TRADESHOW FOLLOW-UP
EXHIBITORLIVE Ends on High Note 48 NEW EXHIBITORS ATTEND THE TRADESHOW FOR TRADESHOWS BY ALETA WALTHER
EXHIBITORLIVE 2017 lost about 20 previous exhibitors to EuroShop, but made up the difference with 48 new exhibitors attending March 13-15 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. About 5,000 registered attendees traipsed around the 60,000 sq. ft. exhibit hall while staff from 250 exhibits hawked their organization’s products, services and talents. The conference portion of the event, March 12-16, offered more than 165 educational sessions for trade show and corporate event professionals, including new classes highlighting social media and new technologies. Randy Acker, president and COO of Exhibitor Media Group, said EuroShop took place about a month before EXHIBITORLIVE, therefore, he anticipated a drop in exhibitor attendance for the 29th edition of EXHIBITOR magazine’s flagship event. Held every three years in Düsseldorf, Germany, and billed as the “largest retail trade fair in the world,” EuroShop 2017 attracted 113,000 attendees and 2,368 exhibitors from around the globe. Despite losing exhibitors to Euroshop, Acker said he was pleased with the overall success of EXHIBITORLIVE 2017. “We continue to see a diverse mix of corporate marketers attending EXHIBITORLIVE, from all 30 May/June 2017 Exhibit City News
industry sectors and company sizes, reinforcing corporations’ continuing interest in improving their trade show and event marketing engagement,” he said. “Our exhibitors tell us that many attendees came with firm budgets and intent to purchase additional products and services for their 2017 programs.” Vin Saia, executive vice president of corporate accounts for GES agreed with Acker, saying his team experienced more traffic in their booth the first day than all three days last year. “Traffic has remained steady and the conversations substantive,” said Saia. “Attendees are coming to us with needs and agreeing to follow-up meetings, whereas in the past, many conversations were superficial.” Michael Grivas, CEO of mg (formerly MG Design), a Wisconsin-based face-to-face marketing firm, agreed with Acker as well. “People visiting our booth are very motivated to do better, to achieve more results and willing to get deep into a conversation on how we can assist them. In years past, we heard a lot of ‘how do I slash my budget.’ This year, they came with buying agendas.” “This show has been a real eye-opener for us,” said David Pearlman, key account manager for Positive Promotions,
a Hauppauge, N.Y., promotional products and custom apparel supplier. “The highlight for me was how many genuine individuals we met. We are sure we will do well from our leads and look forward to attending next year.” Eric Hamlin, vice president of sales for Kotis Design, another swag supplier and first time exhibitor, came to EXHIBITORLIVE with no expectations, but left happy with the leads his team collected. “I’ll be honest, we don’t actually know much about the tradeshow industry, so we came to learn,” said Hamlin. “But I am pleased because my staff said the folks they talked to were definitely qualified buyers, the conversations very specific. The attendees know how to benefit from our (promotional) products, to incorporate them into their tradeshow and marketing programs.” Anita Mitzel, president of GraphiColor Exhibits, Livonia, Mich., did not exhibit at EXHIBITORLIVE, but attended to see what was new in the industry. “There are some new products I am really excited about sharing with my clients,” she said. “One in particular is a self-contained “quiet room,” which allows us to help create, within a booth, a quiet space for our exhibiting clients to have meetings - right in the
middle of a noisy tradeshow. It was also great to see what our AV partners are doing to create virtually seamless LED walls with outstanding quality. And, it appears that the quality of fabric printing continues to improve. I was amazed by the quality and color saturation of the fabric