When last did you visit a retail conference, exhibition or trade fair and come away feeling that it had really been worthwhile?

I suspect that the answer from most people will be “never”.

These events, sometimes free and sometimes at vast cost, seem to have one thing in common – sameness.

The same boring line up of vendors, the same boring rhetoric eg. “this discount only applies to orders taken at the fair”, the same array (more or less) of boring speakers, the same mediocre food at high prices, the same opening speeches and the same preamble before the event. This includes the early bird offers, the phone calls, the emails, the near desperation as the event draws closer to get bums in seats and the behind the scenes discounting to buy a crowd at any price.

From the vendor’s point of view, the costs at trade fairs are considerable.

Hiring the real estate, hiring or purchasing the infrastructure, transporting goods there and back, damaged and stolen products, staffing the stand, the lost opportunity costs while the event is taking place, parking and the list goes on. 

Some vendors advise that at some trade fairs they do not take a single order and needless to say are usually not there next time round.

Maybe it’s that we have too many events. Maybe it’s the sameness. Maybe it’s the boredom. But whatever it is, it needs to be fixed.

I have yet to meet a retailer who is not time poor. To take a few hours out of a day or to take a few days out of a week requires something special.  

And with retail being tight, which company small or large, is going to spend thousands of dollars to have their people listen to speakers who have nothing really new to say?

Trade Fairs

• Keep them compact and rather than sell as much real estate as possible, limit the numbers.
• Be selective. Vendors that are new and innovative should get the prized positions, not those who pay the most.
• Have a clear message as to what the fair is about. Don’t have vendors selling product that does not fit the message.
• If it is a fair to sell product, don’t have vendors selling ancillary services and other offerings. Buyers like focus.
• Make sure that the food is good quality and reasonably priced.
• Have rules about vendors eg. not sitting playing computer games.
• Have a really good directory. Buyers need to be able to hone in  on the suppliers that have what they want.

Conferences

• Get well known/interesting speakers and pay them well.
• Organise a list of topics that is really appealing.
• Then choose the speakers to fit the topics.
• Don’t confine topics to pure retail – there are interesting speakers on general issues

I guess in a nutshell the question every event organiser needs to ask is  how will my next event differentiate itself from the others and what exciting, innovative ideas will we use to attract people to visit?

If these questions can’t be answered, perhaps consider a career change.  I believe undertaking is steady but competition is stiff.

Stuart Bennie is a retail consultant at Impact Retailing. Email Stuart.