More Vendors Downsizing or Withdrawing from Macworld SF 2009

[IJ Reilly]

During the '90s it was almost impossible to leave a trade show like MacWorld without a bag load of spiffs -- free t-shirts, software, promotional items of all kinds. It made it more fun to go, and sometimes even a real payoff. In those years, MacWorld filled the entire Moscone Center, north and south halls. It was an absolutely immense show. All that ended after 2000, which is also when MacWorld shrunk substantially. The expo was making a real come-back in the last couple of years, in terms of size -- so even though the freebees never returned, it was back to its former size.

The truth is, even if major vendors pull out or scale down their exhibits, people will still come by the tens of thousands. They will have less to see. The vendors won't be lavishing them with gifts. Those days will probably never return.

 

[fleshman03]

Hell, I would.

Some of the happiest people on the planet go home stinking to high heaven.

 

[kingtj]

Exactly ... the unions are killing the "trade show".

I worked for a small ISP and for a couple of small computer resellers in the midwest, years ago, who all took turns at exhibiting at local trade-shows - and we had the same experience each time. It would have been worthwhile, if not for the absolute robbery by the unions in charge of the operations.

We weren't so much as allowed to plug in a power strip to hook up a couple PCs. The union electrician had to do it, at a cost of over $100 per day! And Internet access (kind of critical if you're an ISP at an exhibit!) was insane too. They didn't have wireless available, and again, the union electrician had to provide you with a CAT5 Ethernet cable to share the T1 circuit running to the convention center. For that, you paid the union their ridiculous fee to give you the physical connection, and then a daily usage fee on top of that. Never mind the fact the bandwidth you got was horrible, with 50+ people trying to do things over a 1.5MBit connection simultaneously.

It's really unfortunate for the end-users who buy tickets to these shows and really want to see the latest technologies .... but in a slow economy especially, how many businesses can justify the expense anymore?

SF is a nightmare place to participate in a trade show. Everything from taxicabs to parking to hotels is outrageously expensive. Then you begin dealing with the highway robbers who run Moscone Center, and you soon realize your booth fees constitute a tiny fraction of the overall investment in having trade show presence. The unions are beyond larcenous. Even the smallest booth costs about $150 to have vacuumed, a ten-minute job! I once had a guy with a broom stop for a moment in front of my booth as he swept up after a show. He paused and grinned, "I make $100 an hour! God bless America!"

And a floor-sweeper made that kind of money because fools like me were willing to pay it.

Like printed catalogs, trade shows are rapidly becoming obsolete and even silly. As a promotional tool, they reach very few customers, so why bother? An exception would be technical society meetings or other specialized-market conferences where practically the whole global customer base can fit onto the show floor and attendance becomes a major perk for the customer. Shows like that are staged in destination cities like Frisco. It makes far less sense for companies like Belkin to do something of the sort in a broadly horizontal market with millions of customers. Hats off to Belkin for their common sense and the courage to act on it.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Unions killing trade shows? That's utter baloney. These companies were happy to pay the costs of exhibiting at these shows when the economy wasn't in the tank. Now they're laying off hundreds if not thousands of employees and pulling back everywhere. We've seen it all before.

 

[sjinsjca]

i'm surprised that so many here are willing to believe that a janitor makes $100 an hour based on one supposed informal comment. what blue collar worker in this country make $100 an hour?

...The ones whose union prevents any competition from rationalizing the equation, even the owners of the booth?

I sometimes get my jollies by toying with the union guys at trade shows. It' isn't the rule, but they can be quite mulish and unresponsive, and it is fun to get them motivated when that happens. Once, at Moscone, I arrived on Sunday to find that our booth was not set up. It was supposed to have been set up by the contract labor folks on Thursday. A colleague did the civilized thing and went politely to the services desk, stood in line, and requested assistance. Hours later, nothing had happened. He was about to go back and do the hat-in-hand thing again. I said, "Hold on, watch this," and went to work putting the booth together myself.

Sure enough: within two minutes the union supervisor was in our booth, shouting at me. "Hey, you're not supposed to be doing that!" I shrugged and kept doing it. "You gotta stop! Your contract says we do the setup!" he shrieked. With that I whirled on him and hissed, "Our contract says it was supposed to be done Thursday, too. You really want to go there?"

My colleague thought I was about to punch the guy, but after a moment's stand-off, he blinked and pulled out his walkie-talkie.

Our booth was fully assembled within thirty minutes, and I've been cackling ever since. Those people are so much fun to play with. They're like my pets.

