Exhibitions and Middle Class: Growing Together

Our modern image of the middle class comes from the post–World War II era. The 1944 GI Bill provided returning veterans with money for college, businesses and home mortgages. Suddenly, millions of servicemen were able to afford homes of their own for the first time. Discretionary spending increased,  the US GDP grew exponentially and with it came the growth of expositions. Today the US hosts 11,000 exhibitions, but emerging economies will be the engine of exhibition growth for the foreseeable future.

Are you ready?

A dozen emerging nations, not just the fast-growing BRIC countries, include almost two billion people, spending a total of $6.9 trillion annually;  research suggests that this figure will rise to $20 trillion during the next decade—about twice the current consumption in the United States.  In short,  the US economy is in a mature cycle, emerging nations are in the growth cycle. What does this mean to the exhibition community?  One word, OPPORTUNITY.

It would be naive for the US exhibition community to put all its eggs in one basket (although we still are the largest economy) and reason why multi-national businesses are multi-national.  Building “commerce bridges” with emerging nations is good business and this week we hosted at 3D Mr. Wu Chen Lin, President/CEO of the Shanghai Exhibition & Convention Industry Association. Among his many duties, Mr. Wu is responsible for bringing together all Chinese governmental departments to build the new Shanghai Convention Center which will the largest in the world at 5M square feet; twice the size of McCormick Place, the largest center in the US. It’s staggering to consider the magnitude of this undertaking, but it’s driven by one thing: growth of middle class consumption and demand for products/services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Wu (3rd from right)  pictured with David Causton, GM McCormick Place, Tiana Weiler, Event Management Director, and 3D execs (left to left): Danielle Xu, Chris Kappes and Larry Kulchawik

 

To put things in perspective, the U.S. Census Bureau says the median income in the U.S. is about $51,000 a year. While there’s no official “middle-class” in China, (Chinese people don’t use the concept), a household considered to be middle-class in China would earn somewhere between $10,000 and $60,000 a year, according to Helen Wang, author of The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World’s Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You. A rule of thumb is a household with a third of its income for discretionary spending is considered middle class,” Wang said.

Being middle-class in China often means earning at or below what’s considered the poverty line in America.

For the exhibition community to grow, we must look for nation’s with emerging middle classes to find growth. Easier said than done. The challenge is building a smart business model to grow in these markets when we’re being challenged in the US with price and margin pressures. There are only a few true global exhibition organizations and they’ve emerged by piggy-backing multi-national clients around the globe and diversifying their business model to serve local markets.

I’d welcome your thoughts about what you think is the most efficient and cost effective way to expand?

Future Series: Sleeping with the enemy

Admittedly, like this man….I’m a digital immigrant; born long before 1980 without the savvy of digital natives who work circles around me on the computer, tv remote, video games, and car navigation systems.

Is technology an enemy to be feared? Does it matter in the world of tradeshows?

…I open the door to say good night to my 18 year old daughter and found her fast asleep with smart phone resting on the pillow just below her nose.

…I call my three kids and without answering they readily text me back.

…I read that the average phone conversations has declined from 3 minutes to 1 while people spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

…I listen to music with lyrics that reference putting a dime into a pay phone. Have you seen one recently?

…I read where an 18 year old boy killed one and seriously injured another while driving and texting.

The list goes on…technology can be a blessing…and a curse.

But what about its impact on tradeshows?

If we agree that tradeshows are about building engagements than technology may be an impediment to enhancing customer engagements.  For example, Generation C  (C standing for connected, communicating, content-centric, computerized, community-oriented, always clicking)…will be technologically savvy but will they have the personal skills to engage a tradeshow buyer? And if the current “baby-boomer and GenX” staffer isn’t always the best at engagement (a common complaint from tradeshow clients today about their salesforce) what does this suggest for GenY andfuture staffers who’d rather text, email, facebook than pick up the phone or make a field sales call? And if the tradeshow staffer isn’t good at engagement, what impact will this have on the visitor experience and interest in attending tradeshows?

While technology is a blessing….in the world of engagements and tradeshows it could be a curse. What’s your opinion?

Optimizing Sales….Bridging the Performance Gap

Selling in our business is “winner take all”. And the challenge for most exhibition organizations is to build a company that is not so heavily dependent upon a few successful sales professionals. And although research indicates that the larger the price tag the greater the disparity between the top and bottom performers, it’s incumbent upon sales leadership to find a bridge to close this gap.

