One word...

Another Motivation Show is in the books.  Two fabulous days of networking and client meetings.  Two days of trying to determine what on Earth has happened to the once singular show for our market.

I started asking my counterparts, my reps, anybody I came across to summarize their show experience in a single word.  As the show progressed, some retracted their early words and replaced them with others.  Some couldn't find one word, so they found three or four and said them really fast in the hopes it would be interpreted as one word--sort of like "fuggedaboutit" or "knowwhatimean?".

The range of responses, as you would expect, was wide.  It ranged from "grim" (said early on Wednesday, it should be noted) to "terrific".   Of course, you would get this from ANY trade show, as the perceptions are subject to wide dispersal based on how any one person's experience.  But some other words were more revealing:

"Claustrophic"
"Compact"
"Intimate"

There were several variants on "small" or "smaller".  Obviously the walls were closer this year, and that caused many to feel uncomfortable.  But the reality is that the room has shrunk to the size of the audience.  Had we had 20% more exhibit space, we would have thought the show was "deader" than it was.  Perhaps this is the New Reality of Chicago--a much more concentrated footprint that creates the atmosphere of busy-ness that might not be relative to the absolute numbers of attendees.

"Interesting"
"Different"

I've been referring to this year's show as a "coalition of the willing".  Those who made the trip were there because they wanted to be.  Those who paid to exhibit wanted to talk to customers, and by God they did.  So the Vibe was pretty upbeat--as it should be with a room of like-minded people.  And the absence of many brands that used to be here (mine included) was not a real factor--the 4-5 of us who were at the show but not exhibiting wouldn't have changed the size of the show's footprint all that much.

"Transitory"
"Uncertain"
"Done" (and it's sibling, "Over")

There was no shortage of Bears in the building (fitting, since we were about a half mile from Soldier Field).  Many exhibitors believe the show has lost its way and will never return to its glory days.  This is probably true, and doesn't distinguish the Mo Show from dozens of other trade shows.  Other than CES and PPAI's Expo,it's hard to find a trade show on an upward curve.  Maybe we should just get over it.

Chicago's challenge is that everyone enters the building with comparisons to some time in the indeterminate past when things were "better".  And until/unless the Show gets "blown up" it can never overcome these perceptions.  Take PPAI's Expo.  For years it was in Dallas.  It had its good and bad attributes.  When PPAI took the bold step of moving the show to Las Vegas, there was no sentiment of "gee, I wish it was still in Dallas", or "it's not as good as it was in the past".  It was "HOLY CRAP!!  WE'RE IN VEGAS!!.  HOW COOL IS THIS?"

This is what Chicago needs to do.  Not necessarily move to Vegas (although there is plenty of sentiment for that), but to do something extraordinary that makes everyone forget the "good old days" (even if they weren't all that "good") and focus us on the here and now. Having it at McCormick Place in October will not create that buzz. 

And finally, I heard this word just as I was heading for the door:

"Necessary"

Our business needs a convention, not just a trade show.  A place where ideas can be exchanged, new contacts made, and a moving forward of our market for our customers.  This cannot be accomplished at PPAI no matter how important "brand" is.  There are just too many suppliers whose products are not well suited to the Promotional Products market.  No--we need our own venue, with our own kind, to nurture the business.  If Chicago cannot be that venue, then let's get all the smart people together and find out what/where it needs to be.

What we need to stop doing is asking whether Chicago is "in trouble"--it is.  Desperately so.  If IMEX delivers on its promise to exhibitors and attendees, incentive travel is "done" for Chicago.  That leaves a much smaller universe of exhibitors from which to create a raison d'etre for a show.

The rise of the "multiples" has further dimmed Chicago's prospects.  When 22% of the entire Exhibitor list is resident in a single booth (92 out of 411 exhibitors according to the directory) we are moving towards a show with a half dozen exhibitors.  That isn't good no matter how you slice it.

