Attendance At Shows Turns Around

Square footage is flat in fourth quarter, while attendee decline halts

By Candice Yang -- Tradeshow Week, 2/19/2007

Looking back at the final quarter of 2006, it appears the tradeshow industry may have taken a turn for the better. The industry experienced a small, welcome surge as the last of the fall months ushered in winter and the New Year. None of the overall indexes tracked by Tradeshow Week reflected declines, and attendance even experienced an increase.

According to the Tradeshow Week Quarterly Report of Trade-show Statistics, net square footage at October through December shows remained flat, compared with a 2.7-percent increase in the final quarter of 2005. However, the overall number of exhibiting companies went up 1.4 percent, compared with 1.2-percent growth in 2005.

Fourth-quarter attendance rose 2.2 percent, the largest jump since it experienced a 2.9-percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2005. Third-quarter 2006 attendance saw only 0.3-percent growth, the first time there wasn't a decline in a year. So, the fourth-quarter gain also indicates a continued rise.

Many shows had a surge in attendance, with the most significant growth being experienced by the American Dental Assn. Annual Session & World Marketplace, Garden Expo featuring Florist Expo - Canada's Fall Buying Show for the Green Industry, and PMA Fresh Summit Intl. Convention & Exposition. Each show saw attendance jump more than 35 percent.

Tradeshow manager Paul Day attributed some of Garden Expo's 2006 increase in attendance (4,481 attendees, compared with 3,319 in 2005) to its collocation with National Hardware Show Canada. According to Day, the collaboration was five years in the making and quite welcome when it finally came to pass. Also contributing to the increased attendance was the addition of a day of seminars and heavier use of online marketing, which concentrated on e-mail blasts and a show blog.

Another thriving show was Global Gaming Expo (G2E), which experienced growth across the board: 12 percent in net square footage, 6.3 percent in exhibiting companies and 11.7 percent in attendees. Courtney Muller, group vice president of Reed Exhibitions, credited the show's exhibitor growth to an increase in international participation, the addition of a new entertainment production pavilion and more companies in the food-and-beverage sector wanting to be part of the event. The gaming industry itself has consistently grown 6 to 7 percent per year in the United States, according to the American Gaming Assn.

In the past couple of years, Mother Nature has made her formidable presence known and some fourth-quarter shows saw an impact, both positive and negative.

PMA Fresh Summit Intl. attendance leapt 40.3 percent over last year's show. Produce Marketing Assn. Tradeshow Manager Jamie Hillegas attributed some of that to the ever-desirable San Diego location. Perhaps counter-intuitively, Hillegas also said the E.coli outbreak — primarily attributed to spinach, according to the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition — that was widely publicized in September contributed to the show's success. By the October show, the spinach industry was taking every action possible to counter the negative publicity, and much of that spilled over into its activities at the PMA Fresh Summit.

"They wanted to make sure that they had a presence at the show," Hillegas said. PMA accommodated the need to address the recent crisis by adding food safety sessions to the conference agenda, possibly driving even more attendees to register.

However, not every show had a good fourth quarter. Helen Brett Enterprises' Intl. Jewelry General Merchandise Fair — Fall suffered overall in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Intl. Jewelry Fair returned in 2006 after skipping a year because of the hurricane.

Although Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans more than a year ago, effects are still being seen and felt. The Intl. Jewelry Fair's comeback was anticlimactic, at best, with the show experiencing a 24.1-percent decrease in both net square footage and number of exhibiting companies, and a 23.6-percent decrease in attendance compared with the 2004 event.