THE FUTURE OF LIVE EXHIBITS

Hello, production world, this is Les Goldberg, and welcome to The Road Ahead. The Road Ahead podcast is courtesy of LMG with your host Les Goldberg. Hello everyone, and welcome to The Road Ahead. Today I have three amazing guests. First, I have Carrie, who's the president of CNTV. They do convention, television and news and produce videos. I have John Featherstone, who's the partner and principal of Lightswitch. They're a design and architectural lighting and the Show element design company. And then I have Randy. He's the president and CEO of the Expo Group, and they do everything from a show contractor to exhibit designers, to show producers. They kind of do it all. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the show today. Hello. Hi. Today we're going to talk about the future of the trade show and what it's going to look like. And I want to throw it right to Randy. And Randy. Could you explain to me, in your opinion, what makes the best trade show experience from all the thousands of trade shows you've done over the many years? What are the ingredients to that trade show experience, where people walk through the aisles and say, this is awesome! Well trained shows have been around since the beginning of time, right? That coming together in a temporary marketplace and that we see that continuing for sure. But I think what makes trade shows so strong in that sense is, is the connections that are established there that lead to knowledge and to lead to selling and buying experiences or outcomes. That is great. So, John, as the resident designer of this group, what makes a trade show where you're doing a design and it could be for a booth or for the whole show. What makes it fantastic? Yeah, it's a great question, Les. I think some of the work we've been most proud of is when we've had a clear understanding of story. As people, we're preconditioned, I think, and hardwired to want to have a story and understand what somebody else is trying to tell us. And when we deal with clients and they don't seem to have a real firm understanding on the why they're doing a show, it makes it incredibly hard for us to do the the how of the show. So we love when we talk to clients and they go, yeah, we know exactly what we want to do. We've got these clear takeaways. We want people to go away feeling this kind of emotional connection or intellectual connection. And so when we don't find that, we have to kind of like pull those threads out of the other person. So staying tight with story is really important for us. So taking that design element and telling stories now I'm going to throw it to carry and carry. You literally do that when you do your your show that you put together the visual, the video. Maybe your thoughts are on what's a great trade show experience and especially how you tell that story. Absolutely. Yeah. No, that's exactly what we do. We try and tell stories from trade shows to relay the information of what's happening there to folks who either couldn't be there or folks who maybe couldn't see the entire show floor. So, yeah, I mean, the words that come to my mind are energy and engagement. So the best trade shows in my mind are the ones that have a high level of energy. So that's energy from the boost. That's exciting things happening, that's new products. That's something different from the year before. And then on the engagement side, it's engaging the buyer with the seller. Right. So it doesn't just mean fun, not just energy for energy sake, but actually some sort of really meaningful engagement where a buyer can stock their shelves for the coming year. Right. And where there is business being done and networking being done that leads to business. At the end of the day. It's interesting people, when you think about a trade show, you don't really think about it and each one is telling some story. So it's really, really interesting when you think about it from that perspective. And plus what you do that that story can live on throughout the year because it's wrapped in some visual memories that can be posted on an association or some website that people can remember what it looked like versus just walking the hallways and interacting with the booths. So let me go back to Randy, and Randy, why don't you tell me when and where will trade shows reemerge? Please put on your crystal ball and opine as to what the future of trade show events will be. Well, somebody has to go first, right? And I think those likely that will go first. How we're tracking those and what we're seeing trends are probably going to be political. And we're just taking this from our own data and our own customer things, as well as talking to our competitors. With this being a presidential election year, there are political events that are that are happening and that that we're hired to produce. So we're seeing those go full, full force on that. And so we'll we're seeing our first event in in mid-July, and it would be the Texas GOP convention in Houston. So we feel a lot of eyes are going to be on that. We feel that others will want to learn from that, like, okay, what worked, what didn't work, and so forth. So the communication has definitely been heightened. But I would say the other things that we're looking at beyond political would be the NFL. I think the NFL has always been a trend leader, and so they're going to probably lead that. And so those are some of the indicators we're seeing on when they will emerge. So John, when are you going to design the most amazing trade show booth. Maybe it's in your head or maybe it's already on on the blueprint, but what do you think? Will that happen in the third quarter or the fourth quarter or next year? What is your opinion on and what trade show is going to come back? Yeah, I'm a little bit with