Because if you do that, you see stalls from the big-name machinery dealers you've heard of before, and you don't get people like Steve Knight there with something interesting.
It's often far from cheap to have one of those stalls.
Very good point. It is very expensive to go to a show, ship in booths and equipment, pay people to staff them, etc.
OTOH, the manufacturers don't pay for any of it. Woodworkers do when they buy the products. Any time you think Budweiser is paying for those big buck superbowl commercials, just look at what you are paying for colored carbonated water.
Yabbut for the little guy, the cash layout can be prohibitive, so getting that cut by charging attendees is an effective device to help growing companies and to spread the knowledge base exhibited in the show.
As an example, the National Hardware Show had been held in Chicago for decades. For varous reasons, including unions and general greed, costs for putting on the show kept rising, until it wasn't only the little guys backing out. For decades, it was difficult to impossible to get even a small booth. Then, one year not long ago, people realized that an awful lot of those 10K 8x10 booths were empty. After that, Stanley cut back and B&D/DeWalt was a drop out, Delta cut their booth size, and zing. All of a sudden...there were two shows. One in Chi, one in Vegas.
Now, it appears the Vegas venue has won out. It is a great deal cheaper (nice to not have to fork over $200 a night for a hotel room--including nearly 15% in extra taxes--within the range of the bus routes to the show, for one thing, and the 10 buck pizza slices [nasty stuff, too] are a thing of the past). Of course, now my wife wants to go, too, so there go the expenses again.
Charlie Self "One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above that which is expected." George W. Bush
From an exhibitors standpoint - the NHS in Chicago evolved into legalized extortion...
The internet has had a tremendous impact on the nature/need for trade shows...many are moving to a bi-annual schedule...
Cheers -
Rob
You mean the $40 to plug your lights into the receptacle you paid $100 to have there? Of the $150 to unroll the carpet you shipped in? and the charges to vacuum your carpet, empty your trash can and on and on . . . . . . Don't touch that wire or five unions will be on the picket line. Ed
Hey Robin, are you saying that the Internet is making it less needful to be going on the road?
UA100
"Robin Lee" wrote in news:rR9Fd.33326$ snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com:
Every trade show in Chicago turned into legalized extortion. Made a place in the market for Atlanta and Las Vegas for large shows, and made regional shows more feasible.
Some of the practices which were 'mandatory' in Chicago can get you banned from Vegas or Atlanta, at least in the telecomm industry shows.
Patriarch
It's _Chicago_ ! What do you expect ? It's like going to Houston and complaining about the heat.
Andy Dingley wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Great pizza. Excellent hot dogs. Losing baseball teams. Wind.
Patriarch
Hey - you've been there before!
It actually took four people to install (plug in) a light in one of our booths once...
A driver A shipper receiver An electrician A Decorator
Cheers -
Rob
Hi -
Sort of -
In a way, it makes trade shows much more effective too...the yield is higher, which takes a lot more time to process...
Give you an example...
1) Hit the show website 2) download Exhibitor list (or copy into Excel) 3) perform a look-up on internal vendor list 4) plot, plan, schedule meetings with appropriate current vendors...typically using on-line floorplans 5) research known sourcing needs in advance, and prioritize booth visits...It much easier to do now, and a big show can provide more info/contacts than one can deal with in a year....
Cheers -
Rob
Cut down on the hot dogs then.
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