Trade Shows

Q: How have trade shows changed over the years?

A: Today's enormous convention halls in cities like Dallas, Orlando, and Las Vegas accommodate thousands of suppliers and distributors and their representatives who are seeking not only "what's new," but marketing ideas, case histories, and all kinds of electronic enhancements to add to their selling arsenal. In 1962, when I took a few days leave from the Navy to join my parents in Chicago where they were attending one of the annual association trade shows, the scene was quite different. What made that event so memorable is the comparison that I can now make to today's shows. I don't recall the number of exhibitors, but they each had their own hotel room, which served as both display room and bedroom if they could only afford one. The rooms were located on several floors of the hotel, so you were forever going up and down on elevators to make sure that you covered the entire convention "floor". A guard was posted at each elevator to make absolutely certain that no one entered without the official distributor or supplier badge. It was most unusual, in those days for a sales rep to be in attendance. If one did attend, he wore the badge of a distributor. The exchange of selling ideas was not nearly as important as it was to see "what's new" and to order samples. The confidentiality of who the suppliers within our industry were at the time was held in trust by those who had a show directory. Therefore, entering our industry in the "good old days" was much more difficult than it is today. As a matter of fact, I met in the lobby bar a young man who was interested enough in our industry to come to the show from Texas in hopes of buying one of the show directories. He was successful in obtaining such a directory and confided in me that he had paid $100.00 to discover the names of suppliers. He planned on contacting them in hopes of becoming one of their new distributors.

Answered by an industry veteran, Frank Elliott of Elliott Sales Corp.