with Randy in this kind of perspective. I think it's it's going to kind of be a game of inches. You know, I'm sure it's the same for you less. When we went into this, it was like somebody threw a breaker, you know? I mean, it was just show off to show off to show off the show. It was almost like watching logistics and financial dominoes falling. Going into this situation. I think coming back out of it, it's going to be a lot more cautious. And and I think a lot of the vocabulary that Carrie was using really resonated with me, because those are the kind of discussions we're having with our clients about how do we focus on things feeling relevant. And I think that's what we're going to see is we're going to see more events which are perhaps smaller scale, that have a far larger remote component to them. So I think that's I think we're going to see show starting to come back. A few outliers. As Randy says over the summer, I think we're going to see people use that information in smart ways to make informed decisions going into the autumn. And then I really think by spring, I mean, we we have high hopes for CES, for example, and some of those early new year large format shows at least having some sense of a physical presence. One thing we're all going to have to be mindful of is my friends are all over the spectrum. I have people who are because it makes them comfortable, sequestered in their home and being very super cautious. And I have other friends who are a bit more, gung ho, shall we say, about this. And we're going to have to realize that we're changing from a modality where everybody was comfortable going to live events to a spectrum where there are going to be people who don't leave their homes, to people who are like forming a queue already outside convention centers. So making all of those people feel comfortable and that they're recognized and acknowledged in a part of the event, whether they're at the show or not, is super important. And that's where, Carrie, you're going to be instrumental in helping be a bridge from the physical event to those people which are not comfortable attending in person. So, Carrie, tell me about being a bridge, because John just set the tone and you're going to bridge us from the physical to the virtual, but but, you know, or some version in between. What are your thoughts on when trade shows reemerge and how does that storytelling happen, and when do you think that's going to happen? Sure. No, I think it's a great point. And one of the thoughts that popped in my head that's a little different is that there are groups who are having trade shows now, right? It's just a virtual version of it, which I'm not sure any one of us thought was going to happen quite so quickly, but I think we were starting to see that trend, and I think that trend will continue after. But as far as physical events, I mean, in my mind three things have to happen first. Number one, they have to be allowed to meet, right? We have to be allowed to have the mass gatherings. Number two, people have to feel safe to attend. And number three, frankly, they have to be able to afford it. I mean, with so many companies that are now hurting financially, that means a lot of travel budgets have been cut. That means individual travel budgets have been cut. So I think those three things have to really happen for physical trade shows to reemerge. I'm definitely going Q4 of 2020 because we have some client shows in that quarter, and also because I want to see Expo Expo happen in Louisville. So I'm pushing for fourth quarter, but I think they're going to look different. And I think to the points that we made earlier, it's going to be a slow, steady growth and it's going to take a while. I really believe it's going to take longer than any of us probably ever imagined. So John, on her note, they're going to look different. And you're the resident designer. What will you design differently in the trade show that's happening, whether it's the fourth quarter? And I hope you're right, Carrie. So I'm rooting for you. But, John, when you're designing a trade show booth, the experience, what would be different and how you approach it with whatever the limitations or social distancing or spatial issues or, you know, trying to create environments, how would you think about it? I think what it's going to challenge those of us that work in the design world to do is to essentially do parallel paths of design. What does the physical experience look like, and how does that become more than just a video of the booth? For those that are remote? I know there's a lot of stress and angst, certainly on a lot of our clients, about this notion of virtual or as we prefer to call them, remote experiences. I think it's really important to remember this is not new. Cave paintings are a remote experience of going on a hunt. The biggest remote experience humankind has ever done was 51 years ago, when the moon landing, when a quarter of the world's population watched an experience that they couldn't be present for. So none of this is new. So it's really important that we just breathe for a minute and make sure that we're delivering experiences which work, no matter what discipline we're delivering to. So if it's a physical experience, it needs to be really strong and carries points about feeling relevant and that it matters to me and it's going to help me in my business. We need to not give people that are having a remote experience a sort of second class version of that, but we need to design both a physical experience and a remote experience. And then obviously they've all got to be speaking the same brand language. So we need to make sure that they're all in sync with our customers desires with their vocabulary and be relevant to their customers. So if it's a younger, hipper, edgier