---

By the way, the point many have missed about my $100-an-hour-floor-sweeper anecdote is that he doesn't work your normal 40-hour work-week. Such employment is episodic. Even so, the only way he can enjoy an hourly rate like that is to work in a profession decoupled from a competitive marketplace.

 

[pubwvj]

No surprise

I'm not surprised. We eliminated our company's booths at MacWorld long ago. The web is where it's at. Why bother spending $50,000 to $250,000 on booths, lodging, personnel and travel when you can achieve the same results online?

 

[IJ Reilly]

I'm not surprised. We eliminated our company's booths at MacWorld long ago. The web is where it's at. Why bother spending $50,000 to $250,000 on booths, lodging, personnel and travel when you can achieve the same results online?

And even with the internet, MacWorld can still fill up both halls of the Moscone Center. How do you figure?

Reality check: Companies are not giving up on trade shows because of the internet. The only thing which has changed between last year and this year is the economy.

 

[sjinsjca]

Unions killing trade shows? That's utter baloney.

You clearly have never run a business. It's the cost/benefit ratio that's killing trade shows, and the larceny of the unions is the biggest single part of the "cost" part, as many of us have attested.

It's the same with Detroit. The Big Three can't be competitive when they have to pay union rates and benefits while Toyota and Honda can open up non-unionized factories here and build cars for less.

To return to Belkin's example [cheering], they made the business decision that the incremental profits from spending the money to attend the show didn't justify the expense. If the expense had been less--that is, if the unions had been less greedy and the city of San Francisco more accommodating--the decision might have been different.

 

[sjinsjca]

Reality check: Companies are not giving up on trade shows because of the internet. The only thing which has changed between last year and this year is the economy.

Trade show attendance took a big dive after 9/11 because of both economic and security concerns. As the economy recovered, so did trade shows--partially--but my experience has been that the quality of attendees never really recovered. We see more tire-kickers and freebie-seekers and fewer solid prospects.

Shows in SF are particularly worse off in recent years. The city is damnably expensive, transportation is impossible, parking is stratospheric... and attendees basically have to take a day off to attend. After the "right-sizing" of the '90s and the harrowing of the tech economy after the dot-com bust (both of which predated the scary monster some here seem so eager to pull out of their toybox, George Bush), the folks that remain in Silicon Valley are too damn busy to go to a freakin' trade show.

Now, with a softening economy, businesses are looking at their annual investment in marketing and promotion along with everything else. And trade shows are first against the wall, again because the cost/benefit ratio sucks. Costs keep going up, especially in Frisco, and the benefits have been going down. What's so hard to understand?

 

[IJ Reilly]

You clearly have never run a business. It's the cost/benefit ratio that's killing trade shows, and the larceny of the unions is the biggest single part of the "cost" part, as many of us have attested.

Never? I do run a business. If trade shows are taking a hit this year, you might want to control for the variables. The costs are not what have changed between this year and last. Something else has though. Maybe you've noticed?

Trade show attendance took a big dive after 9/11 because of both economic and security concerns. As the economy recovered, so did trade shows--partially--but my experience has been that the quality of attendees never really recovered. We see more tire-kickers and freebie-seekers and fewer solid prospects.

Shows in SF are particularly worse off in recent years. The city is damnably expensive, transportation is impossible, parking is stratospheric... and attendees basically have to take a day off to attend. After the "right-sizing" of the '90s and the harrowing of the tech economy after the dot-com bust (both of which predated the scary monster some here seem so eager to pull out of their toybox, George Bush), the folks that remain in Silicon Valley are too damn busy to go to a freakin' trade show.

Now, with a softening economy, businesses are looking at their annual investment in marketing and promotion along with everything else. And trade shows are first against the wall, again because the cost/benefit ratio sucks. Costs keep going up, especially in Frisco, and the benefits have been going down. What's so hard to understand?

The technology trade shows fell off a cliff after 2000, with the dot-com bust. These companies had venture capital coming out of their ears during the late '90s. By 2001 it was all gone. In 2000 I covered the InternetWorld Expo in Los Angeles -- it was so huge it took up the entire LA Convention Center and then some. It literally flowed out into the parking garages. By 2001 it was little more than an encampment. This expo was not held again.

I've seen much the same ebb and flow with MacWorld. It shrunk substantially after 2000 but in recent years had grown in size back to where it was in the late '90s -- or pretty close at least. Now the economy has struck again. I have little doubt that when the economy improves in a year or two, the companies that stayed away or cut back this year will return.

 

[pubwvj]

And even with the internet, MacWorld can still fill up both halls of the Moscone Center. How do you figure?

Reality check: Companies are not giving up on trade shows because of the internet. The only thing which has changed between last year and this year is the economy.

