Cost Comparison: Technology Gets Affordable

The cost to rent a chair or a sofa for a tradeshow booth got cheaper this year. So did so-called standard carpet or a sound system. But the cost of Internet access on a showfloor took a steep dive, with the average price throughout the United States for the lowest cost option available dropping from $631.79 to $454.67, according to Tradeshow Week's 36th annual survey of furniture and accessory rates.

"The overall technology trend is to have quality go up and prices go down," said Michael Hughes, TSW associate publisher and director of research, who conducted the survey.

Part of the reason, he added, is simply that Internet use and technology in general is becoming more ubiquitous on the tradeshow floor.

"We surveyed exhibitors in a separate survey," he said, "and 50 percent said they'll need more and higher quality telecom and Internet connections over the next year."

Elsewhere in the survey, it was a mixed bag as some products and services required by tradeshow exhibitors went up, and some went down. For instance, the cost of a basic three-seat sofa was down to a $461.90 national average this year, compared with $517.84 in 2006. An upholstered armchair would have cost an average $82.42 this year, compared with $90.52 last year.

But going up in price were the average cost of signage ($43.65 to $$45.90 for a 11″×14″ and $71.54 to $89.17 for a 22″×28″) and Laserjet printers ($212.94 to $230.54)

Hughes said those items that are essentially commodities are going down while others that are more customized are going up.

Using signage as an example, he said, "Almost by definition, they're customized. Companies are changing their messages more often and my sense is, due to time-sensitivity, contractors can charge more for them."

On the other hand, Hughes added, "A chair is a chair is a chair."

Angela Lee, marketing and sales manager for Smart City, which provides Internet access at multiple venues, agreed with Hughes.

"We've actually lowered our pricing in the past five years," she said.

The reason: "It's competitiveness to meet the demand," Lee said.

Hughes cautioned against reading too much into TSW's furniture and accessory survey, noting that while the information is a good barometer of the general business environment, pricing in individual situations and for individual shows can differ greatly.

"None of these rates are uniform," he said. "A sofa at McCormick Place one week might be $10 or $20 more or less a week later."

In fact, while the survey and Lee both agreed that the average cost of Internet access might be going down, tradeshow exhibitors are using it more and more, asking for more and more services, and actually spending more all the time. In addition, TSW found that very few show managers are asking for the bare-bones lowest-cost option.

That's why Larry Schur, president of All Baby & Child, said that with his ABC Kids Expo 2007, held in September at the Las Vegas Convention Center, "the pricing was the same this year as last."

Marybeth Liberty, operations manager for the SHOT Show, said it was hard to really tell if there was a serious difference in price for Internet service since the show was held in Las Vegas in 2006 and Orlando in 2007.

However, Liberty said, "the decline, if any, is most likely attributed to people using the cyber cafes that we offer, as well as utilizing other wi-fi options that are available to them."

Hughes pointed out that rates for a range of products and services in smaller, traditionally less expensive cities are going up.

Using Internet access as an example, the lowest cost option went from $400 last year in Reno, Nev., to $500 this year. In San Diego it rose from $1,161.67 last year to $1,345 this year.

"Over the years, we have seen some historically less expensive markets gradually raise their rates," Hughes said, "but we're also seeing that on hotel rates too."

In Long Beach, Calif., the use of a sofa jumped from $280 last year to $514 this year. In Phoenix, the cost of a 120-volt lighting outlet went from $119.50 to $168.50.

By the same token, the cost of a three-day rental for a DVD player in Chicago went from $182.75 last year to $155.83 this year. A three-day rental for a laptop computer in Philadelphia also went down from $357.50 last year to $225 this year.

"That's all related to supply and demand," Hughes said.

He said it is possible that prices for everything related to technology will continue to go down as its use on the showfloor becomes ever greater.

"Increasingly, every show is becoming an IT show," Hughes said. "Everyone is using more signage and more IT services. There is no question that the industry is spending more on technology."