Day two was noticibly stronger than the first day. It seemed that many people came in the for the show on Wednesday and spent the better part of Thursday there. Reaction among exhibitors was more mixed than usual. I took an informal straw poll while walking the aisles and here are the results. When asked how the show was going for them:
About 40 percent said it was a good show, and that they were very pleased;
About 40 percent said that it had exceeded their expectations. Most were quick to add, however, that their expectations had been nil given the economy;
About ten percent said it was not good at all for them;
and the other ten percent said that it was really too soon to tell. With trade shows, the proof is in orders that come in from it.
As for traffic, it's difficult for our booth staff to adequately assess as, try as we might, our booth somehow always end up in the hinterlands of the show (three rows from the end this year), but our editorial staff reported brisk traffic most of Thursday in certain areas of the show. So I don't think we'd be the best judge of traffic because we didn't have much ourselves.
What Thursday gave our industry was .... hope. There was still some business to be done out there. And there was more than one occasion when customer and exhibitor embraced in a joyous "we are both still here" hug that let you know that was just what both of them were thinking.
Reviews of the seminars were mixed with high marks given to the Energy Session and the Solar Panel with a great video into by Russ Ebeid. Judging by that video he'll be joining the 60 Mintues team any day now. Our ediorial staff will be covering the important ones in more in depth in future issues.
Day three was painfully quiet with very little activity, leading some of the familiar comments I've heard over the years to resurface ... GBA should be a two day show ... GBA should be every other year. Ending shows on Friday is always tough because everyone wants to get out of town and it did seem a much lighter traffic day than the last day of the show in 2008, which was on a Thursday.
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The last day of a show (any show) is always lighter and a little less enthusiastic, This from a guy who has been on both sides of the booth.
ReplyDeleteThe last day morphs from business thinking into when Can I get home to see the wife kids, family etc, from both attendees and the road warriors alike.
As I said to Ellen, You guys did a great job for us guys who couldn't attend, keeping us informed and feeling a part of the action too.
thanks
Jim F