There is no denying it: it is expensive to produce and attend trade shows and conferences.
From the Chicago newspaper, this story (http://tinyurl.com/yfqyxq5) points out what we all knew was coming to the Northern and Eastern cities: your labor costs and rules are killing marketing budgets and the desire of businesses to use trade shows in their mix.
For those of us in Right-to-Work states, this was obvious from the first time we did a show in New York, Boston or Chicago. Work rules kept us exhibitors from doing simple things like moving a monitor or laying a cord not only puzzled us but grew our bills.
Now, don’t get me wrong here: I am all for making sure that people aren’t cheated out of work. But I’m not in the business of guaranteeing someone a job, whether I hire them in a hall or put them directly on my payroll. If you work for a wage or a fee, you have to earn it with performance. However, this problem isn’t new–the whole industry from exhibit houses to general contractors to van lines to caterers and just about everybody who touches an event are a part of.
We must do our part to help control costs or exhibitors will choose to engage their customers differently. When the old adage of “you can meet more people at a show for less cost” ceases to be true any longer, shows will flat go away.
So, suppliers: consider what you really need to bill that client. General contractors: consider reinventing your model (can drayage be looked at?). Labor contractors: examine what your real costs are and the price of being competitive as wqell as looking at your union’s rules. And caterers: do things really have to cost that much?
We all need to do our part to make this work. Face-to-face marketing is what will help business thrive, not just survive.
TTSG
Thanks to Scott Adams and Dilbert from the Dallas Morning News, 12-22-09
