Tradeshows can be great places to learn about the happenings of your market, competition, and emerging trends. I know I've learned a lot about my prospects, their business concerns, and the competitive influence they're under by attending countless tradeshows and the sometimes mind numbing workshops and keynote addresses. If only by accident and the sheer volume of shows I once attended...I did learn quite a bit.

I work shows. I can't say I always have - in the past I'm likely as guilty as many for using tradeshows as a getaway...a place to hang out, socialize, and even relax from the rigors of work. Guilty.

But I learned years ago how powerful the shows can be if you really work them:




I wonder though if tradeshows are still as valuable as they were in the past. I also wonder if there certain formats of shows I should now seek to better meet my business interests. Maybe forums or formats I previously didn't attend.

As technology becomes more and more accessible - broadband penetration rates increase and saturates certain markets, tools like blogs, podcasts, and wikis become ubiquitous - and communication between vendors and customers gets closer to a real-time, open, and truly interactive dialogue...does the role, look-n-feel, and objective of tradeshows change? Does the increased level of information available online change your perceived value of tradeshows? In other words, tradeshows used to be forums for discovering industry information - trends, vendors, solutions, etc. - is that still the driving reason to attend? If not, then what is?

And assuming every show has a business purpose of increasing your level of business, have you noticed tradeshows being less, more, or evenly effective at creating leads and sales opportunities as opposed to say 10 years ago?

What do you think?