Exhibitor expectations are pretty high these days. The reality is that most exhibitor budgets have decreased dramatically over the last few years. Reaching the right buyers and controlling costs are top of mind.

Although social media and word-of-mouth are gaining credibility in marketing circles, it’s still e-mail — accessed on a personal computer, laptop or mobile device — that drives communication. When you’re marketing to trade show attendees, you need to know the ins and outs of e-mail campaigns.

A Web site used to be an extra — one more way for attendees and exhibitors to locate basic information about your show. Today it’s an essential and original element in the marketing mix. It offers attendees and exhibitors a way to communicate with you and with each other.

Rather than rely on typical attendee marketing avenues such as direct mail and advertising, Reed Exhibition’s Pop Culture Group sticks to strictly nontraditional marketing initiatives, choosing to send its messages solely through social networks, blogs and YouTube videos.

On Dec. 15, EXPO hosted the industry’s first virtual trade show and conference on event technologies. Powered by InXpo, EXPOTECH Virtual was a full-day event with keynotes and breakout sessions, an exhibit hall, a library chock-full of content and a networking lounge where attendees chatted about the industry’s hottest technologies, the pros and cons of social networking, mobile applications and more.

In every emerging industry, there are companies that define and shape the business. They are companies of innovation, energy, expansion and momentum. In the trade show industry, the company that most defined us was Cahners Exposition Group. Chances are good you know one of the “ex-Cahns,” as they’re today’s top executives and entrepreneurs. The predecessor to what’s now known as Reed Exhibitions, Cahners was arguably THE major exhibition player in the ’70s and ’80s, and today, having held a position at the company is somewhat of an industry badge of honor.

There’s good reason for optimism among show managers — cautious optimism that is. On the plus side, median salaries and bonuses are up. On the down side, fewer show managers are receiving bonuses, and there have been some decreases in retirement and insurance benefits.

When George Jage started the World Tea Expo in 2003, no one could have predicted the mark his brand would make in the specialty tea industry.

For the Natural Products Expo (NPE), environmentalism would seem to be a natural fit.
And it is. But when New Hope Natural Media (www.newhope.com), a division of Penton
Media, producers of the Natural Products Expo East and West, committed to a complete greening of its trade show portfolio in 2000, the initial outlook was less than rosy. Surprisingly, cost wasn’t the biggest obstacle. Access was. Most venues didn’t recycle, organic food was nowhere on the menus and contractors didn’t offer options in environmentally friendly materials whether or not you wanted to pay more for them.

Today’s typical show-goer returns home with a stack of business cards, an overstuffed goody bag and a hankering for some sleep. But if the show hit its mark, he or she also comes back with a head full of new ideas, smarter and more inspired.

Does it seem like our industry has more second- and third-generation players than others? A lot of kids look up to their parents and want to be just like them when they grow up. Maybe it’s the excitement of travel or the magnitude of a convention center. Maybe it’s all the goodies Dad brings home from the show, or the great vacations Mom gets from her “points.” And let’s face it, every kid who’s ever been to an exposition is awed by the sheer spectacle of the event. How cool to know that Mom or Dad is in charge.