Working with and leading many sales organizations over the years, I’ve found that bridging the performance gap is possible; the steps are definable but dependent upon the manager documenting them for the sales professional.  The key performance pillars to build and document for the sales professional include:

1)      Introspection…recognition and acceptance of what is and isn’t working

2)      Thoughts….optimizing positive constructive thoughts vs. negative destructive thoughts

3)      Appearance…if you wouldn’t buy from this person than who will?

4)      Image…does the persona reflect the right image?

5)      Attitude…attitude determine altitude.

6)      Work ethic…acceptance that there are no short-cuts to success and hard work is central to succeeding

7)      Commitment…an unwavering passion to succeed at the company

8)     Authenticity…is “personal-truth” transparent and real, or masked

9)    Responsibility…acceptance of what is and isn’t working and doing something about it

Recently, I was asked to help a long-time industry sales veteran to get out of a performance slump. After listening for awhile about all the reasons he hasn’t succeeded of late, the conversation turned to what he could do to improve sales performance.  Some excellent improvement suggestions emerged which led to a performance roadmap; a professional GPS of sorts that helps guide progress toward improvement. Next, a performance contract was drawn up that outlined in detail the areas needing improvement and a deadline to do so. As managers, it’s our responsibility to mentor AND put in place these parameters. A performance roadmap sets the direction, but ultimately it’s up to the professional to follow the course and make it happen.

The old adage, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity” applies here. Without a defined plan for improvement, performance will not improve resulting in a dead end. Bottom line, optimizing sales performance starts by identifying  gaps in performance, laying out a correction roadmap, and entering into a performance contract with deadlines for quantifiable improvement.

Legacy Series: In Memoriam…Celebrating Uniqueness

The exposition industry is without two industry legends that passed away this month. But their presence is in the fiber of our business.

One word describes Leo McDonald.  Unique

When visiting Leo for the first time at Exhibitgroup’s Elk Grove Village headquarters in Chicago (now headquarters to 3D Exhibits), he greeted me dressed impeccably (think Brooks Brother’s Country Club). Seated in his office, he took great pride in showing me his magic wall; a button on the side of his desk activated a back credenza that contorted into a liquor cabinet that would rival any Ritz Carlton. His attention span was what you’d expect from a true entrepreneur: short, distracted. But a small smile in the corner of his mouth added warmth to our conversation and clued me in that charm was the tool he used most to succeed in business.

His smile was also recognition that he was pleased having built the first true national network of exhibit houses; up to this point, trade shows were primarily regional events and the exposition business served primarily by local vendor/partners. But this quickly changed due to industrialization, improved national transportation and the demand to build national distribution. The country needed to grow and Leo helped create a network to serve the demand of exhibitions and exhibitors. Leo passed away last week at the age of 90 and by all accounts he lived a fabulous life, which has allowed us all to prosper and serve in an industry that has grown from national to global.

He was a salesman’s salesman. Ron Williams, EVP, Sales for George P. Johnson Company, was also the reason many auto companies worked with GPJ. Ron, 66 years of age, passed away January 17, 2012 but left a rich automotive legacy inside and outside George P. Johnson.

An architect by education, Ron was fascinated “designing and building things”, and through happenstance was hired by GPJ as an engineer. Forty years later he retired as their senior sales executive having helped GPJ become the nation’s largest independent event marketing agency.

Ron’s success was grounded in deep relationships; when a problem was brewing inside one of GPJ’s automotive clients, a call from Ron smoothed things over. When an automotive RFP was issued he had the inside scoop on what it would take to win.  And win GPJ did as they manage an impressive roster of Automotive OEM’s and their brands at consumer auto shows and events.

When I met Ron he didn’t like me particularly; I was the new kid on the block hired to diversify GPJ’s business from auto show to trade shows; in his world there was only auto shows. And while the word “show” is shared by both, this is where the business diverts. Consumer shows attract consumers; trade shows attract business trade; the philosophy behind designing/producing exhibits is very different for each as is how businesses quantify the value of their investment. Ron rode me hard, but it was in the spirit of helping me to grow a new business within GPJ. Ron also instilled in me and his sales team a competitive fire; if you didn’t have or get it, good-bye. This competitive fire burns brightly at GPJ today as they continue to expand their automotive business globally. As for tradeshows, they too have found a place in GPJ’s service wheelhouse.

