Owen O'Neill

I've been to a limited number of trade shows and am not in a position to comment with any sense of authority. I do think kudos should go to both Neal and Howard for maintaining a sense of civilized discourse despite the pointless sniping and inflammatory remarks posted by a few. I relish the opportunities we have to respectfully disagree with one another on this forum and appreciate seeing it done in a sensible and thoughtful way. To the poster(s) whose comments unfairly characterized previous posts/responses of Neal's or Howard's as idiotic, moronic or pompous... have you actually read their posts/replies on a regular basis? I suspect not and wonder if you've taken the time to participate in this forum in a proactive helpful way as they both do...

Audrey

Well said, Owen.

Lee

I'm confused....what was this post doing on this website? I found absolutely nothing helpful,relevant or interesting in this story about trade shows.

topper

thank heavens for neal

KathleenK

While doing a search on Rosemont this post came up. Whatever happend to Neal? I did enjoy his one travelers opinion posts. Does he still post here?????

BuzzyJ

Type his name into the search box, and his postings will come up; he's not here as often as he used to be...then again, who of is?

mclaurie

He'd done some wonderful posts recently.

TxTravelPro

I can't help but chuckle and much of your post, Neal.
Saturday I am headed to the National Business Travel Association Annual Convention. This year it is in Orlando (yuk) and I can't wait.
For me is IS partially a reward, indeed it is in my contract that I get to attend every year. It is THE most valuable networking event in the industry. There are good educational events and a huge trade show, which does have tons of "gimmes" but I rarely take more than a handful. Only the coolest stuff is worthy, I pass over 99%.
We do find decent places to eat out... most of the time.
But it is not really about the food anyway. It's about keeping up to date with the industry, seeing whats new and maintaining business relationships that may be beneficial. The attendees of NBTA are VERY serious about travel.
Now I head to Las Vegas in December for Luxury Travel Expo, a grab fest for gimmes. It is a totally different atmosphere.

April

Darn, I was hoping this was a new "One Traveler's Opinion." I wish Neal would come back and do more of them.

Neal_Sanders

I can vouch that Neal is alive and kicking. There are two semi-recent posts on the Europe Forum; one relating to planning for a recent trip to the U.K., the other to the trip itself. It's nice to be missed!

dan_woodlief

Well, I guess I missed this post of your's a few years back Neal, but as someone who has attended a few large tradeshows, I just wanted to comment. I have worked my butt off a quite a few of them. Though the work just gets tougher, I find myself always volunteering at least once a year even when I don't have to go. I have been fortunate in that most but not all places I have visited had convention centers in great locations for a little sightseeing. It does matter to me. I can identify with your thoughts about staying way out in the middle of nowhere, which is just what I had to do in Toronto once. Luckily I had a couple of days in the city before the show by the airport and had a co-worker with a rental car and great familiarity with Toronto.

Regarding the nature of tradeshows themselves, I have a feeling that varies by industry to some degree. We sell mostly to educators, and our tradeshows are loaded with well-attended workshops and lots of hands-on booth activities. Usually, the most experienced and enthusiastic teachers get to attend, and they want to take back as much new knowledge as possible. I did get a chuckle out of your comments about the note-taking and paper collecting. Been there, done that.

GoTravel

The most fun trade shows are the travel industry trade shows or food trade shows.

Neal_Sanders

Dan, I note my original post was November 2000, which seems like an eternity ago. Two weeks ago, I was at Semicon West, the massive semiconductor capital equipment trade show held in San Francisco and San Jose. What a difference four years makes...

The giveaways are gone, as are the drawings for laptops. Three years of horrid industry conditions shook the show to its roots. No more "booth chippies" (the ladies with the Vaselined teeth). Alas, the marketing types are still prevalent; the techies no longer seem to go to the shows; there's no budget and they don't "produce revenues."

But in my humble view, the shows are better for the lack of glitz. And, God knows, I don't need any more key chains....

HowardR

Neal, based on my past contributions to this thread (yes, it's hard to believe that it was four years ago), you know that I'm delighted to read about your perception of the overall improvement of the trade show.

GoTravel

Neal, you want a fun trade show go to the IT&ME (International Travel & Meetings Incentive) Trade Show that takes up every square inch of McCormick Center in Chicago.

The show is so big, they have destinations clumped into continents. Not countries but continents.

The Hawaii Group would fly in cases fresh Mai Tais every afternoon. Around 3PM, the Vegas CVB and all the Vegas exhibitors would have a singing Elvis pour draft beer. France would serve wine, Germany beer, Norwegians schnapps, and you follow my drift.

Seeing everyone leave at 5PM was interesting.

All the big hotel chains would throw massive parties. The Marriott people would take over The House of Blues and have the Doobie Brothers or Collective Soul as entertainment.

Sometimes I miss being in the hotel biz.