde Primary School.

(There is an American Restroom Assn., by the way, based in Baltimore.)

But alas, the summer and the toilet show have come and gone, and QRAM hasn't indicated on its Web site whether there will be an event in 2007.

So, what's there to look forward to? Yet another toilet show in the Far East, World Toilet Expo & Forum, of course, scheduled Nov. 16–18 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Happy flushing.