While certainly different personalities, Leo and Ron shared a passion for the exposition business revered by those that worked with and for them. Moreover, it’s because of Leo and Ron that so many of the 1.5 million associates working in staging expositions today can call this business a career. Thank you gentlemen for your passion and for helping us be better.

In-sight Led Sales: Reshaping the Future of Sales

“The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them” –Albert Einstein

Business to business (BTB) selling will never be the same….will you? If you answered yes but not sure why, read on because there’s still time to push the “reboot” button to improve your sales future-readiness. If you answered no, you’ve experience what historic high sales performers have learned; relationship selling is dead; Challenger sales win 9 out of 10 times because they’ve learned to drive growth through insight-led sales.

What is “challenger” sales and what does it mean to the exhibition industry?

A student of selling, I’ve read most of the foundational sales books which has helped to shape my career and mentorship of others. And with the underpinnings of my sales pilings in place for three decades, I ordered a new book called, “The Challenger Sale”, with somewhat of a jaundiced attitude: “what is really ground-breaking in sales.” Little did I know that this book would pull all the pilings from my foundation and cause me to reflect upon myself, recruiting, mentoring new reps and retooling sales organizations.

The Challenger Sale is one of the finest researched books I’ve read. I say this because we’ve all read “how to” books, interesting, but largely written from the author’s myopic experience and perspective; this book is based upon research of 6,000 sales reps from 100 Sales Executive Council members. The findings are telling: the majority of our sales reps are NOT geared to succeed in this tough selling environment. In fact, some competencies that traditionally differentiated star performer are yielding average results at best. How can this be? Evolution and revolution.

Evolution in that sales models are being disrupted all the time (not a bad thing) and represent a natural force in business. We’re all inter-connected and the ripples of change take time; from impact to taking root, so it’s about time that the discipline of sales evolves to the new realities of business. Revolution in that the traditional “relationship manager” sales rep (often the most coveted) is today finding it difficult to bring new thinking and value to the customer. And this is what the customer wants most: ideas to build a better business for the employer resulting in job security and income elasticity.

More specifically, The Challenger Sale profiles five distinct reps based upon its research: Lone Wolf (follows own instincts), Problem Solver (responds well to internal/external stakeholders), Hard-Worker (always willing to go the extra mile), Relationship Builder (strong customer-centricity) and Challenger (brings different perspective to the customer). And while all of us have percentages of these profiles in our DNA, high-performers are more apt to have a greater percentage of (3) key ingredients than core performers.

The Challenger Secret Sauce:

• Teaches customers unique insights about how to better compete in the global marketplace

• Tailors messaging to each unique decision-maker

• Asserts control to overcome customer risk aversion

The exciting part of this research is that the industry has an opportunity to become better business counselors and help advance exhibition and event marketing vis-a-vis traditional marketing media. We have the advantage of “face to face”…let’s use it by asking some of these tough questions when you’re meeting with your customers:

–What’s the outcome that your management wants from exhibiting at XYZ show and why?
–How will success be evaluated and against what metrics?
–If you didn’t exhibit at the show, what would be the worst thing that could happen?
–Why would you invest less than 2% of your exhibition budget on staff training and preparation when successful interaction accelerates the sales cycle?

The lesson of this blog is three-fold: 1) convince you to provide insight-led solutions that cause your customer to stand up and take notice , 2) develop a challenger mindset and practice it and 3) purchase the book as it will be the best money you can invest in your career. Wanna challenge me on this? Please do

See you in the trenches.

Soup Kitchen Reflections: Staging for the Needy

William Shakespeare said it best in his play: As You Like It – Act II, scene vii.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts.

And while we’re all stagers of experiences at tradeshows and events, this narrative reflects upon the stages of life. While it’s hard to grasp what stage I’m in (there are seven in Shakespeare’s play) the reflection in my soup a few weeks ago indicates that I have less time left in life’s dashboard than rear-view mirror. So my soup kitchen experience had a double meaning that I had not recognized before; 1) that everything we do is staging experiences…soup kitchen or not and 2) time marches on and it’s time to take stock, reflect upon ones bucket list and confirm the present moment is in fulfillment of the ideal.

