Consumer Shows: No Bull

It's probably no surprise that the third annual Tradeshow Week survey of consumer show organizers in the Oct. 13 issue wasn't packed with the same optimistic responses as last year's survey.

The economy is tough. U.S. taxpayers are bailing out Wall Street to the tune of $700 billion. We're in the middle of a war that's putting us deeper into debt every day. Our economy's suffering as we work our way toward choosing the president of the United States. We're still picking up the pieces of the subprime mortgage crisis.

In the consumer show market, just how tough the economy is proving to be depends, based on anecdotal evidence I've gotten and stories I've read, on the market and the geographic region the show serves.

In last year's survey, more than half of consumer show organizers forecast their total gross sales would increase. This year, 41.2 percent said the same. It's not a huge decline, but it came to an industry sector that last year looked like it only could get more profitable.

“It's the economy,” Kristie Gonsalves, president of the Natl. Assn. of Consumer Shows told me when I asked her what had changed.

The reports generally have been that shows that serve luxury markets like boats, RVs and other “toys” have struggled, as have home shows.

Gonsalves said auto and boat dealerships in Connecticut – the market her company, North East Expos, serves – are closing and people aren't buying like they once did. The Midwest also seems to be a region that's facing challenges.

But even with the stories of woe, come the stories of good fortune: Though fewer people are attending shows in certain sectors, the people who do attend aren't there to look; they're there to buy.

Besides that, conditions have reached the point where little or no growth in a show doesn't carry the same negative connotation it used to.

Glenn Helgeland, president of Target Communications, which organizes five hunting shows in the Midwest, touted the growth of some of his shows, but also said he was happy that his Michigan Deer & Turkey Spectacular was merely flat. Flat, in this economy, is good.

The fortunes of consumer show organizers, more so than their tradeshow brethren, are tied to the region their audiences come from. If the economy in the region isn't doing well, it can prove disastrous for a show.

Sometimes, it isn't even the region that's the problem: Tom Gaither, senior vice president of Affinity Group's show division, Affinity Events, recently told TSW Contributing Editor Lisa Plummer that a fall home and garden show his company held in Las Vegas was down 50 percent in attendance.

Apparently, even in Las Vegas – which is seen by many in the show industry as a city that can only help a show – times are tough for locals.

The good news, I think, for the consumer show industry is that even in what isn't seen as a robust year, show managers still are pointing to growth and still putting on shows.

Stephanie Corbin is senior assistant editor of Tradeshow Week. She can be reached at stephanie.corbin@reedbusiness.com.