brand, both the physical experience and the remote experience need to be younger and hipper. If it's a slightly more mature luxury brand, both experiences need to feel really luxurious, and we've all been to websites and web experiences where you go, did somebody make this in their basement? Because this is really just not very good. And somewhere we've gone to and gone, wow, this is really cool. I really feel like this brand is using out of my iPad or my computer or whatever. So I think those are real opportunities for us to align what has in the past been really disparate streams. You know, there's been Group A over here that Randy and I and les, you are usually part of doing the physical stuff. And then there's been the virtual people and then carry is this is your new word carry the bridge between between those two. But they've often been really disconnected. And Randy, I don't know about you, but I'm really excited as a facilitator to see better communication between the physical portion of the event and the virtual portion of the event, because we've all known this stuff's going on. There's the pre meeting experience and the post convention experience and all this stuff, but it's disconnected from what we do, connecting all of those pieces so it feels coherent to the to the audience to the guests who are ultimate client. I think that's a silver lining to this very, very big COVID-19 cloud. So so, Randy, as you start to redeploy in July and, and in the fourth quarter for your trade shows, what's going to look different when you when you go and you set up the environments and whether it be the booth, the tables, the layouts, are you re-engineering anything or what's your thought process? Yes, obviously size is the biggest thing that will probably see different about the physical experience. I think the safety precautions that have to be woven into the design of the show will be those as well, whether those are going to be temporary or permanent. You know, I'm more leaning more towards the it'll be more of a temporary norm going forward. So that's kind of what they'll look like from a physical perspective. But I think how we market to them and how we determine the value of an event is also what's going to be different, right? Because it seems like the ultimate KPI was always how many people attended. Right. So I've got this mega event and 50,000 people have come. Well, maybe the conversation needs to change to, you know, I had 10,000 connections that equated to this much in commerce. You know, some other way to demonstrate the value over just pure size and pure numbers of mass gatherings. Yeah, that's a really good point. Okay. Right to you carry. Will the attendees show up? You mentioned health and safety, and you said they have to let us do the event. And, you know, there has to be an event. But do you think there's going to be trepidation? And you also mentioned the idea of that. There are people people spend money on travel. Those are your three concerns to to to actually launching events. But now let's say we've got a green light. We're going to do an exhibit trade show. And people are will the attendees come? Will we find people being fearful or do you think people will come? Will they bring masks? So great questions, right? I mean, I think yes, I think that the initial answer is yes. I think people will come. I think it'll be a lot fewer people. And I think that's why the remote experience and I love that term, John, I'm going to use that. I think that's why the remote experience is so important because people may want to attend, you know, in the digital space first before they attend the physical space. So I think that's really important. And I think what Randy said about quality over quantity is also key, right? If I'm going to exhibit at a trade show, I know there may not be as many buyers there, but if I get some really quality leads there, that's how I'm going to measure my ROI. But yes, I do think people will come. The way I'm looking at it right now is we have to open shows slowly and safely so that they can continue to exist, because if it's too quickly or if someone gets sick or there's bad news or whatever, that could set us back. So I think we do have to be cautious. I think, yes, there will be masks. I went into a shop for the first time in, you know, six weeks recently. You have to wear a mask. You have to wear a mask in Costco. So yes, I think they will. I think that's a new sponsorship opportunity. Right? I think masks will be sponsored and I think there's some understanding for that. I think everyone's going to understand that they're going to have to have longer lines with space in between. We're going to have to have contactless ways to get our badges. We're going to have to have, you know, wider aisles, whatever those considerations look like. But I think people will come. I really believe it. So, Randy, do you think the show organizer or the show producer has to do a good job of selling that safety component to the attendees so they can kind of get the sense that it's going to be a safe experience. And we've done everything we can do to make sure that you're going to come safely, and maybe that'll convince attendees to show up. