Paul Kafasis from Rogue Amoeba writes up a nice piece on the costs associated with exhibiting at Macworld.
If you’ve ever wondered how much it would cost for you to put your product in front of tradeshow browsers, this is a good read. It obviously depends on the show, your product, your people, etc, but it’s a nice bit of information. [via df]
Phil
on 19 Jan 07Generally trade shows work better as a marketing/branding exercise then a sales exercise, so don’t necessarily expect to make that money spent back directly from the trade show.
Our experiences at Chimney Sweep conventions (yes they do have them) did get us great exposure. Paul is right about the costs, if you have to rent anything, assume you’ll pay what it would cost to buy new. After our first convention paying $50 a day for an extra table, we just bought a table at our second convention from the local Home Depot for $40, and gave it away afterwards.
He also didn’t go into the second most expensive cost, which is your display itself. He went with a relatively simply banner, but if you exhibit often you should consider purchasing the neat roll-up back drops, although they will run you several thousand dollars.
Bernie
on 19 Jan 07A few more non-sales benefits to tradeshows.
Tradeshows can also be a good way to pick up some undiscovered partners. (i have picked up majors ones in past lifes….Its easy for them to say…”hey i should go get Jim to see this.” They can be both attending and exhibting.
Media…Some shows are very big on media..It would be too expensive to meet all those people indivdually..All the relevant media are all at one place looking for cool stuff to cover..Some good PR work I’ve gotten 20 face to face interviews at a Siggraph show. That coverage and efficiency was worth the price alone.
Ability to demo large groups quickly.
I agree with Phil you can do lots to cheapen costs. We did the home depot thing before..And we even got a fabric booth that roles up with some bars into a very small duffle bag..that and laptops and we are ready to roll.
Dr. Pete
on 19 Jan 07The internet-access pricing is nothing short of obscene. My former company was a tradeshow services provider and even as the registration company, we were forced to use whoever the convention center had a relationship with (usually a monopolistic one). The real shocker was when wireless access on the exhibit floor was more than $100/day where the same access outside the hall was the standard $10/day (or even free). When the exact same product has a 1,000% markup depending on which side of a wall you’re on, that’s nothing short of highway robbery.
Here in the Windy City, the unions don’t help either. You’re not allowed to do much of anything to your own booth, including carrying your own materials, replacing light bulbs and vacuuming the carpeting.
Aaron Blohowiak
on 19 Jan 07And they say that Unions and monopolies don’t stifle business.
Peter Hentges
on 19 Jan 07Another cost to consider when deciding to exhibit at a trade show is the cost of not exhibiting. In some industries, not being at the big trade show is equivalent to closing up shop. Distributors and retailers, not to mention consumers, at such shows often see those exhibiting as being the totality of the industry.
In industries with good internet communication, this is not as much of a problem. Still, if you miss a big trade show and your web site hasn’t been updated in months, the rumors of your demise will start to fly.
Darrel
on 19 Jan 07We attended a major market trade show (along with regional smaller ones) for several years selling our software. We then stopped going for several years thereafter and noticed no change in sales volume.
That said, the shows are invaluable for a few things:
- easy way to check out (and chat) with the competition - great way to get feedback directly from users with hands on demos of what they like/don't like - great way to network with partnersThat said, they are a hell of a lot of work.
I also agree with Phil on the display itself. It’s a bit of a shame to spend 5 figures and then show up with a 2×5 banner pinned to the curtain. ‘Real’ tradeshow booths are insanely expensive, but if you are a start up, you can do a very nice display reasonably cheap if you can handle a bit of DIY. We ended up using standard conduit as a frame and then got large 3×8 panels printed at Kinkos to line the back of the booth. All in all, we spent well under $1000 on it and got years of use out of it (the banners easily rolled up into a PVC mailer tube and the conduit can usually just be purchased on site for $100 or so at a local Home Depot.)
Electricity…a lot of shows charge a lot for access to a plug in. That said, a lot of shows have plugins already set up for everyone. We paid one year, then just ‘borrowed’ the plug in years thereafter.
One other tip…don’t spend money on custom table skirts unless you can document that they are fire proof. Fire Chiefs freak over that. Must have been a huge table skirt trade show fire back in the day…
Oh, finally…remember that tradeshows are really nothing more than for-profit businesses. Do NOT trust the attendance numbers or any other marketing BS the trade show sponsor sends you. GO to the tradeshow first and scope it our yourself to see if it’s a viable show. (Obviously, MacWorld is a no brainer if you sell Mac stuff, but there are multiple trade shows for every industry out there…some good…many a joke.)
This discussion is closed.