I will be at the HeliExpo on Sunday, February 21, at the George Brown Convention Center in Houston. The show opens tomorrow and runs through Tuesday.

I will be there to meet with clients, prospects and colleagues. I hear the new Eurocopter booth looks fabulous and I hope to snag a tour of this double-decker booth.

Otherwise, I will be there to spot trends and gain ideas to save costs and give you all that edge in what works and what doesn’t.

More from the site. Stay tuned.

TTSG

Emily Feliz of Avionics Magazine reported in a recent Editor’s Note that while the show itself, from a traditional perspective, was down, the emergence of a spirit of connectivity prevailed.  As she notes that while space went empty and numbers of attendees and exhibitors had declined from previous years, there was a spirit of connectivity in the hall.

At this show and at others in the past, when times are tough, manufacturers use the opportunity to do several things:

1. Refocus on customer service
2. Review and enhance existing product lines
3. Look at and shore up positions in the existing marketplace

Ms Feliz also went on to note the huge growth in internet connected aircraft and the technologies associated with that. She also continued by talking about the value of the personal connections made at the show.

This is another supporting case for the face-to-face value trade shows bring to any market, particularly the last part about personal relationships.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, replaces face-to-face contact. In the recent theatrical release “Up In The Air”, George Clooney’s character ultimately returns to the road to do his work face-to-face as nothing replaces the person in personal contact–even if it is to fire people.  As Ms Feliz concludes, “…if there is a silver lining to the bad economy, perhaps connections are it.”

Keep using trade shows as a way to connect to your market, both to show and demonstrate product, but, more importantly, to stay connected to the people doing business.

For the full text of Ms Feliz’ article, go to http://tinyurl.com/yg7zggg

TTSG

The stand was crafted by Two Heads, an exhibit provider in The UAE and London.  It relies on the backwall graphics and a few display cabinets to tell the story.  Like most international shows, it had substantial meeting space and a notable reception area.

Large graphics help tell the Aviall story.  With a decisive brand that is used worldwide, the same (or similar) images that are used Stateside.  The box icon appears on the wall as well as as a hanging sign.

Catering to the clients and prospects in the meeting space was a big part of the show.  As with most international shows, there is an accepted way that meetings are conducted, most of it relationship based.

The Dubai Air Show continues to grow and prosper and, as with most of the world and business, show up as an example of how trade is done.

TTSG

“The National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) 62nd Annual Meeting & Convention took place 20-22 October 2009 in Orlando, Florida.  According to Aviation Week, this year’s convention showed signs of the industry’s distress, with attendance dropping to the second lowest level in 15 years and some key exhibitors missing from the convention floor.  Approximately 23,000 attendees were at this year’s show as opposed to 31,000 at last year’s convention.”

From what Kim and one other source told me, traffic was down, as it is with all shows.  She did go on to report:

“Aviall’s positioning was much better this year and yielded a substantial increase in booth traffic despite the low attendance.  Everyone of our staff agreed that the location in the center of the show-floor on one of the main aisles was more important than being next to BBJ and/or Jeppesen.”

As for the quality of traffic, Kim continued:

“There is no doubt that attendance was down this year over previous years (with the exception of the post 9/11 convention).  It is hard to pinpoint if attendance was the result of the global economy, massive job layoffs, or because a few of the major exhibitors (OEMs) were only out at the flight-line (static display) and not in the convention center.  Although attendance was significantly lighter, we still conducted several productive supplier and customer meetings.”

Thanks, Kim, for your report.

TTSG

While it has the requisite charts and graphs showing costs and shows and timelines, it also includes direction, how vendors are managed and a long-term expectation of where the program is headed.

This helps as a directional tool, but also in succession planning.

So, think ahead and write such a document. In subsequent posts, we’ll share examples.

Having hired a limo service for cars (for execs) and a bus (for staffers), it seemed that all was going well. the execs had drivers who were on time, knew their routes and spoke when appropriate. The bus, however, was quite a different story.

The first day, the driver not only arrived late, but shut off the bus. Doing that caused further delay in that it couldn’t restart without a lot of gut grinding. Finally started, the driver proceeded to take the freeway to the show, causing further delay. This set of circumstances couldn’t go without a call to the limo service contact.

Even with the call, the second day the same driver showed up (did I mention he lacked English-speaking skills?), again stalled the bus and had to have a second bus called for back up. More complaining and not a real clear conclusion.

Fortunately, the execs were immune to these problems.

The remainder of the show went smoothly. It’s hard to say whether they will be used again.

TTSG

At the Paris Air Show, Aviall showed less hardware and product than they have in previous years. They are using more graphics and using storytelling by staff to portray the products as opposed to actually displaying things. This accomplishes several things:

• Sharpens the focus of Aviall’s mission from the product to the process
• Reduces expenses by lowering freight and drayage costs as well as saving time in filing paperwork to import and export displays and products.

This evolution has helped reduce clutter and cost and help tell more of the Aviall story, since it is now not focused just on product, reports Kim Williamson of Aviall.

This is a great example of a company sharpening the focus of their presentation based upon their key messages and understanding their clientele.

TTSG

This show should be quiet. With airlines asking for their orders from Boeing and Airbus to be delayed, the crash of the Air France jetliner in the Atlantic and the Boeing Dreamliner’s maiden flight not taking place until after the show, look for news from other areas.

Most likely defense. Fighter contracts, helicopters, weapon systems. With two active wars and several hot spots around the world, this is an area of interest to many.

Our colleague and friend, Kimberly Williamson of Aviall, is at the Paris Air Show this month. When she has time, she will report to us “from the field” to keep us updated on this very important aerospace and aviation show.

TTSG

At first glance, this looks like a skid arrived at the booth and was overlooked and not unpacked. In reality, it did several things, according to Kim Williamson, trade show manager for Aviall.

Kim explained that it shows the range of product types as well as the uniformity of product packaging. As always, Aviall is the “box the parts come in.”

This was a simple act that drew attention to the space and the products. It allowed for a number of products to be shown without taking up precious real estate (the booth was only a 20×20 or 20×30, most of the space dedicated to conference space).

It became a conversations tarter that got casual attendees to talk and veteran guests to open up (maybe with a “I didn’t know you did that” query).

And, it had the bonus of already being mostly packed on the down.

TTSG