Are Trade Shows Dead?

It is early to determine what permanent changes might happen in sales, marketing and customer support functions after firms have had a couple years worth of enforced use of virtual channels. 

But the behavior of sales and marketing teams since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic is fairly clear. Return on investment from virtual events or virtual conferences has been seen as sub-par. 

Generally,  trade show exhibitors and sponsors say virtual events have yet to match the networking and lead-generating potential of face-to-face experiences

Nick Borelli, Director of Marketing Growth at Allseated “worries that C-suite marketing teams may lose confidence in the value of face-to-face events as they gradually learn to live without them.”

Conversely, attendees at virtual events or exhibitions have overwhelmingly been concentrated among “learners” rather than buyers and sellers, according to surveys conducted by Bizzabo. 

“Learning is the primary motivation of virtual event attendees,” Bizzabo says. 

Virtual trade shows arguably have attendee pros and cons. They save money on physical travel costs, event exhibit costs and sometimes sponsorship or attendee fees. Virtual events arguably save time, as time out of the office is eliminated. 

Among the cons are lack of opportunities to network, ability to interact in the same way as in-person encounters, less engaging experience, possible technology or interface issues. Virtual is just more impersonal. 

Event managers who have had to pivot to “virtual” recognize the issue. 

source: Event Manager 

The big issue of importance is future behavior. Will firms have found work-arounds that make trade shows and exhibitions less important than in the past? 

One observation is obvious. Firms have had to learn how to drive sales, marketing and fulfillment operations even when physical channels are unavailable. In the process of doing so, there is some anecdotal evidence--and some hard financial results--that suggest the inability to conduct in-person sales and marketing has been detrimental to firm financial performance. 

Small business owners who generally rely on social media advertising, are generally unimpressed with the return on investment. Enterprises might be more satisfied, but also have the cost savings from not attending physical trade shows.

Conversely, if enterprises find they can sell, market and fulfill virtually, that is going to diminish the value of, and revenue for, suppliers of “live, in-person events.” Early in the Covid pandemic, event managers already were seeing the impact. 

source: Event Manager 

Virtual might still work for “learners.” It might not work so well for business-to-business sales purposes.