Empty spaces – what are we living for
Abandoned places – I guess we know the score
The show must go on.
Lyrics from The show must go on by the rock group Queen.

I suspect that there will be quite a few empty spaces for the promoters of industry tradeshows in 2009. Growing booth cost, rising registration fees, travel expense, show promotions – it all adds up.

In November 2008, convention attendance in Las Vegas was down 16.4 percent to 3,276,040 attendees, compared with 3,484,710 in the same period the previous year, according to the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

Apple decided to pull CEO Steve Jobs from Macworlds keynote speech — and announced that 2009 would be its last year at the show. Other industry giants, such as Adobe, Belkin, CreativeLabs and Seagate, had already pulled out.

It’s unclear what will happen to the conference following Apple’s departure. The show’s presenter, IDG World Expo, says the 2010 event is on. But, it also plans to hold a “town meeting” where it will solicit ideas for the future.

I recently had lunch to discuss the subject of tradeshows with Thomas Joyce, Vice President Customer and Industry Affairs for Hershey’s. Tradeshows are a big part of Hershey’s budget. Customer relations and lead generation aside, he suggested that marketing, packaging and R&D might be the biggest beneficiary of tradeshows. “The people in these departments don’t always get the opportunity to see the competition and customers close-up,” said Joyce.

According to Joyce, a trend that is gaining ground is the concept of the shared event sponsorship with non-competing manufacturers. Select customers, senior leadership and one-on-one conversations without all the competing distractions are the key benefits.

There are signs that Apple is entering a new era not unlike the concept that Hershey’s is exploring. It seems pretty clear that Apple chafed at the idea of having to introduce some of its best new products a few weeks after the close of the holiday selling season. Most consumer electronics companies like to make their big product introductions toward the end of the year, rather than the beginning, but the timing of Macworld forced Apple into a different schedule.

Apple now hosts several of its own events every year, such as the June Worldwide Developers Conference and the September music event.

Stephen Nold, President, Advon Technologies notes in his blog at Tradeshow Week, “Yet whether the era of the big trade is over is an interesting question. Social media has driven marketers to more carefully research and define relevant markets with great expectations shaped around targeted messages reaching interested communities. If large tradeshows burden the sales cycle with inefficient lead generation operations, then maybe there is a new shift in tradeshows.”

Call it a shift or an evolution; business needs to conduct a serious tradeshow audit. Tradeshows are essentially a place where a given community meets to exchange ideas, socialize and develop contacts. How are online communities any different? My alternative to traditional tradeshows include:

• Appoint a social/business networking leader within your company to be the architect of a community building strategy.  LinkedIn has 33 million members and Facebook has just surpassed 150 million active users.

• Get serious about your position as the thought leader in 2009. Hosting webinars for your industry is an effective way of reaching the community of buyers. You’ll never have to worry about qualifying the prospects, because only interested prospects will attend!

• Does your target market need on-going certification? Help prospects gain their continuing education credits by hosting regional conferences. You help them. You learn more about their business. You own a captive audience.

Changing familiar marketing tactics like tradeshows takes courage, perseverance and an understanding that marketing is an evolutionary process. That means fully utilizing technology to reach prospects that are already engaging in different types of communities.

I guess I’m learning, I must be warmer now
I’ll soon be turning, round the corner now
Outside the dawn is breaking
But inside in the dark I’m aching to be free

The Show Must Go On – Queen