Real Reality Check: Trade show attendance and exhibiting began plummeting a long time ago. It was dealt a blow by the Internet as many companies turned to the web for marketing. It was dealt another blow by 9/11. The economy is just the latest blow. Perhaps you are not aware of the history of the rise and then gradual decline of the MacWorld trade show on the east coast.

 

[Lesser Evets]

People are all preparing for a VERY bad 2009, which is predicting the incoming administration and legislative branch. Prepare for some good deals!

Anyone making good money, or sitting on pile of cash, will clean up as values depreciate for a while. Companies will tighten up all their expenditures and its obvious from moves like this. Unfortunately we won't see any real price differences from Apple. {._.} They don't need to be that dynamic since most of their customers make the big bux.

The expo is a telling indicator.

 

[schneb]

Our booth was fully assembled within thirty minutes, and I've been cackling ever since. Those people are so much fun to play with.

LOL, loved the anecdote.

 

[137489]

During the '90s it was almost impossible to leave a trade show like MacWorld without a bag load of spiffs -- free t-shirts, software, promotional items of all kinds. It made it more fun to go, and sometimes even a real payoff. In those years, MacWorld filled the entire Moscone Center, north and south halls. It was an absolutely immense show. All that ended after 2000, which is also when MacWorld shrunk substantially. The expo was making a real come-back in the last couple of years, in terms of size -- so even though the freebees never returned, it was back to its former size.

The truth is, even if major vendors pull out or scale down their exhibits, people will still come by the tens of thousands. They will have less to see. The vendors won't be lavishing them with gifts. Those days will probably never return.

I know what you mean, and it is not just the auto show or macworld either.. here in town we have an event every year called "Tour De-Tailwaggers". a local free advent hosting a dog show, free or low cost rabies clinic, food vendors (for humans too), and other groups set up selliing doggie stuff. Last year and the year before that, the entire park was full of people and vendors. We walked out with our arms loaded (plus the pups) of free stuff, or stuff we bought at a bargain.

this year.. Only the people running the dogshow, 2 vendors, and Chick-Fil-A (local chicken chain - healthier than KFC), and maybe an ice cream vendor showed up. PetSmart - who sponsored the event was a no show (in fact the announcer called for them on 2 different occassions (to fill their posted slot) and had to say "Well, I see they are not hear yet"). even the vet who was supposed to do the rabies clinic was a no-show. some one just had cards saying to call for an appt.

------------------------------------------

Other shows have also been on the decline and vendors or sponsors just have not showed up., leaving people holding the bag.

Sad...

 

[morespce54]

...In a related way, I have cancelled my Mac magazines this year too. Not because I don't enjoy them but because they are already several months out of date by the time I get them. It is the same thing, time to move on and let the old ways go. Reading the Mac World Web Site version it should be right up to date and won't have "December Issue" on the front page in October!

A bit OT, but I agree.
As much as I enjoy the paper versions, It's kind of lame to receive a magazine when you already know half of the content by the time you receive your printed copy.

 

[morespce54]

You clearly have never run a business. It's the cost/benefit ratio that's killing trade shows, and the larceny of the unions is the biggest single part of the "cost" part, as many of us have attested.

Well, unions might be a part of the "cost" part but doesn't count for all the "cost" part. I don't think unions has much to do with renting a trash bin at $20 per day.

 

[neutrino23]

SF is a nightmare place to participate in a trade show. Everything from taxicabs to parking to hotels is outrageously expensive. Then you begin dealing with the highway robbers who run Moscone Center, and you soon realize your booth fees constitute a tiny fraction of the overall investment in having trade show presence. The unions are beyond larcenous. Even the smallest booth costs about $150 to have vacuumed, a ten-minute job! I once had a guy with a broom stop for a moment in front of my booth as he swept up after a show. He paused and grinned, "I make $100 an hour! God bless America!"

And a floor-sweeper made that kind of money because fools like me were willing to pay it.

Like printed catalogs, trade shows are rapidly becoming obsolete and even silly. As a promotional tool, they reach very few customers, so why bother? An exception would be technical society meetings or other specialized-market conferences where practically the whole global customer base can fit onto the show floor and attendance becomes a major perk for the customer. Shows like that are staged in destination cities like Frisco. It makes far less sense for companies like Belkin to do something of the sort in a broadly horizontal market with millions of customers. Hats off to Belkin for their common sense and the courage to act on it.

I don't think SF is that expensive. I travel a lot and it seems in line with other places. You can find a range of hotel prices everywhere. The difference is that if you go during a large convention or if you make arrangements late you'll wind up paying more.

