Are Trade Shows a thing of the past?

[RawAlex]

I have to say this... I read the first page of the thread at the zoo, and at the bottom of the 1st page was the punchline: The guy spewing the most in the thread (Shap) rarely if ever attends shows.

I can't read any further, my eyes are watering from the laughter.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

I have to say this... I read the first page of the thread at the zoo, and at the bottom of the 1st page was the punchline: The guy spewing the most in the thread (Shap) rarely if ever attends shows.

I can't read any further, my eyes are watering from the laughter.

i guess the zoo is good for entertainment.

but how can you put any value in 99% of the words uttered over there when the majority of the posts are people just wanting to get their post count up and sigs viewed?

i pretty much only show up over there for the "entertainment" threads. sounds like i might actually have to read this one...ugh.

[gonzo]

I added a little editorial on this topic
http://oprano.com/blog/?p=15

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by gonzo

I added a little editorial on this topic
http://oprano.com/blog/?p=15

Largely on the mark, but I think you missed some origins...

The shows really didn't start out as "party shows". The origins are really with two shows:

1) IA2000 is what we now know as Internext. It started out as an audiotext show. It evolved into an adult internet show partially as a natural progression of that industry. In fact, many of the original big players in the business, such as CE, have their origins in the 900 biz.

2) Adultdex. Sharpie could comment more here, but basically you put 150-200K geeks in Vegas for Comdex, they are virtually all porn consumers, so it's a natural to setup a consumer oriented porn show somewhere in town at the same time and that's what Faye did. It too evolved to the web focus and more of a B2B show as Comdex died, spanwing what we know as Cybernet Expo.

Both of these shows had focus, had a purpose for being. I attended the first web oriented version of IA2000 back in 97-98 at the Monte Carlo. That was when we really learned who was who, discovered a lot of new programs, and bought a ton of content. At that time, the show saved me weeks of research on the tools I needed to launch pay sites, etc. Epoch and ccBill were just coming into being. at this time. DMR was the big processor then...I learned enough at that show to know not to use them.

Adultdex was a chance to do consumer marketing with a captive audience.

But now, ask yourself what exactly is the purpose of many of these shows?

There isn't one other than to get everyone together to see friends, party a bit on sponsor tab and make money for the show producer. This model dies as soon as people have to watch ROI...and we're there.

[DannyCox]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

I attended the first web oriented version of IA2000 back in 97-98 at the Monte Carlo.

The first IA2000 show that included the Adult Internet was in Orlando in October of 1996. I think there were maybe 40 of us there and since the show floor was only geared toward Audiotext, we all mainly hung out in the lobby bar. That was the beginning of many of the initial large companies as real networking was being done.

By the next year, in October 1997, the webbies had half the show floor and the big parties got their start. JoeE threw a big party with strippers in the hotel ballroom, and then when it came time to pay, his credit card was refused and the hotel wouldn't take his check. Pushrod and I had to bail him out of that one

We went to all the early shows, and stopped in 2002 just because it wasn't worth the money anymore. I could get more business done on the phone than I ever could at a tradeshow. We used to have our booth at every show, but by 2002 it was so bad with more people coming to our booth to try and sell us crap than people who were actually interested in what we had to offer, that we stopped that. Complaining to AVN about the people walking around, leaving flyers on your tables, and grabbing people at your booth, just fell on deaf ears.

I've easily spent well over a quarter of a million dollars at tradeshows, from having booths, seminars and sponsorships. There was no ROI on that! With the tradeshow operators allowing basic attendees to walk the show floor, hawking their crap, it just didn't make sense to spend money on things anymore. Almost all "real" tradeshows have a policy in place where no one other than actual exhibitors/sponsors can promote on premises. By turning a blind eye, the tradeshow operators have only hurt themselves and the business.

After 2002, we were only at one other show, which was summer Internext in 2004. That was the biggest waste of my time! Farrell and I put on the Amateur Roundtable seminars, and even there, we had people trying to promote their programs.

I have all sorts of how rants, but I'll stop now

[gonzo]

[quote=DannyCox;829260
After 2002, we were only at one other show, which was summer Internext in 2004. That was the biggest waste of my time! Farrell and I put on the Amateur Roundtable seminars, and even there, we had people trying to promote their programs.
[/quote]
FWIW Danny I spent the day in that Roundtable and it was the most free flow of information that was useful that Ive ever seen at any show. Farrel did a goo job of moderating it but yes there were too many people trolling around with their own agenda.

Thank you for sponsoring it as it was one of the most enjoyable days Ive ever spent at any show. And yes I spent damn near all day in there.

I think this is a great idea to get a show started to interest new people. Combine that with a the old content shoots we used to have where you can actually allow affiliates in to shoot some original conent to poromote programs and I think you have a winning formula. This was done also and I spent an entire day of Webmaster Access in Atlanta with Cory at this shoot. Another enjoyable day.

Gives a guy a few ideas ya know . . .

[JFK]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

I have to say this... I read the first page of the thread at the zoo, and at the bottom of the 1st page was the punchline: The guy spewing the most in the thread (Shap) rarely if ever attends shows.

I can't read any further, my eyes are watering from the laughter.

Alex, you do need to read further, there are some good suggestions in the following pages, we shall see if anyone will take them seriously, or was this just another excercise in futility as Sly has stated

btw Gonzo, Nice one
And the show organizers cant be too happy with those that avoid paying sponsorship dollars by hosting events in their room under the guise of breakfast and bongs