Michael Hart

Election? What Election?
February 11, 2008

One thing this job I’ve got has over jobs I’ve had in the past, at daily and weekly newspapers, is that I don’t have to talk to politicians. That is not to say that the tradeshow industry is unaffected by politics, but the points where government policy and face-to-face marketing coincide are few and far between.

Most readers I talk to wish it was easier for their international exhibitors and attendees to get visas to come to their shows in the United States. They also wish the current administration didn’t keep doing things that make it so easy for people in other countries to decide they don’t like Americans. And most TSW readers probably wish the Federal Aviation Administration would do something about the nation’s air traffic control system so they could do a better job of organizing their travel days.

Otherwise, I’d guess members of the tradeshow industry are just as happy to keep government out of their businesses.

In the past, I’ve covered plenty of elections and plenty of political candidates (I’ve known now-U.S. Sen. John McCain so long I remember when he was running for his first seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In those days, he would troll Rotary Club luncheons in North Phoenix looking for votes, with me and maybe one other reporter in tow, and we’d be the only two there who knew who he was.). It’s been my experience that it doesn’t really matter who is running – Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal – or what they say; things turn out pretty much the same no matter who wins the election.

That’s why, if  you’re like me and live in one of those Super Tuesday states and wonder what all the excitement’s about when the election races were pretty much in the same shape the day after the voting as they were the day before, it’s easy to see why it doesn’t really matter who the next president is.

No matter who wins the election, it’s still going to be a challenge to get your international exhibitors and attendees to your shows; and making the planes take off and land on time is not going to be anywhere close to the top of the next president’s to-do list.

So, relax. It doesn’t really matter if you’re looking for “experience” or “change.” You’re going to get what you get whether you like it or not.

Posted by Michael Hart on February 11, 2008 | Comments (0)