Tradeshows During a Recession

By, Janet Park, Senior Account Executive, Fusion PR

One of my clients is attending Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in a couple of weeks and I’ve been noticing some trends which are obviously a direct reflection upon today’s economic situation. Many of the U.S.-based publications are either not attending the show or are only sending one journalist to cover it. The main issue is budget but the fact that CTIA takes place 6 weeks after must play a major role in the decision making process as it is cheaper to fly to Las Vegas than all the way to Spain.

It’ll also be interesting to see how many companies at upcoming tradeshows will set up smaller, downsized booths as opposed to investing in large-scale exhibition spaces. I think the trend for many companies will be reserving a hotel or meeting room off the show floor to save on costs.

While I think the larger players will always have a presence at every major tradeshow, many younger technology companies should broaden their list of shows to find ones that may have a more concentrated look at a particular technology. For examples, consumer electronic companies should start focusing on events like ShowStoppers and Pepcom. For those playing in the enterprise space, th< /span>ere is DEMO and TechCrunch – both offer high exposure, but at different price points. 

Alternatively, these enterprise companies can look at the shows put on by AlwaysOn or DigitalHollywood. These shows cost thousands less and have strong media attendance since journalists can see multiple companies, in one room, in a couple of hours. In the end it benefits both the company looking for meetings and coverage and the reporters.