The pros & cons of one megashow
Mark Spaulding, Editor in Chief -- Converting Magazine, 9/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
At last month's CMM Industry Outlook Panel, one of the bigger topics of conversation among the 40 or so converters, supplier/exhibitors, staffers from show organizer PennWell and the four trade-magazine editors there (myself included) was...“Does the idea of one industry-wide, package-printing and converting megashow for North America every four years make sense?” Let's look at some of the pros and cons of such a show through the opinions expressed at the panel discussion.
PROS: A single megashow might work because...
1. There are now too many smaller shows too often. One megashow could solve the problem of dwindling visitor attendance. With so much to be seen in one place by an all-encompassing industry audience, companies might be compelled to send more people for more days. A five-day megashow would give that bigger audience the timeframe it would need.
2. There's just not that much new every year. Having the event on a four-year cycle faces the reality that most technology is evolutionary, not revolutionary. It's more in line with the new-product development cycle.
3. Supplier budgets are stretched with too many shows. Not enough ROI for the dwindling customer pool. Yes, quality of attendee can certainly outweigh quantity. But, with one megashow, getting both quality and quantity is bound to increase. Also, a less-frequent megashow should help more exhibitors justify the expenses involved. It's got to cost less to exhibit at one five-day event every four years than the combined costs of four, separate three-day events each year.
CONS: A single megashow won't work because...
1. Targeted marketing to niche audiences is what rules today. Just look at the success of Tarsus Exhibitions and its string of label shows and conferences. SuperCorrExpo is another example. Each converted-product market has its own unique audience that niche suppliers want to target.
2. New products are born every day, not every four years. Exhibitors aren't going to wait two or three years for a megashow to launch a truly new technology. They'd like any audience, even a smaller one, to present their new baby.
3. The exhibition companies will never cooperate. This may be the biggest stumbling block as they'd have to agree to share costs and profits on what might be one huge show with 1,000 exhibitors and 40,000 attendees. But remember, being only once every four years, there's no revenue in between.
As the prime audience of converters for a possible megashow, what do you think?
