How many shows can the industry support?

[RawAlex]

HP, for quite a while there were really 4 shows a year... 2 IA2000 shows, a Cybernet show, and Adultdex, which was really more of a public show that ran at Comdex time. It sort of worked out Adultdex november, ia2000 january, cybernet in june, and then ia again in September. The november and january shows were in vegas, and the cybernet shows wandered around.

That all changed when (If I remember correctly) Ron from CE decided to do a bunch of regional shows. It was actually a pretty good idea, to start with, the concept was more of getting their reps (and thier friends reps) out to different areas to deal with regional webmasters, the shows were suppose to be small and all that.

Then Pheonix came along. Originally a smaller show, it really picked up and set a new standard for shows in many ways: Almost the entire deal was organized around social events, with little or no actual show.

CE's deal sort of faded away, but then GFY had gotten big and started their Webmaster Access shows, and there have been a pile of those things. Everyone and their dog has tried to have a "show", and most of them aren't shows just an excuse for 100 people to end up in the same bar / hotel / city / beach.

With Internext Florida dropping their show floor entirely and moving the whole deal outdoors, and with really no other shows or events in NA having a show floor, it leaves only Vegas in January as the last "really big shoe". The rest are social events, nothing more.

As a side note, the shift from "show" to "social" is a direct result of companies not wanting to spend the money to run booths and have enough staff on hand to run it, ship it, set it up, take it down, and so on. It is also a result of webmasters, who more often than not spend all their "show" time at the bar, by the pool, at lunch, passed out from the night before, or 101 things other than being on the show floor. The decline of the affiliate model, and the shift in the business from being a friendly competition to an often very adversarial system has also spread people out. People are choosing sides, and that never helps.

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

HP, for quite a while there were really 4 shows a year... 2 IA2000 shows, a Cybernet show, and Adultdex, which was really more of a public show that ran at Comdex time. It sort of worked out Adultdex november, ia2000 january, cybernet in june, and then ia again in September. The november and january shows were in vegas, and the cybernet shows wandered around.

That all changed when (If I remember correctly) Ron from CE decided to do a bunch of regional shows. It was actually a pretty good idea, to start with, the concept was more of getting their reps (and thier friends reps) out to different areas to deal with regional webmasters, the shows were suppose to be small and all that.

Then Pheonix came along. Originally a smaller show, it really picked up and set a new standard for shows in many ways: Almost the entire deal was organized around social events, with little or no actual show.

CE's deal sort of faded away, but then GFY had gotten big and started their Webmaster Access shows, and there have been a pile of those things. Everyone and their dog has tried to have a "show", and most of them aren't shows just an excuse for 100 people to end up in the same bar / hotel / city / beach.

With Internext Florida dropping their show floor entirely and moving the whole deal outdoors, and with really no other shows or events in NA having a show floor, it leaves only Vegas in January as the last "really big shoe". The rest are social events, nothing more.

As a side note, the shift from "show" to "social" is a direct result of companies not wanting to spend the money to run booths and have enough staff on hand to run it, ship it, set it up, take it down, and so on. It is also a result of webmasters, who more often than not spend all their "show" time at the bar, by the pool, at lunch, passed out from the night before, or 101 things other than being on the show floor. The decline of the affiliate model, and the shift in the business from being a friendly competition to an often very adversarial system has also spread people out. People are choosing sides, and that never helps.

Id imagine its a lot cheaper to send a boat load of staff than to ship and set up a booth on a show floor that is totally unattended.

[RawAlex]

Originally Posted by gonzo

Id imagine its a lot cheaper to send a boat load of staff than to ship and set up a booth on a show floor that is totally unattended.

Actually, the reality is that the expense of running a both is as much in the staff as anything else.

Example Internext Miami: Considering room cost, airfare, food, drink, yadda, yadda is cost round number about $2500-$3500 per person that a program takes to the show. Show floor ran for 3 days, plus at least 1 extra day to set up, and you need to have at least a couple of people on the floor at all times... so really you are looking at 10k or more of people expense and probably a similar amount of booth expense to do it right. This in a place where the show floor was only semi-attended.

For 20k, you can send the whole office to the Pheonix Forum (or now the Atlanta show), or send a couple of people to pretty much every regional event all year long.

So the numbers are out there. Internext Miami changed because everyone realized they could get as much done wandering around the pool and hanging in the lobby as they could on a show floor. Vegas is changing for the same reason, people figuring out they can do as much at the "circle bar" or hanging around in the passageway going to the show as they can on the floor. Why pay AVN $300 for the honor?

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

So the numbers are out there. Internext Miami changed because everyone realized they could get as much done wandering around the pool and hanging in the lobby as they could on a show floor. Vegas is changing for the same reason, people figuring out they can do as much at the "circle bar" or hanging around in the passageway going to the show as they can on the floor. Why pay AVN $300 for the honor?

Vegas has changed as of last year.
The action isnt at the circle bar as of last year. Its up in the fantasy suites. The challenge AVN is going to have now is getting all the attendees upstairs in a timely manner and keep the normals OUT of the suites.

Too many of the reps trying to score ass and drugs etc had too many tagalongs last year from the auto paint and body show.