After ten years of working the Waukegan, Illinois soup kitchen, Team 6 is oiled like a Ferrari knowing precisely what needs to happen to stage a dinner for the 100 or so needy that wait for the tumbler of the door to click to the open position. At precisely 4:00pm, a small delegation starts the mess hall prep; chairs moved off the tables, salt and pepper shakers placed; plastic trays and silverware merchandised at the entrance and the coffee maker is watered so it will growl.

In the kitchen, another story unfolds. A team of two start sandwich preparation; two slices of turkey, one cheese, a dab of butter and on to the next. A salad team cuts up fresh vegetables while a dessert team unwraps pastries and cookies knowing that there’s never enough to go around. Lastly, several gallon pales of lentil and barley soup are poured into giant aluminum heating pots. It’s exactly 4:45pm, and time for the team to partake in the food before the doors officially open at 5:00. If this type of planning and staging sounds familiar, it is what we do every day: plan, execute, trial and open the best environment possible for our guests.

The tumbler clicks open and with it the sounds of humanity rush in all experiencing their different “stages” of life: young or old, sober or drug dependent, grateful or belligerent, sad or happy, peace of mind or mind-sick. David, a regular that I’ve seen for years, always makes three trips back to the food buffet and I wonder if it’s all he eats for the week. Danielle has five children under 5 years of age and struggles to feed them all; I wonder how she manages day to day. You see it all…and without pause I hear the same thing repeated many times over when I ask “how’s it going”. “I’m blessed” is what I hear. What a lesson.

All the world is a stage. We’re the stagers. We’re the actors. We’re the ones responsible for staging our own life and recognizing how blessed we are when so many others recognize it when having so little.

Alliance Formation: Key to Serving Emerging Economies

Trade has always been the driver of exposition growth; as economies emerge so too expositions. And while 50% of the world’s exposition activities occur in the US, the rest of the world is catching up. This spells OPPORTUNITY.

World Bank economist Branko Milanovic in his book The Haves and the Have-Nots. notes that American’s represent 50% of the world’s richest 1%. Put another way, $34,000/per year is what it takes to be in the top 1% and the poorest 5% of Americans are better off financially than two-thirds of the entire world. Moreover, the emerging global middle class are able to purchase goods and services not considered possible a few short years ago. This drives commerce and the need for expositions to connect buyers and sellers.

So where do the emerging economies reside?

“Not surprisingly, China and India are seeing their economies grow quickly, and along with that growth, large portions of their populations are also becoming richer. But remember, the emerging world is starting from a very low base to begin with, so its middle class is just that — still emerging”, says Milanovic. “Another four million live in Germany. The rest are mainly scattered throughout Europe, Latin America and a few Asian countries. Statistically speaking, none live in Africa, China or India despite those being some of the most populous areas of the world.”

Turning Opportunity into Growth

I was reminded at the recent Exhibit Designers & Producers Conference (EDPA) that while the world is large, the network of   exposition companies serving this expanding market is finite and relatively small. Heretofore, international guests attended the EDPA conference to network with exhibit agencies and create opportunities to serve clients in their respective GEO. Now US-based exhibit agencies are seeking the same thing in reverse as market-maturity is a reality here (Note: The EDPA study of the top 44 US exhibit agencies confirmed a decline in actual total revenues) which helps to explain why US exhibit agencies want and need to grow their global business; owners estimate their global exposition revenue will increase from 3 to 10% by 2014. S0 how do you do this?

Growth vs. Risk

The impediment to this expansion, however, centers around a business-model issue: low gross margins and net profit. Over the past decade net profit of the top exhibit agencies averaged a meager 3% making it financially impractical and risky to invest in major expansion. And while we’re staring at this global opportunity, the risk to “go alone” is too great and has far too many barriers of entry. Therefore, the path to global opportunity is Alliance Formation.

Alliance Formation

Airlines are capital/labor intensive businesses with seasonality and razor-thin profit margins. Sound familiar?  Needing to serve global travelers, however, airlines forged Alliances , a collection of independent airlines operating cooperatively and collaboratively, that today are branded entities: Global Alliance, OneWorld etc. This model is also prevalent in the hotel industry where independent owner/operators formed “Leading Hotels of the World”.  And in our industry we have OSPI, an alliance of Octonorm partners. My belief is that our industry is ripe for more “Alliance Formation”.

