Stephen Nold

Just Can’t Get Any Respect
August 2, 2007

I am attending an event this week and enjoying the opportunity to catch up with friends and clients.  I have already made some wonderful new acquaintances and heard some good speakers offer interesting bits of business advice.  But when I walked the tradeshow floor, many of the same old visibility problems existed for the technology suppliers.  It isn’t all the show management’s fault; it is just one of the challenges of being a technology supplier in the meetings industry. 

Technology exhibitors begin the show at a disadvantage.  While it does not take much to understand the products and services available from a hotel supplier or a general services contractor, technology vendors have a lot of explaining to do. 

The knowledge gap between a buyer and supplier of technology products is often very large.  Education is required on both sides of the equation.  Show organizers and meeting planners must describe to suppliers their current enterprise systems, and they often communicate this in very simple language due to their lack of IT training.  Suppliers must then discern the relevant technical requirements from these imprecise explanations and give recommendations about the appropriate solution for the business processes in need of repair. 

All of this interaction must happen in the normal booth visit of 5 to 7 minutes.  Tech vendors are already working against a tough learning curve, and many industry events further complicate their challenges.  Often tucked away from main aisles, tech suppliers have no platform for giving potential customers the hands-on demonstrations they need to truly grasp the software.

I have always worried about the value of exhibiting for technology vendors, especially when they are dwarfed in the shadows of the other mammoth booths on the show floor.  No matter how cool the technology products get, it seems that the industry never gives them the respect they deserve.

Posted by Stephen Nold on August 2, 2007 | Comments (2)