Chicago wasn't half-bad.  But it was probably 40% bad based on what it used to be and what some exhibitors (like me) want from the show (new business, new channels, etc.).  I'm unsure whether a 40% bad show (again, not half bad) can survive in today's world.  Which brings me to my final word on the subject:

"Unfulfilled"


Pete

A posting from the Front

CHICAGO--Well, here we all are.  Drawn to the City with Big Shoulders to discuss our futures.  And we arrive to the first hint of fall and the cold winter to follow.  The air is rife with Concern.  Here's what's bothering me:

• We have to find a way to save/re-invent/blow up the Chicago Motivation Show.  Never in my life have I heard lower expectations from exhibitors.  Never.  The bar is set so low it would be functionally impossible not to over-achieve. God help us if we don't.
• I work with Independent Representatives (accent on the "independent").  The last 36 months have not been especially kind to them.  They've had to let people go, move their offices back into their homes, and watched as new business models attempt to render them obsolete.  We need a robust rep community no matter how many data feeds we participate in.
• And speaking of that--how can I be important in a program with 400,000 items?  Aren't we doing a disservice to the participant?  Yeah, yeah--they can get Peruvian Jelly Beans.  But lots of choices typically paralyze humans--we shut down due to the overload.  Is that REALLY a good idea?
• Automation is taking over certain types of programs.  What does that leave us to actually MANAGE?  Will we all be reduced to chasing "one-off" programs?  And how stable an existence is that?
• We may dodge the 274(j) bullet, but more are coming--just ask the Gift Card people, who are facing increased regulation that was caused by Mexican drug lords using prepaid cards for money laundering.  WTF with that?  Talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water...

These are only five issues--there are 10 more that my addled brain couldn't access on short notice.  And the consequences are material.  Our market is being assaulted by multiple outsiders.  Some are bringing new business models to the channel, which is a fundamentally good thing IF you can adapt.

Others are not interested in our business at all--they are trying to fix some other problem and we end up as "collateral damage". And some mean well but aren't anticipating the impact of their actions.  They will learn this in no uncertain terms as things progress. 

I'm fond of using music as a thematic device.  And this one says it very well:

Strange days, indeed...


Pete

My kind of town...

And now, a few words from the Great (and Deceased) American Philosopher, Frank Sinatra:

Indeed.  As I leave for what's left of the Chicago Motivation Show, it's apparent to me that the Old Grey Mare just ain't what she used to be.  And there are reasons for that.   Here goes:

• Well, the damn business just changed.  A lot.  End Users left years ago (yeah, yeah, I know--more end users came last year.  Now we're only 90% below what it once was).
• Distributors started staying away too.  The Show has tried valiantly to attract more promotional products distributors, with education, bribes, and God knows what else.  It hasn't worked.
• The travel section deserted the Show this year.  Not everyone, mind you, but enough booth space left for IMEX that the show is now integrated--no more center aisle delineating merchandise from travel.  We're all One Not-so-Big Happy Family now.
• And even though it's My Kind of Town, Chicago is also a pain in the ass to go to for a convention.  It's expensive, full of surly, entitled Union types, and did I say it was expensive?
• I booked a room at the Vdara in Las Vegas--just about as upscale as you'd want-for $110 a night.  $110 in Chicago doesn't buy me anything I'd want to spend time in.  I have a $175 room that will probably give new definition to "intimate".

Long-term exhibitors (like me) have deserted the show because we can't justify the ROI.  And it's sad--really sad.  I have to agree with a colleague's assessment:  "it will never return to what it was.  And the longer it's being presented like it was, the more people will remember it and benchmark today's show against how it used to be when both floors of the North Hall were filled.  The only solution is to 'blow it up' and start over".

Harsh?  Yes.  Accurate?  Unfortunately so.  We'll go there this week and put on our Happy Faces.   Exhibitors will talk about "quality" and how "we got to spend time with our customers" but it's all just spin.  What was once the unquestioned meeting space for our market is now not that.

It's nobody's fault.  Everyone, especially Show Management, did everything they could to stem the tide.  But the Mo Show is becoming a casualty of trade shows in general--other than CES and PPAI Expo it's hard to find a show on an upward curve.

As a lifelong Cubs fan I can only say---wait until next year.  It works for me...


Pete