 

What does this look like?

There is an “informal” alliance of global exhibit agencies (The Global Exhibit Alliance) that is more of a lead and business sharing coalition than a truely integrated “alliance” where vision and best practices are shared in the spirit of providing exceptional service consistently around the globe. Alliances can present significant business advantages:

• Aggregating buying power
• Opportunity to serve multi-national corporations
• Trend-watching
• Technology sharing
• R&D development

And while there are challenges surrounding alliance formation, proper partner selection, alignment and focusing on the better good of the client will prevail.  The opportunity is NOW. What do we do as an industry to capitalize?

Legacy Series: Where Does Exhibition Power Reside?

I couldn’t help but reflect on this question returning from the annual EDPA (Exhibit Designers & Producers Association) conference, a confab of owners/executives of global exhibit firms held in Las Vegas a week ago.

But my curiosity was further peaked when I came across a fascinating article, “Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world” about the interlocking interdependence o f 1318 transnational corporations (TLCs) who  today serve as the world’s capitalistic network of power.  Read on.

A trio of system theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich studied a database of 43,000 million TCN investors worldwide and discovered share ownerships linking them. Constructing a model of which companies controlled others through shareholding networks, coupled with each company’s operating revenues, the structure of global economic power was mapped. The result…

1318 companies with interlocking relationships; each having ties to two more other companies, and connected on average to 20. Further, although they represented 20 percent of global operating revenues, the 1318 collectively owned the majority of the world’s blue chip and manufacturing firms. A super-group” was found within the 1318; 147 even more tightly knit companies—all of their ownership held by other members—control 40 percent of the total wealth of the network. In effect, less than 1% of the companies control 40 percent of the network.

Who are these super-entities? Financial institutions.

So does the global exhibition industry have a spiderweb network of influence and ownership? Not yet.

The reasons?

It’s a fractured industry composed of cottage industries and globalization will occur only at the pace of economy development in emerging countries. Consider:

• 50% of trade shows are held in the US; the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are prospering and exhibitions are following but further infrastructure growth is needed. This could take a decade or more.
• Revenue from global exhibition activities for the top 46 US exhibit firms was 3%; it’s on the rise but far from justifying global acquisition and consolidation.
• Based upon industry gross margins, the risk may be greater than the potential profit opportunity.

Looking at this from a US-centric perspective, here’s the situation:

Show Producers? One could argue that show producers control industry power (after all, they market/sell the show) but Doug Ducate, President-CEO of CEIR (Center for Exhibition Industry Research) shares that of the 14,000 exhibitions (US/Canada only), Reed Exhibitions (the largest show producer in North America) controls less than 5% of this market. And if US/Canada produce 50% of the world’s exhibitions per annum, no dominate show producer controls the market nor do they control intellectual exclusivity/knowledge of why their customers’exhibit;  Ducate argues that the “exhibit design/build community” know more about the exhibiting companies goals/objectives than the show producer who is focused on selling real estate.

General Contractors? Without question, Freeman and GES control the US/Canadian exhibition market (60:40) and yield tremendous buying power and operational control over associations, exhibitors and contractors serving the industry.  Being competitors in a business that is an oligopoly affords both industry power in how they price and bundle their services to the industry; look no further than other industries that are in an oligopoly position to see the potential impact to the industry.

Exhibit Designers/Producers?  The recent EDPA Economic Survey (North American focused) shows that 44 firms represent approximately $900M in sales and is a fractured industry unified only by EDPA. The power of this group is still largely internally focused but it has the collective opportunity to drive industry pricing and policy.

In summary, the case could be made that the power elite of our industry in the US include:

• Freeman
• GES
• Reed
• Exhibit Designers/Producers (EDPA) members

Thinking about this question on a global basis, the answer is more difficult to answer:

• European convention facilities often act as the show producer in a limited geography reducing their power and impact
• General contractors are not prevalent; exhibition services are provided by the design/builder partner reducing the ability to consolidate service
• Europe/US are mature exhibition industries with defined roles/responsibilities for its community.
• Emerging markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are building exhibition infrastructure but it’s too early to determine their impact on a global basis.

