Prospects for AIA Show in 2011

The AIA Show website shows that there are still many unsold booths for their May 2011 gathering in New Orleans.  This means you can still get good booth locations if you decide to exhibit there. But by most accounts, the AIA's show in Miami earlier this year was sparsely attended by architects.

What are the prospects for the upcoming event?
Attendance may be a bit better this year:

• The economy has begun to turn around a bit, (I hope.)
• New Orleans is more centrally situated for most of the country.
• Who wanted to go to Miami in the summer, anyways?
• I think many architects are curious to see how New Orleans is being rebuilt (at least I am).

Attendance may be up the show has new management -- Hanley Wood. HW's magazine, Architect, will become the official publication of AIA as of January. I suspect Hanley Wood will be pouring lots of resources into building the show this year.

Unfortunately, I don't see that yet. Their website, just six months before the event, is still little more than a place holder saying, "Continue to check back for more details."

Where to spend your marketing budget?
HW has other challenges. When AIA produce the event, it could tap into its members' sense of community. Now, the AIA Convention is at risk of being seen as just another of HW's events for architects. This is a weak position. For example, I don't go to HW's CONSTRUCT trade show because it is a major trade show (it isn't), but because I identify with the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) community that holds its annual meeting at CONSTRUCT. If CSI relocated its annual meeting to another event, I would follow my tribe.*

HW's architectural show will now have to compete against its other events for architects -- CONSTRUCT and their new virtual trade show, GreenExpo365.com. And will architects still traipse half-way across the continent if they can get all their continuing education credits from Hanley Wood University?

Booth prices begin at $4200 for a 10 x 10 ft booth. (Of course, renting space is less than half the cost of exhibiting.) It is unlikely HW will discount prices. Perhaps you will be able to negotiate a frequency discount if you exhibit and advertise in their magazines?

Should you exhibit at AIA or any tradeshow this year? 
The answer is no longer an automatic "yes". You have to look closely at the fundamentals: What do you want to accomplish? Does the show provide the right audience? How can the show leverage the rest of your marketing budget?

Many of my clients have done the math and have budgetted for trade shows in the coming year. For some, it may mean a smaller booth. One the other hand, one of my my clients has a new product launch that will benefit from a live demonstration. They are increasing their trade show participation because it is more economical than sending crews across the country for demos.

Reduced attendance at a show does necessarily mean reduce effectiveness. The World of Concrete (also a HW event) had significantly lower attendance in 2010; but those who came were there to buy and not just for a junket in Vegas.

I still believe trade shows have an important function, even in the digital age. It will be interesting to see what the next few years bring. 

* Prediction: HW will merge the AIA and CONSTRUCT shows into one super-sized event. Let's hope so, it would make for a more rational industry.

A Green Virtual Trade Show

A trade show without travel does sound like an environmentally sound idea. Yet can a digital forum, a "virtual trade show," really provide the type of hands-on experience that a trade show provides?

Hanley Wood (HW) proposes to find out. They have partnered with a digital technology group to promote GreenExpo365.com, an "online community and virtual trade show."

The website is clearly advertising driven. That in itself is not a bad thing as most trade shows try to part manufacturers from their money. But can such an online forum really form a "community" of users? USGBC, CSI, AIA, and other organizations already offer real communities. Their online components are adjuncts to committees, chapter meetings, and real trade shows.

Here is an excerpt from an HW press release:

Starting in 2011, the publisher... will provide GreenExpo365.com users with increased access to green building and design resources and top-tier design and building industry experts. “GreenExpo365.com’s on-demand, community-focused platform is a natural extension of our green building information strategy,” adds Peter Goldstone, President of Hanley Wood. “Through this interactive site, we’ll be able to better help others increase their knowledge of environmentally responsible building practices and make well-educated decisions in the marketplace.”

The award-winning GreenExpo365.com site is a resource for architects, builders, remodelers, dealers, code officials, manufacturers and others interested in green building design and construction. It offers quarterly “live” events in an online trade show format that includes expert presenters and exhibitors, bi-weekly webinars on a host of green building topics, on-demand continuing education courses registered with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and 24/7 interaction on blogs and forums. 

The recession has reduced attendance at real trade shows, and some people wonder whether the large event format can survive. So I can't disparage HW, a large producer of trade shows, from hedging their bets.

Still, I think they would be better off exploring ways to build real online communities, forums that take advantage of the power of the web, rather than creating ersatz versions of trade shows.

An Alternative to Trade Shows

I interviewed Michael Owens, Director of Production for CraigMichaels Inc., an event production company that produces business summits for the construction industry. These business summits are an alternative to the traditional trade show. See what Michael had to say about their programs:
1. What is CraigMichaels? What do they do?

Michael P. Owens: CraigMichaels is an event production company based in lower Manhattan. Since 2002, we have been producing high level business summits primarily in the real estate & construction industry but have since branched off into technology and environmental events as well.

2. Who attends?

MPO: Since we run about a dozen different summits and forums each year it is hard to generalize who attends. But if we were to summarize all of our events I would say “senior level decision makers” would be the best summation of our attendees.

3. What type of results do attendees see?

MPO: Attendees of our summits leave with the “take-away” that is pretty much non-existent at most of today’s conferences and trade shows. Our unique summit format not only allows attendees to get actively engaged in the conference program but it also allows them to have a true dialogue with the suppliers/vendors as well. Attendees at a CraigMichaels summit have the opportunity to schedule one-on-one meetings with the companies of their choice in a relaxed environment. All of our summits are held at 4-star resorts which creates a relaxed environment for proper relationship building and networking with like minded individuals.

4. Why do this instead of (or should it be in addition to) a major trade show?

MPO: I know this may sound self serving…but the trade show format in our opinion is dead. In this economy especially, we believe that investing in most trade shows is not the ideal investment of time and money for those that serve the buildings marketplace. The buildings/ construction market is very complex, therefore communicating the value of your products or services in a thirty second pitch is not the most logical approach. In recent years, especially this past 2, we have heard from numerous clients that they have abandoned the trade show format because it was not providing a true return on investment and they are now only participating in our events. Below is a video of testimonials from our most recent Healthcare Facilities Summit which sums this up quite nicely:

http://vimeo.com/8682723

World of Concrete 2011 is Earlier Than 2010

Heads up to potential World of Concrete 2011 exhibitors: start scrambling earlier.   World of Concrete 2011 will be held January 18-21, 2011, a date more like the show’s previous schedule and two weeks earlier than the past two years.  This means you have to start the mad scramble of show preparation earlier (or arrive at the show much more tired, ragged, and badly prepped).

Chusid Associates helped multiple clients prepare for WOC 2010 (six of our clients were at the show) so we know just how pressured it can become.  Mark your calendar now, while you’re calm and rational, to set up a WOC prep gameplan that will get you to the show without ulcers or excessive overtime, or call us if you’d like help planning your show, executing your booth, scheduling and press conferences and speaking opportunities, and creating all the needed presentation and support materials.  

Speaking of speaking opportunities, the deadline for topic and speaker proposals is April 9, 2010.