I'll also disagree somewhat with the technical society shows comment. It may be true for wealthy societies like those in the fields of medicine or law. I attend several in the area of science and they, being rather poor, are held off season in places like Atlanta where you can get the facilities almost for free.

 

[neutrino23]

How much ancillary product vendors can there be for a company thats basically become a glorified cell phone manufacturer?

There is a grain of truth in this remark. I recall when MWSF vendors sold all sorts of enhancements to computers. Now most of those enhancements are built in or extremely cheap. Laser printers were $5,000, video cards were thousands of dollars, high resolution monitors were thousands of dollars, hard drives were thousands of dollars, and so on.

I remember one guy who just sold a plug in that would add blowing leaves across a video. Another had a plug in that would add drifting fog.

Now everything is built in or costs far below $1,000. Not much margin there to pay for a booth.

 

[rockosmodurnlif]

It's ironic. This economic cluster-duck has been great for my business. I design and update mall directories. With great store turnover, directories have to be updated more frequently which is some nice coin for me. Business has never been better.

Again I say: ironic.

I think the proper term is fustercluck.

 

[kingtj]

re: cost factors

No, obviously there are a number of costs involved in any decision to do a trade show exhibit. You have to pay your employees who are manning your booth, for starters. At a big show, that's usually substantial - because you can't really expect 1 or 2 people to stay there the whole time, and efficiently answer all the questions that come their way, demo products as needed, and ensure things aren't stolen. (Unfortunately, some people who attend these shows do so with an intent to take home a few "freebies" that weren't intended to be given away....)

The insanely high costs for things like booth assembly, running power cords and strips, cleanup, etc. just push a lot of smaller businesses "over the edge" where they don't come back after the first time. One business I used to work for refurbished vintage Macs and configured them as "first computers for small kids". We went out of business not long after doing our first trade show. We sold quite a few systems there and generated a lot of interest, but ultimately, we STILL lost money when we looked at our expenses vs. sales.

Others *do* keep, hesitantly, showing up -- but that doesn't make the union "robbery" any more "ok". Some people just believe it's critically important to get out there, face-to-face with your customers and give people a chance to know the people that makes your business go. The Internet is great, but in some ways, it's the exact OPPOSITE of a live event. The social aspect is completely absent.

Well, unions might be a part of the "cost" part but doesn't count for all the "cost" part. I don't think unions has much to do with renting a trash bin at $20 per day.

 

[/dev/toaster]

Tradeshows are just ridiculously over priced. I won't go to one unless its free, sorry but I will not pay for the privilege to talk to vendors who want to sell me stuff. I didn't go to Linux world this year becuase I couldn't find anyone with free passes. Sure, its only $25 for thats not the point.

Macworld is the same deal, I am not going to pay to get in. If I find a free coupon I will go, but I doubt that will happen.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Real Reality Check: Trade show attendance and exhibiting began plummeting a long time ago. It was dealt a blow by the Internet as many companies turned to the web for marketing. It was dealt another blow by 9/11. The economy is just the latest blow. Perhaps you are not aware of the history of the rise and then gradual decline of the MacWorld trade show on the east coast.

I have attended all but one of the MWSF expos over the last 10-12 years, in fact covered them, so I am aware that the show attendance and the number of exhibitors bottomed out around 6-7 years ago, but have been growing ever since. This show is now nearly as big as it was during the heyday of the late 1990s.

 

[alexbates]

Tradeshows are just ridiculously over priced. I won't go to one unless its free, sorry but I will not pay for the privilege to talk to vendors who want to sell me stuff. I didn't go to Linux world this year becuase I couldn't find anyone with free passes. Sure, its only $25 for thats not the point.

Macworld is the same deal, I am not going to pay to get in. If I find a free coupon I will go, but I doubt that will happen.

Same with me. I would love to go but I don't want to pay to get in and also the plane ticket to get there.

 

[motulist]

I would love to go but I don't want to pay to get in and also the plane ticket to get there.

I don't know what things are like in the trade show scene these days, but in the mid to late 90's it was actually really easy to get free tickets to macworld NY and AES (audio engineering) trade shows if you worked anywhere in the industry. Back then I used to work as a sales person in a music instrument store. The music instrument, music tool, and music software company reps were always trying to schmooze us so we'd decide to sell more of their company's products rather than their competitors products. So I wound up with free tickets to two different years macworld NY conventions, and a free ticket to the AES convention. For free, it was an interesting way to spend a day. Having had the experience of going to trade shows I can tell you that it really isn't worth spending any money on at all. Of course if you have the extra entertainment money laying around and you have the mojo to score a ticket to a Jobs keynote speech, then I would guess that that would probably be worth paying for at least once.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Free floor entry passes to MacWorld are easy to get.