2009 Tradeshow Figures are Way Down!

2009 has provided me with a very busy start so apologies for neglecting to post until now.

The trade press is awash with news on dropping trade venue numbers and there are also some heavy weights moving around as they seek to position themselves both for the recession and the recovery.

I have a meeting tomorrow with my marketing team and we are finalizing the 2009 bookings and filling up the odd gaps and opportunities in the calendar and we are all amazed at the dropping prices.

NOW is definitely a great time to grab bookings at prices which are a fraction of what we paid last year – so intent are we that the proposed second event team have gone from a substitute, “fill some of the gaps in the schedule” outfit to a fully funded profit center in their own right.

It is not just the venues that are offering excellent deals – and they are really offering excellent value now – but also the ancillary suppliers.  We initially planned on using the older trade show display material and collateral for the second team but after looking at the offers and discounts being touted by all of our existing suppliers and new ones banging on the door we decided to go through a formal budgeting and quotation process to outfit the new guys.

I haven’t been directly involved but have had the numbers and summaries emailed through to me and the numbers do look outstanding – we are equipping our second event team for less than 30% of the cost of our primary event team who we refitted completely this time last year!

The big issue is what is going to happen to the attendee numbers at trade shows – I expect there will be some decline but I also am not going to be surprised if there is not either – in any event I do not anticipate any decline on the scale of the retrenching currently being demonstrated by the venues and suppliers which is good news for us.