TSW MedShow Report

In preparing for a new electronic publication, TSW MedShow Report, just days away from launching, we've spent a fair amount of time recently explaining it to people we are contacting for interviews.

The basic gist is this: We introduced TSW Las Vegas, an electronic newsletter, almost two years ago, because we believed there was a large potential audience of Tradeshow Week readers who either worked there or staged shows there. We wanted to give them the kind of news and information they'd become used to from TSW, just a different version of it.

In other words, while they do care about what's going on with union rules at the Las Vegas Convention Center or the latest expansion at one of the hotels on the Strip, they're not quite as interested in what's happening in other destinations.

Likewise with TSW MedShow Report. The health care and medical show sector is a vibrant part of the tradeshow industry, but there are certain kinds of news that are of interest only to those who are involved in it.

For instance, regulatory moves involving the way pharmaceuticals and medical devices can be marketed are very important to show managers and exhibitors in this sector, but not necessarly to TSW's larger readership.

And there is little denying that this is one of the fastest-growing areas in the tradeshow industry. As noted elsewhere in this issue, in 2001, 13 of the shows in the TSW 200 were health care-related. In 2006, that number had risen to 21. Still, this is not necessarily a sector where bigger is always better. There are thousands of conferences, meetings and shows of all sizes that are very important to their specialties.

It also happens to be an area that, while long dominated by national or regional associations, has over the past few years caught the eye of the for-profit show organizer as well. Plans are even in the works to build a convention center and permanent exhibit space, a MedMart, in Cleveland to take advantage of the close proximity to the multiple health care institutions in that city.

If any industry sector needs its own online publication, this is it.

So, beginning April 2, we will add TSW MedShow Report to our stable of online electronic publications. If you're a regular TSW subscriber, the chances are good you have already received an invitation to sign up for it. If not, go to the www.tradeshowweek.com homepage to subscribe.

And we're not done. Once we get TSW MedShow Report up and running, we plan to introduce a couple more electronic publications before the end of the year. As one person in the health care show sector responded when I spoke to her of all this, “You're going vertical.”

There almost assuredly will always be a print edition of Tradeshow Week. In fact, by most indicators, it seems clear that TSW remains one of the healthiest business-to-business print publications in the industry. However, as time goes on, we will be taking advantage of electronic media to satisfy the need for news and information of more and more distinct parts of the tradeshow business.

Michael Hart is editor-in-chief of Tradeshow Week. He can be reached at hartm@reedbusiness.com.