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I think that's the first thing on the hierarchy of needs that will have to be demonstrated. I'm really encouraged by the release of the joint effort of IAE, EVM, and SCA, and with the kind of the overall approval of G back, which is the Global Bio Risk Advisory Council. So that's going to give us that those guidelines to be able to design, you know, more science based versus subject based or fear based and you know, and be able to get that out. So once once you do check that box, if you will, then there's that underlying need, you know, where the value of that trade show is still the single point where they can visit many, many vendors in one one location versus individually. So so I'm going to throw this to to John. Will exhibits still have the same impact for the deal making and commerce component? Because ultimately people exhibit a trade show to try to sell a product and or they come there to buy something and they may want to experience it. They want to see it, they want to feel it. There might be an emotional component, like smell or taste or physical components, but will they have the same impact? The exhibit for the future, the newly designed redesigned exhibit as the old ones had will. Will that be the impact? I think so, I certainly think that's our job. You know that that's our challenge. I think in some ways we may actually see a little sharpening of the point of that list, but I think we're going to see more focus on people that really have a need and a desire to attend the show. So what we're going to see is perhaps a reduction in some of the attend things, like regional auto shows, where they've traditionally got a very high public kind of general interest kind of attendee basis, and a lot more focus on media and a lot more focus on, for want of a better expression, qualified buyers. And actually some of some of the clients that we're talking to are cognizant of that. And excited is the wrong word, but they're aware that there's going to be more of a focus on accredited customers. Certainly some of the medical shows that we do where they've had a lot of doctors and also a lot of students as part of their attendee base, they know they're going to get a lot of doctors and not as many students. That means that they're now reframing their outreach to make sure that they connect with that audience. So being aware of who is coming and what market segments, I mean, Randi, you know, your points about different metrics, I think are really critically important because we can go, hey, look, giant Booth, it looks beautiful. Isn't the lighting amazing? But we need to attach metrics to that to make sure we're delivering ROI to our customers. So I think focus on the kind of attendee is going to be critically important as well, to make sure that not only are we getting the right kind of people and delivering an ROI for our customers, but also that we're not missing people, that if we find there's a whole body of students or future customers, for example, which are getting missed, how do we focus on an outreach to that group? It's interesting. What do you think are the top 2 or 3 metrics that have to be measured? Randy, I'm going to throw this to you about when a trade show is complete. You know what? What are those top 2 or 3 things that the exhibitor is really got to know. Is it attendance? Is it foot traffic? Whatever the metrics that you could measure, what are those specifically you're thinking about? Well, there's been a lot of talk about connection. And now using digital technology and different things, you can kind of measure those connections taking place. So I'd like to see that rise up above maybe total headcount. Right. That was there. That would be one. Number two, the best metric I've ever heard. And I heard it at a C or predict conference. They measure the success of their big event that they hold Dreamforce based on the number of sales in the next three months. So if I exhibit at a trade show, could the organizer reach out to me and say, okay, can you tell me a metric about your sales that I could report back? You know, so if I had an uptick, if I was helping to drive sales, that to me would be the ultimate is the commerce that was created as well as the connections. So, Carrie, do we do after a convention, some kind of a survey that provides a metric that can be acted upon? So, I mean, there are a lot of surveys that happen after almost every trade show, right? But I think what Randy was saying is sort of new and different thinking. And I like it, frankly, because when you pose this question, you know, again, I wrote down quality over quantity. So I'm not sure that total headcount or number of registered attendees is really what matters to the exhibitors. I think what matters is real quality leads and quality connections. And how do we start to measure that. And I love the idea of going back three months later. I think that's great. I think sometimes it can even be anecdotally. I mean, I know that's not exactly hard data, but I think people know when they meet quality leads versus, you know, these folks just came because they wanted to hang out, right? I mean, I think there's a difference there. So, yeah, I think it's going to have to be surveys. I think it's going to have to also include some long term involvement. Right. I mean, we talk all the time with our clients about year round engagement. So whether that's remote experiences, you should trademark remote experiences, whether that's video content. I know the Expo group also does podcasts. You know, what is it that that show organizers are doing to connect with their audience throughout the year? And I think that's going to lead to being able to measure the overall success of these shows when they first start back. So to conclude this discussion, I really want to ask. I'm going to start with you. John, is what's your long term view of the exhibit trade show business industry? And do you think that we will return to the glory days of 2019 or, you know, take me into the future, put on your time machine from back to the future. Well, lest you like, I have been doing this for a while and post-COVID bubble bursting post 911 post 2007 2008 credit crunch. Pundits have have decried the demise of the exhibit experience and the demise of live experiences in general. And frankly, they've been wrong in the same way as people