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I don't mean to labor over this topic.  I know there are some people that enjoyed and benefited from the 2006 Powder and Bulk Solids show (PBS) in May of this year.  That's the show located in Rosemount, IL that is a fraction of the size it used to be a decade ago.

I believe there are actually good trade shows, those that can generate a reasonable cost per lead and provide a venue for increasing brand recognition, while giving attendees something worth making the trip.  I believe that for mature businesses the PBS in Rosemount has outlived its usefulness (as it currently exists) and the new owners should look at making some changes to improve attendance and reduce exhibitor cost per lead numbers.  Perhaps they will, or will they?  Take a look at the 2008 show website. Click here.  Doesn't look any different to me yet.  They don't even give any data from the 2006 show to promote how great it was. 

Want to take a guess at the 2006 attendance?  I asked and got a rough number.  It's less than 4500.  Now, let's compare that to some other shows that exist for the powder and bulk solids processing area.  Recently in June of this year there was another trade show held in the Chicago area.  This was the National Plastics Expo.  NPE 2006 was very well attended with about 64,000, up 2% from the previous NPE 2003.  Our experience with NPE produced leads that were a fraction of the cost of those produced at the PBS and the NPE leads were, generally speaking thus far, much better with orders already booked as a result of the show totaling a dollar value multiple times the expense of the show.

The Future

So what will change for 2008 at the PBS?  Well I think we might get a glimpse at the Southeast Regional Powder Show coming up in April 2007 where Cannon Communications, who focuses only on manufacturing events, will be combining PackExpo, Plastec, PBS and a couple of other manufacturing shows all together to increase the attendance significantly.  Wow, this might just be worth it in 07 and 08.  I guess we'll see.  I think we'll take a more conservative approach to both of these shows and keep our costs down, while treating them like the regional shows they truly have become.

One final note.  Regarding Cannon Communications?  The fact that I could ask about the attendance numbers and actually get a straight answer is a great step forward.  Never happened before.  It seemed like the attendance numbers were a secret, and in fact I think they were because the numbers had been declining steadily for years and Reed never really was able to fix it.  Here's an early hurray for the new owners, who I hope will continue to improve these shows for both attendees and exhibitors!  We'll see.

Here's our show schedule for upcoming 2007!  Click here.  You can add us in the Southeast Regional Powder Show too.

Joe Lewis
Vice President - Marketing & Sales
Monitor Technologies LLC
www.monitortech.com
www.flexar.info

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