Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

As marketers firm up 2009 plans, it's a good time to take a close look at trade show spending. Research from Ipsos shows the economy is affecting business travel in 2008 and that trend is likely to continue into 2009. In the last downturn, we saw trade show attendance decline as companies opted to send fewer representatives or stay home altogether. We also saw some regional trade shows pick up as a lower-cost alternative.
 
We expect to see Webinars and online conferences substitute for some conference and trade show attendance. As this occurs, we are encouraging our clients to take a hard look at their trade show investment to make sure that they are spending money wisely and have mechanisms in place to capture, track and close leads generated through events. It's also smart to make trade shows do double duty as a platform for media relations and customer bonding.