WARNING: “The trade show industry is not innovative” is a blanket statement. Yes, there are pockets of new ideas. Yes, there are individual shows and organizers who are trying new things and taking risks. But, for the most part, as an industry, we have been doing the same thing, the same way for the past 50 years.

Event industry suppliers—general service contractors, marketing firms, and exhibit designers—are stepping out of their comfort zones to take advantage of the innovation that is sweeping over the industry. What might look like a desperate move by some companies to hitch their wagons to a star or an attempt to make up for the shortcomings of a flat industry is actually a smart business decision. A clear precedent for the trend comes from social media and the growing practice of content curation.

Welcome to the world of the unexpected where restaurants, stores, and classrooms pop up overnight with the spontaneity of a pimple on prom night. While impromptu conference sessions have yet to appear in the traditional conference setting, there are signs that instant gatherings of like-minded people tipped off by the lightning fast transmission of messages over social media channels could be coming to a conference near you.

In the future, says Dannette Veale, global manager of the Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual event, there will be no more live vs. virtual discussions. The two experiences will overlap so completely that what we now perceive as two separate environments glued together through some “hybrid” sleight of hand, will merge into a single seamless stream of content, entertainment, and engagement that can be accessed from either end of the physical to virtual spectrum.

In the beginning of the month (on December 7, the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor), I received an email from a company that I had previously blogged about. They somehow landed on my radar and I found their application interesting. The subject line of the email read, “A Christmas present from the Triqle Team.” After a pleasant opening—“we love you, because of your involvement and feedback…”—they made me a fabulous offer. Of course, I couldn’t refuse.

I’m always curious about how social media channels function in other countries. Recently, I noticed a discussion on LinkedIn about social media in the People’s Republic of China. I posted a question about whether social media channels could be used to recruit attendees to U.S. trade shows. I received a very informative response from Shawn He Yuxun, founder and chairman at MeetChinaBiz.org.

In the context of social media and face-to-face events, there is still a lot of uncertainty associated with bringing social networking platforms, technologies and methodologies into the marketing mix. There is fear around privacy, investment of time, costs, negative comments, loss of control, lack of expertise, exposure, difficulty measuring ROI, and the risk of failure in such a transparent environment. After all, not only were we put in the hot seat by the recession, some of us were burned beyond recognition (lost jobs, companies out of business, marketing strategies obsolete).

Almost two weeks after Social Fish Maddie Grant, Lindy Dreyer and a host of technology providers launched what they dubbed #Untech10 in defiance of the major snowstorm that forced the cancellation of ASAE’s 2010 Technology Conference and Expo, the potential long-term impact of their efforts has become clear.

A virtual trade show with a hosted buyer program might be the perfect combination for the senior level executive that hasn’t been seen at the face-to-face event in years (with or without a recession, corporate travel ban or AIG Effect). However, without the face-to-face contact and experiential elements that enhance sales conversions at live events, [...]

I had the pleasure of exchanging emails and/or speaking with three headliners for the upcoming Expo! Expo!, IAEE’s Annual Meeting and Trade Show. The event is being held this year in Atlanta. The resulting article was titled, “If You Tweet It, Will They Come?” and appears in E2: Exhibitions and Events’ November/December 2009 issue. There [...]

What does a meeting, exhibition or conference planner have to do to get ahead these days? Whether you’re still employed, looking for a job or as so many career coaches say, “building your skill set,” you can’t ignore the phenomenon of virtual (online) events. As a meeting planner myself, I can understand how some conventional [...]

I’ve been seeing a pattern for a while and some recent tidbits that I’ve stumbled across confirm my suspicions. Social media has changed the way we WANT to consume product/company/event information–from long diatribes about a company’s product to short and sweet bursts of flavorful info that spark an idea. Twitter is the prime example. Natch! [...]