3rd Quarter TSAI™ (Trade Show Activity Indicator) Reveals a Flight to Quality Trend in Future Tradeshows and Events -- Customer Face-to-Face Interaction More Valued in Challenging Business Climate

Healthy figures suggest that participation in events is still a vital part of the marketing strategy for business, though businesses are proceeding cautiously.

The TSNN Q3 TSAI™ reports a significant increase in the amount of research by professionals across a wide range of industries who seek the most cost-effective solutions with tightening budgets. The figures, based on TSNN traffic, show a 53% increase in the number of unique visitors, a 41% increase in the number of overall visits, a 13.5% increase in the number of pages and a 20% increase in the number of hits compared to Q3 2007 numbers.

"Marketing and sales professionals are under greater pressure to deliver with tighter budgets in a market that is getting smaller across all verticals," said RD Whitney, CEO of Caroo Media USA, the parent company of TSNN, "Therefore, interest in our industry continues to grow because smart decision makers recognize that you can combine branding, outreach and business development by investing in industry events that get you in front of targeted and captive audiences."

TSNN affiliate CVBHotRates.com, the other half of the TSAI™ formula, showed a 168% increase in visits and a 31% increase in Potential Meeting Room Nights in Q3 2008. The number of Meeting Planner Leads (or Requests for Proposals) showed a slight decrease of less than .01%, which shows that event planners are reacting carefully to market conditions.

"The sharp increase in online research on trade shows could be telling us that there is deeper scrutiny being applied for each dollar of trade show spending," says Whitney. "This could signal a future flight to quality in the industry. Trade shows that deliver value and the right buyer/seller mix will be rewarded with growth. Events that fall asleep at the switch and don't appeal will feel the pinch of this scrutiny."

Either way, the message from the TSAI trends is clear: professionals recognize that tradeshows are an extremely efficient way to get visibility with customers and drum up business in every market condition. Face-to-face events continue to be an essential investment and an important component of the marketing mix -- just expect more selectivity from the stakeholders according to TSNN.

Readers respond to last month's e-newsletter article indicting venues, airlines and industry providers for their wanting service…

"We staff a number of brands for the US National Auto Show Circuit- and while I have no horror stories myself I have overseen hundreds of travels in my past and my main advice would be:

  • Carry onto the airplane your suit or company branded wardrobe you need for the show, along with toothbrush.
  • Plan ahead for travel delays with taxis, shuttles and walking.
  • MapQuest directions ahead of time and call your hotel to confirm that there is or is not construction.
  • If your company is paying for your hotel, you may still need to submit a CC for incidentals. Be cautious because some hotels do still charge them accidentally."

Cora Majewski - Account Representative at Gail & Rice

"We run technical engineering conferences mainly in Europe but also in the USA & Canada from our UK base. My view is very simple - because we run conference for different groups, we will return to the same venue several times with new delegates if the service is great - otherwise we don't use them again. However one venue was poor and we had already booked a return some months later - so I told the Marketing Director very clearly what was wrong. When we returned, it did not seem like the same place - it was transformed and the service was superb - and we returned a third time. If it is good we tell them - if it is not we also tell them!"

J Alistair R Muir - Chief Executive at BHR Group Limited and Owner, BHR Group Limited

"In my experience most of the venue problems come when the organisers don't know what to do - the venue will do as instructed, and in some cases will make suggestions that will help inexperienced planners, but lots of little things like the snacks and sandwiches being exactly the same every day for 6 days (because the planner just saved time ordering the same sandwiches every day) can make a big difference on your overall experience of a conference. That kind of thing shouldn't happen in a top end venue, but somewhere like a university I have seen it. I was only at the conference the last two days, but the folk that had been there the whole time were climbing the walls. As far as airports go I'd agree that you judge each one on its own, but as a rule I've had better experiences in smaller ones, but it's amazing the difference that being polite to the staff makes when there are problems - they are so much keener to help you out than if you are loud and demanding. As for airlines, I haven't done enough flying on different airlines to be able to say. But some that insist you use electronic check in machines for groups are a nightmare - Lufthansa at Edniburgh being a recent example."

Jill Bain - Event management (MICE), business and volunteer development

Clever PR and Charitable Partnerships for Event Planners can be profitable and quite cost-effective in a down economy

Our next e-newsletter will feature an interview with philanthropist and holocaust survivor Henri Landwirth of Dignity U Wear, whose enormous success as a hotelier was due to his unique promotional strategies that involved philanthropic efforts, creative public relations and "top shelf" customer service.

Free RFP

Plan ahead… save time and money on your next event.

New to TSNN is the function for users to submit FREE RFP's and receive multiple quotes from TSNN's preferred suppliers and/or venues. Submit one today and receive 20% off advertising on TSNN for your next 6-month campaign.

What’s New on TSNN?

MeetingJobs.com

TSNN has partnered with MeetingJobs.com to bring you the meeting industry’s most comprehensive job search website. The goal is to more effectively put hiring officials and job candidates together. MeetingJobs.com posts between 40-60 new meeting planner jobs per month and receives between 7000-9000 hits per day from qualified meeting planners seeking open positions.

Click here to Post Your Job!

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Event Organizers seeking more ideas on best practices for their events can access tsnn's enewsletter archive at http://www.tsnn.com/newsletter_archive.asp.

Do you have a story on a new and/or best practice that garnered successful results for your event? Whether it's sales and marketing, operations, customer service or any new idea that can benefit your peers in the industry, WE WANT TO KNOW! Send your ideas, stories or press releases to Don Browne, tsnn.com online editor, at dbrowne@tarsus-inc.com.

For advertising and sponsorship opportunities on TSNN, please contact Seng Weiland (sweiland@tsnn.com, 262-754-6920) or John Rice (jrice@tsnn.com, 617-201-7088).

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