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Doc Searls On Fixing Tradeshows
zachlipton writes "Almost everyone seems to have a love/hate relationship with tradeshows, the giant geek, suit, and vendor gatherings put on by a handfull of corperations. Doc Searls writes in this month's LinuxJournal on his suggestions for fixing tradeshows. The problem, as he puts it, is that traditional shows make two assumptions: 'what matters most is helping vendors sell stuff to customers' and 'knowledge flows top-down, from speakers to audiences.'"
The biggest problem I have with trade shows is that they ask you to pay to be marketed at. Why aren't the booth holders and keynote speakers paying to have a captive audience? Oh, they are? Someone is getting rich off this scheme.
Remember presentation of Windows 98?
BSOD while presenting the new "features"?
Products speak for themselves, you don't need to talk about them, just let people have a "test drive" and it's enough to give them a clue. And vendors will learn ALL that is wrong if they just watch people on their "test drives".
(yep, one of parts of BOFH, plug-in the high-voltage laptop into SCSI port because the port supposedly is meant to withstand it and be capable to communicate this way. If you're down some $10.000 on demo equipment you will learn not to lie to customers next time.)
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
One of the most interesting things about these events is who pays and who doesn't, and how. With IEEE conferences pretty much everyone bar the chair pays, speakers included.
At most trade shows there are four groups of people
1) People who are "interesting" speakers so get in free
2) Vendor People who have paid for a booth and are damn well going to speak
3) People who the Vendors want to buy stuff, who get one or more of tickets, flights, hotels, food & booze paid for
4) People & companies who want to learn stuff so they pay to go.
Tradeshows are 100% about selling, without that bottom line the rest of it just wouldn't happen. You must realise that there are people who need to earn a living and its really the people in group 3 who matter at these events.
So your target is to get into group 3. There are various ways of doing this but the main ones are
1) Be an influencer within a large SI, this way the vendors get large bang per buck. An influencer (e.g. architect, account manager etc) can steer many projects your way
2) Have a decent sales ticket item that is coming up to tender (not out to tender or its a conflict)
3) Be a one vendor shop, standardise on a given vendor then screw them for freebies. You can also get great freebies from other vendors by pretending you are going to move.
These are the key ways to get in free. One thing to say about these tradeshows is to collect the business cards. If you have an issue with some software then its always great to be able to email someone senior in that organisation with the problem. Most of the time they just pass it on with the phrase "sort it" on. Which means you get the top man helping you out.
Tradeshows work, but they work in a commercial environment where vendors are looking at 6 and 7 figure deals... this is not about the cheap stuff.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
For those of us who consistently work 12-20 Hour days (including most weekends) it IS a perk. Especially if it's on the other end of the island so you have to be put in a hotel and your basic needs are covered (free food).
Even if you stay at an all inclusive it doesn't cost that much extra to take your girlfriend along.
Trade shows are in fact a substitute for vacation time if chosen carefully.
Note that no mention is made of new products or educational speeches. Relax and have fun if that means listening to Linus and ESR hurry through a Panel Discussion so they can get to Duns River Falls, cool. If it means going uh-ah-whoa over the same junk they showed last year. Irie. If it means grabbing free stuff from every booth in sight. Enjoy.
For me they are a "Perk". Even on the occasions where my company is presenting and I have to help set up the booth.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?