Michael Hart

A Love-Hate Relationship With the Showfloor
July 17, 2007

In a recent Talkback item, one of our readers commented on our report in the magazine about NXTcomm, the result of a joint-custody battle between the two leading telecom industry associations held in Chicago in late June.

The point – and a good one to make – was that whether or not showfloor traffic compared well to the predecessor shows or any other show was meaningless as long as buyers and sellers were getting together to make deals of some value. There are a number of ways to determine whether a tradeshow has been successful or not, and it’s true that probably the best questions to ask are: for the exhibitor, did you make contact with somebody who will eventually give you money and, for the attendee, did you find what you were looking for.

Nevertheless, what organizer hasn’t laid awake the night before the show opened and worried that nobody would come? Although it may not matter as much as it has in the past, a crowded showfloor still makes everybody a little happier.

So, if you are among those who believe it is time to move on to a better and more sophisticated way of evaluating the success of a tradeshow, be warned: In the next issue of TSW you will be reading a report on the first-ever E3 Media & Business Summit. You will read the comments of exhibitors and attendees who remember fondly the good old E3 with its triple-decker booths, loud music and, yes, crowded showfloor.

You will also read the comments of attendees and exhibitors who pine for the old days, but acknowledge that the new event is probably not only the face of the future, but the best way for the electronic games industry to do business going forward.

We are living and working in a time of transition. Some people still want to call the big, noisy, crowded showfloor their idea of face-to-face marketing. Others will settle for just one conversation with someone with a “C” in their title. Some of us want both, but are happy with one or the other at different times. No matter what, for the time being, we at TSW have to try to satisfy both impulses.

Posted by Michael Hart on July 17, 2007 | Comments (0)