have for decades been decrying the demise of motion pictures, whether it was VHS or or Blockbuster or Netflix, when they used to mail you DVDs into your mailbox, much less deliver them right to your TV. And frankly, I am absolutely 100% convinced. Until remote experiences get to a level of hyper reality that they are indistinguishable from a live experience, we are hardwired as a race to gather. We have always gathered and shared experiences. There's a ton of really solid scientific data about what happens in our brain when we share experiences, and we love telling people about things we've done. Facebook Facebook has obviously deviated into highly politicized, but basically, at its core, it's still people telling each other about stuff they've done. That's the post I enjoy. People that have made have had fabulous experiences, who have created something in these difficult times, who are supporting and nurturing each other, but it's all about a shared experience. So I remain extremely bullish on the notion of people gathering for live experiences. But yeah, I think in a couple of years we're going to be right back where we were, if not more so, because we're always going to need to keep a little bit of the corner of our eye on the potential for this to happen again. And that means we need more compelling strategies, more thought, more cohesion, more interlaced between the live experience and a remote experience. And those I think are all exciting. So yeah, I mean, short term it's a nightmare. But we'll get through it. We've got through it before, but long term it's it's going to be it's going to be rainbows and unicorns, rainbows and rainbows and unicorns. You heard it here first, folks. So, Randy, take me into the future. You know, what is your long term view on the business? Well, I think the importance and value is going to increase. However, I think that there is going to be a decrease in the number of shows offered into the future. And let me give you an example of kind of one kind of a mega trend that we're pulling into this to this data is if we look at telecommuting, right. Telecommuting right now. And if those trends continue to increase and we see corporations downsizing their commercial real estate, their employee base is going to be more sheltered, more distance than ever before. So trade shows could serve as that point where they come together face to face, that they could be more important in that gathering place of the future for corporations. So that's kind of how we're seeing that, again, kind of increase importance and value, but maybe fewer going forward. So it's it's quality, not quantity. I think the value quality is there. I would rather use the word value because and that ties into relevancy. There's got to be perceived value. I've got to be able to make a connection. I got to be able to do commerce. If my business depends on me being at that show, which so many of them do, you know, that has to be there. If that's not there, then I guess that could be the quality that you're talking about. I know a number of trade shows where every year the new products come out. They people expect to go there and see the new wizard, the new box, the new, the new thing that they want to buy that they're going to be planning ahead. And it's it's always been the place to introduce new product, whatever industry you're talking about. So, Carrie, would you give me your long term view of the exhibit trade show as to what can we look forward to? Sure. I mean, you know, to be honest, even though right now it is extremely painful and I feel like we've just been decimated. The truth is, from a long term perspective, I'm very optimistic. I believe what John and Randy said, that we are coming back. This industry is resilient. This industry will build its way back and I think eventually post a vaccine and post an economic recovery, we tend to have short memories, meaning I think we will be back to face to face. Our natural inclination is face to face. There is a need for that. That said, I also believe that the virtual component or the remote experience is here to stay. One example is we're working on exhibitions day, where we normally go to Capitol Hill to lobby for our industry. We have to do that virtually this year. In the past, we've had between 100 and 150 people. On Capitol Hill. We have 1500 people registered for the virtual event. So when I look ahead in the future, we'll go back to Capitol Hill. But I think we may keep that virtual component so we can have even more of an impact. And that's a piece that I think will continue to be relevant to trade shows in the future. I just don't think that's going away. And I think it's an opportunity for organizers and exhibitors to be able to reach more people than ever before. I love to hear the optimistic viewpoint of this group because the future is bright and on it. So with LED or with trade show booths or with storytelling, it's quite it's it makes me feel good under, you know, if you turn on the news right now, it's maybe not so bright, but just talking to all three of you today, it's definitely got me a little brighter. So I would like to thank you. Carrie and John and Randy for joining me today. This is Les Goldberg and The Road Ahead. Thank you all so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, as I reflect back on today's podcast, I hear eternal optimism. And I hear the idea that combining the virtual trade show concept, what's online to the enlivened person trade show is more than ever an important factor in the future of trade shows. And we have so much to win by gathering every one of us in person, and that there's an emotional and a physical need as people to do this. I'm glad to hear that everyone is on board with the future of trade shows and getting back to business at hand.