Trade shows are suffering from the economy. Attendance is down. Fewer exhibitors remain. Shows that once hosted 30,000 attendees and 100,000 net square feet of exhibit space have dwindled to half the size or less.

The climate couldn't be better for a successful event.

I know what you're thinking. You have heard the gloomy reports about trade shows. Reviewers report endlessly about the size of the event as though this were the standard by which all things are measured. But is it?

One could easily argue that a smaller, focused event is a much better venue for both the attendee and exhibitor.

Attendees Benefit

Does anyone go to a trade show to see as many exhibitors as possible? Although attendees speak of the number of exhibitors, what they are truly searching for is the highest quantity of exhibitors who can meet their needs. In fact, it can get tedious clawing through the other exhibitors to find the ones that fulfill a specific requirement.

In a show of reduced size, the exhibitors who are missing are absent for one of three reasons: the company has gone out of business, the exhibitor's budget is too tight and this trade show was eliminated from the schedule, or this trade show does not attract the buyers that the exhibitor seeks.

Let's take a good look at these. If the company has gone out of business, they must have had a fallacy in their business plan. They charged too little, spent too much, or simply offered an inferior or undesirable product. Be glad you didn't purchase from them in the past. Their ability to service existing clients is limited or non-existent. If they had survived to participate in this event, you might now be stuck with a product or service with limited support.

An exhibitor with a budget that is too small to attend trade shows clearly sees his business as coming from a different source. After all, he is spending money in some manner to market his products or services. He just doesn't see the value in trade show marketing.

This type of exhibitor is missing the boat. Buyers have clearly shown their support for trade shows. A Research Report by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (PE II, 2000) showed that 90% of trade show attendees surveyed make a final purchasing decision at a trade show. If an exhibitor is not able to sell to a motivated buyer at a trade show, he either has a product or service that is not well presented at trade shows, or a product or service that is just not of interest. In either case, buyers should be happy to see this type of exhibitor go.

The third reason exhibitors cite for a lack of participation in trade shows is that trade shows are not drawing the buyers that the exhibitor wants to meet. If this is true, than this exhibitor doesn't belong at this event. Like the exhibitor above who does not attract buyers at a trade show, inclusion of this exhibitor only dilutes the event and is a distraction for the attendee.

As a visitor, I would be happy not to have these three types of exhibitors filling booth space. With only a limited amount of time to spend, I prefer to focus on exhibitors who are marketing to me and to my organization's needs.

Sometimes, shows are reduced in size because complimentary exhibitors decide to share a booth. Although this reduces the overall number of booths, it also offers attendees the opportunity to not only see both vendors, but to learn how they can be used in conjunction with one another. I actually prefer combined booths for this very reason.

Don't presume that the smaller an event is, the less likely it is to meet your needs. It may just be the perfect fit.

Exhibitors See Better Qualified Buyers

Exhibitors also benefit from having fewer attendees on the show floor. Notice that I didn't say fewer buyers on the show floor. Many exhibitors equate these two statements, but they are fundamentally different.

One trade show with which I worked received complaints from exhibitors about the number of qualified buyers at the event (as most shows do). The following year, we made a concerted effort to draw qualified buyers. We interviewed exhibitors to make sure that we had an accurate definition of a good prospect as they saw one. We then put processes in place to invite these prospects, get them to the event, and make them easily identifiable to exhibitors.

We also took steps to eliminate those who were not decision-makers and who did not influence purchasing decisions. An onsite survey confirmed that we had indeed achieved an attendee base with more buying power. Attendance was only up slightly from the previous year, but the caliber of those visiting was greatly improved.

When we heard the inevitable feedback from exhibitors that they wanted to see more growth, we asked them about sales. Almost universally, they replied that indeed their sales staff had found that attendees were more likely to be decision-makers, and had higher budgets than in years past.

We questioned these exhibitors about their knee-jerk desire for more attendees. "Do you really want non-buyers filling your booth, taking your samples, and tying up your sales staff?" Of course they did not, and when they thought about it, they actually encouraged us to continue efforts to reduce unwanted attendees in order to allow them to focus on key buyers. The exhibitors agreed that we had accomplished our goal.

I think of this example when I hear that shows are reduced in size. When a show attracts fewer attendees, which ones are lost? If buyers find what they want at an event, they will keep attending. If you offer what they need, they will continue to visit to see what they can get.

The attendees who stop coming do so because they haven't located what they came to find. They are not buying because they are not interested or because they have no authority to make a purchase decision, so the event is meaningless to them. This type of attendee merely detracts from your sales efforts. Their loss is your gain.

I would be thrilled to exhibit at a show that stopped attracting non-buyers. If I knew that every attendee was a potential client, I would be very determined and prize my time at the show.

Seek the Best, Not the Biggest Show

If you are interested in participating in an event, do not look merely at its size. Review the list of exhibiting companies, ask colleagues about their experiences, look at data about sales made by exhibitors, and then decide if the event is right for you.

Trade shows are smaller than they were in the 1990's, and I couldn't be happier.

Mike Kilgore is the President of Kilgore Consulting, Inc., which provides marketing and operations assistance to the trade show and consumer show industries. Mr. Kilgore can be reached at mike@kilgoreconsulting.com or visit my ShowSmart.com Exhibitor Page for more details.