Nith Sisombath

Going to the Day Spa Expo Anyone?
February 13, 2008

People go to the spa to escape from their stressful everyday life for a short time. But for me going to the Day Spa Expo was disappointing. The graphics they used for their website and their entrance unit was wonderful. But none of it was carried over in the show. I know there is only so much you can do to make your show floor exciting but I just felt that there were improvements that could have enhanced the show. 

(Now before I start to describe the rest of my experience at the show I want to put something out there. If I write anything that you have a question or comment on please let me know. I you think that I am completely wrong or out of my mind please comment. When walking a show I am looking at it from my show management point of view. In my mind I am constantly trying to answer three things:

1. How is this going to impact my exhibitors? 

2. How is this going to impact my attendees?

3. How is this going to impact my show partners? (Partners being facility, general contractor and vendors) I like to call them partners because lets face it we all have a vested interest in the show and it’s in everyone’s best interest to make it as successful possible and if you have a partner that you feel is not viewing your show this way maybe it’s time for a new partner.)

In my opinion the exhibit booths were set to far back from the entrance and using three foot pipe and drape as a guide to the booth did not help much especially since there was a large empty seating area set up at the front of the exhibit booths which also was section off by three foot high drape. I would suggest that the booths be moved up closer to the entrance and moving the seating area to the back of the exhibitors booths or placing it in the center of the exhibitors booths filling out the show a bit more. Exhibitors pay good money for booth space and they deserve the best positioning in the hall as possible. Moving the booths up would also save attendees some steps after their journey from the Venetian to the Sands Expo. 

Another thing I noticed was that for a small show I had a hard time finding show management personnel and if they were present they weren’t doing anything about the empty booths that still had exhibiting company names hanging from them. When I see that it makes me wonder was the show that bad that the exhibitors packed up and left or did they show up at all? This might be a little thing but it all adds up to the perception that people have for your show even if people don’t mention it or notice it consciously it gets stored subconsciously, it gets noticed subconsciously and that tends to lead to how they feel about your show. 

I know the economy is not doing so great and it’s hard to walk the show floor when the isles are empty and traffic is slow but this is the best time to be on the floor talking to exhibitors and establishing that relationship that will keep them supporting your show versus the other sixteen or so shows out there.

The things I’ve mentioned above won’t sink a show but what they are planning to do for their 2009 show just might. Before leaving the show I stop by an exhibitor that I had seen earlier…you know the feeling that you get when you see someone you think you know but aren’t sure. Well I had one of those feeling when I saw this particular exhibitor coming in and before leaving I remembered who he was. I spoke to him to see how the show was for him. He said it was good and went on to mention that he had done much better then some of the exhibitors around him. He had sold more then enough to cover his costs for the show all over 90% of the equipment samples in his booth were sold. Despite all that and a $200.00 discount on booth space for next year’s show he won’t be coming back. Why? Apparently in 2009 this show is going to be on the same dates as a much larger more established show in Long Beach. This same exhibitor went on to tell me that he did the Long Beach show two weeks ago and also did another show in Los Angeles at the same time but he wouldn’t be doing two show again it was too difficult and was not cost effective. 

I’m not sure what disappointed me more the fact that they were already giving a discount on booth space or the fact that they so poorly planned their dates. If you’re an exhibitor and show management is giving you discount on booth space it’s probably a good sign that you don’t want to do that show. It’s an even bleaker scenario if they are doing it at the currently show for the next. 

Posted by Nith Sisombath on February 13, 2008 | Comments (0)