After attending alot of shows as both exhibitor and attendee in Europe and North America I wonder with the ever increasing march of technology will they last?
It's been said that companies were virtually handcuffed into maintaining a presence at annual shows and when some didn't exhibit then whispers of 'Are they struggling?', 'It's a mistake not being here' were heard.
It was the major route to meet customers in the past with a chance to overlap geographical boundaries and access new markets - with the internet becoming the primary source for information globally, alot of money has been spent creating awareness and accessibility.
Many sites have appeared to try and connect suppliers with manufacturers through directories (usually limited to product lines and contact details), B2B trading (E auctions etc) and search engines such as The Food Cybrary (Obvious plug but why not! ) that gives the user free access to 'behind firewall' information from food suppliers as well as the ability to connect directly to suppliers
How do you think the exhibitions will look and work in 5 or 10 years? Will we still get the large booths from the major players and will it still give the same value as it has in the past? - Post your comments below and I'll put together a future post with your views.
