Trade shows give attendees an unprecedented opportunity to get face time with potential clients and vendors, but even in a world in which human interaction is key, the Internet is staking a claim.
In 1997, only 22 percent of trade show participants used the Internet to plan their visits. The number jumped to 31 percent in 1998 and is expected to reach 60 percent this year, according to a study completed by Allen Konopacki, president of Incomm Center for Research & Sales Training.
“Time poverty,” as Konopacki calls it, forces those attending trade shows to budget their attendance. Fewer attendees cruise the aisles; they are much more selective, he says.
As one executive put it, “I typed in two applications and identified 12 companies that were on the Web site. If a company was not listed, I never visited their exhibit. I didn’t have time to look at every exhibit or walk every aisle, but I did make decisions based on the 12 companies I identified on the Web site.”
No matter how pervasive the Internet becomes, however, 91 percent of the survey’s respondents said the Internet would not entirely replace their need to continue physically attending the shows.
Daniel G. Jacobs
