by DJ Heckes
EXHIBITORLIVE has been an ongoing industry tradeshow for decades. It’s considered one of the biggest shows of the year among those in the industry, and it continues to thrive. Its 2022 launch announcement provides many reasons for industry professionals to be optimistic, but also raises a lot of questions due to its out-of-rotation dates. EXHIBITORLIVE takes place June 20-23, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, which is a change from its traditional date. And many companies are asking themselves: To exhibit or not to exhibit? That’s the real question as booth space goes on sale.
Many people are uneasy about the show dates changing, particularly since they’re so close to family vacation time. Pandemic-related postponements and cancellations forced many trade shows and events to move to late spring and summer. Traditional tradeshow date patterns are off for many shows. Many companies that traditionally would exhibit at this event, and many people who traditionally attend this event may pass this year. Their own customers might have shorter turn-around times as they prepare for a busy show season, and many companies are struggling with depleted and overworked staff.
Nonetheless, EXHIBITORLIVE 2022 pushes forward and will give companies opportunities to do business and reunite with vendors and attendees. Perhaps we will see a host of new companies exhibiting as new suppliers. Perhaps lucky attendees will be privy to innovative ideas and trends.
Attending EXHIBITORLIVE 2022 will allow you to connect with potential clients and/or customers, industry partners and influencers in the industry. Like any other event or networking opportunity, people want to see exhibiting companies showing state-of-the-art innovation, emerging technology, experiential exhibits, and creative solutions that invite customer engagement.
John Pavek, chief marketing officer of Exhibitor Media Group is optimistic about the upcoming event. “We’re excited to bring the industry together again and celebrate and facilitate the return of live events,” he says. “This year’s event will again present the largest exhibition of tradeshow and event products and services in North America with three full-days of exclusive exhibit hall hours that feature no overlap with educational sessions.”
Will we see lower attendance or are people ready to get out there and connect and look for solutions to their business needs? While most businesses measure tradeshow success by the number of leads gathered, opportunities found and the return on investment (ROI), they sometimes discount the return on relationships that can come out of an event. The level of effort that goes into building those relationships determines its success rate. Tradeshows are a huge investment for a company and metrics are important because they justify a return the following year. Capitalize on these events by following up with everyone you meet. By doing so, you can start building strong professional relationships that could potentially turn into increased sales for your company’s product or service.
The first quarter of 2022 brought about business opportunities in our industry, and companies are staffing up fast. This proves that our industry is recovering from the pandemic, but this style of fast onboarding can cause some problems. We are seeing many companies struggle with having new staffers with less industry knowledge. This is particularly true when they start their new job only to find customers have faster turn-around-time needs, which is causing quite a bit of stress with manufacturers and distributors who are aligning products with timelines for deliverables. The biggest challenges in our industry are bringing back employees, the continued brain drain, and the reality of not being able to predict sales revenue six weeks in the future. Challenges that are fast approaching are not only supply chain concerns, but getting past inflation woes. The stage is set for a Federal Interest Rate hide when US inflation hits a 39-year high of 7%. And we are seeing our own industry shifting to price updates due to supply chain issues, higher costs to run business and hiring qualified employees at much higher pay rates. What will be next?
My organization, EXHIB-IT! Visual Concepts, is a small business exhibit distributor that sold a double deck display on December 30, 2021. A mere 25 hours transpired from lead call to closure! Building a double deck display in four weeks and shipping to the Champs Show held at the Las Vegas Convention Center February 1 – 4 was a challenge, but it delivered, and the show was a huge success for the customer. Pre-pandemic, this would have been unlikely for our industry, but is this the new norm? Let’s hope not, even though we’ve proved we can do it! The pandemic compelled companies to embrace unprecedented challenges that were unimaginable in 2019. And the challenges linger. Most companies are struggling with employees who want to continue working from home rather than returning to the office, and this significant shift has deeply impacted the work culture and production timelines.
Despite the challenging business environment, the survival-of-the-fittest concept pushes companies to work faster for higher demands for peak performance for customers so that they stand out. The second quarter of 2022 will see business picking up even more as face-to-face events make a comeback. So, put on your seatbelts because tradeshows are making a come back and more is to come.
We hope to see you at EXHIBITORLIVE 2022 from June 20-23, 2022, at Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
This story originally appeared in the Q2 2022 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 24-25. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_Q2_2022
