04-14-2013, 09:46 AM
It's not even a basement. It is a parking garage! They convert the parking garage underneath the hotel into an exhibit room by building temporary walls, laying down cheap disposable carpet, adding marginal lighting, and pumping in tons of AC. It's a brilliant idea, but a dismal environment for a trade show.
But that's not why we aren't supporting this year's show. We aren't supporting it because the classes remain essentially the same year after year after year, a large portion of these shows are related to water damage restoration (which we aren't into), and their shows haven't been drawing audiences that have much interest in commercial carpet cleaning products. In the early years the shows were very profitable for us! But in recent years it's basically been the same old same old year after year. And as an exhibitor, at some point we need to look at the big picture and say where is the ROI?
Like I said, I'll keep my eye on the show. If it gets more interesting, we will jump back in. I had exhibited at every Connections event (east and west) since the very first one in Vegas. But we finally pulled the plug on last year's Vegas show, and decided not to exhibit. To be fair, I should add that we've always enjoyed working with Larry Cooper and his staff - all very nice people!
The Clearwater show is right in our backyard. So if it ever does turn into a viable show, it would make sense for us to be there. But for now though we're taking a wait and see approach. Yet looking over this year's speaker agenda, the program looks to be about the same as ever. I really hope I'm wrong and discover that there's compelling reason to return next year. We'll see.
But that's not why we aren't supporting this year's show. We aren't supporting it because the classes remain essentially the same year after year after year, a large portion of these shows are related to water damage restoration (which we aren't into), and their shows haven't been drawing audiences that have much interest in commercial carpet cleaning products. In the early years the shows were very profitable for us! But in recent years it's basically been the same old same old year after year. And as an exhibitor, at some point we need to look at the big picture and say where is the ROI?
Like I said, I'll keep my eye on the show. If it gets more interesting, we will jump back in. I had exhibited at every Connections event (east and west) since the very first one in Vegas. But we finally pulled the plug on last year's Vegas show, and decided not to exhibit. To be fair, I should add that we've always enjoyed working with Larry Cooper and his staff - all very nice people!
The Clearwater show is right in our backyard. So if it ever does turn into a viable show, it would make sense for us to be there. But for now though we're taking a wait and see approach. Yet looking over this year's speaker agenda, the program looks to be about the same as ever. I really hope I'm wrong and discover that there's compelling reason to return next year. We'll see.