I’d conclude that a “global power elite” in our industry is far away. But, as “designers/builders of experiences”, we have the opportunity to unite and drive service efficiencies, create economies of scale, put pricing pressure on general contractors, and open up our respective businesses to the global exhibition business and growth.

Let’s build our own network of influence before other competitive factors impose their own.

Legacy Series: Your greatest power

 

 

Sitting on my bookstand at home sits a thin orange hardcover book. Next to the Bible, YOUR GREATEST POWER, written by J. Martin Kohe,  embodies my belief system:  thoughts are the maker of our lives.  Thoughts are for us to choose…to be the creators of our own lives.

Reading Walter Isaacson’s best-selling book about STEVE JOBS, you can’t help but recognize the power of thoughts; Job’s  genius and ability to get others to achieve milestones they otherwise would not have accomplished. The book calls this Job’s “Reality Distortion Field”; his ability to motivate (or coerce) others to adapt his cingular focus on the outcome envisioned without consideration of “reality”. So many of Apple’s product innovation were born from this distortion; Job’s vision drove thoughts leading to product outcomes that we all enjoy today.

Reflecting upon the exhibition industry, I’ve profiled in this blog many legends who’s thoughts and actions laid the industry foundation for all of us. On a personal level (and in celebration of Thanksgiving), I’ve been blessed working along side so many others who are helping to shape today the industry of tomorrow. In recognition:

• Fred Kitzing: teaching, integrity and to never compromise what is right
• LaNay Kitzing: transforming an unpolished kid into a professional
• Robert Vallee (Chairman GPJ): never be too proud to do what is necessary
• Bob Vallee (CEO, GPJ): good enough is not good enough
• Larry Vallee (President, GPJ): never forget your roots
• Jeff Harrow (Chairman, Sparks): expect to win
• Scott Tarte (President, Sparks):  distill and work your plan
• Rob Shaw (President, Contempo): rest in peace; demons destroy
• Lee Knight (CEO, EXHIBITOR): educate and everyone elevates
• Dan Hanover/Kerry Smith (RED7media): dream big and be an evangelist
• Jill Hebert (President, Matrex): don’t be afraid of risks
• Gene Faut (President, 3D): get dirty in the business and the business will be healthy

I’m also proud of many I’ve mentored along the way and learned as much as I taught:

• Dave Fekete (VP, Sparks): change adversity into advocacy
• Erik Gavin (AE, Matrex): turn lemons into lemonade
• Jane Tabisz (AE, GES): celebrate joy
• Jeff Bartle (Chief Creative Officer, 3D): loyalty
• Lisa Jackson (Co-founder, Lotus Drinks): put it all on the line for what you believe
• Kevin Barber (former President, 1220): never forget friendship

Lastly, unlike all other creatures on this planet who rely purely on programmed instinct, we, homo-sapiens, are the only ones who have the gift of choice. Use it wisely and have a great Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

Legacy Series: When gas drives inspiration

 Filling my car up with gas two weeks ago, I spotted a “take one” flyer with a $5 dollar bill peeking out. Curious, I lifted it and discovered that what I thought was a “fake” was a real $5 bill stapled between a spiritual flyer. I quickly checked all the pumps in the area for more (seeing an old guy running between pumps had to look funny to the casual observer) and wondered in process how long the flyer had been sitting.

Fast forward to today….same gas station, same pump, and guess what, another $5 dollar bill peeking out. Thinking that everything happens for a reason, I started to reflect about the odds of this happening again and message that this gift was presenting?

                                    

…A reminder that I need to get to church Sunday and pass along the offering to others who need it worse.

 …A blessing and encouragement to do the right thing when an alternate choice presents itself.

  …A suggestion that if you look for good, you find it and  if you look for bad, you find it also.

Frankly, there’s a host of things that this gift symbolizes but the essence is this: What you look for you will find.

Reflecting upon my long career, I’ve been blessed working for the right company at the right time…a career mosaic of dots that connect.  Call it luck, call it faith, call it what you want….I found what I was looking for at the time and benefitted more than I deserved at times.

So what does this have to do with Exhibitions?

The legacies I’ve profiled in my earlier blogs all “paid forward”,  laying the foundation for the industry as we know it today. The $5 is a reminder to me that we ALL must pay-forward our learnings to the next generation of exhibitionists. This can be done through mentorship, speaking, teaching, writing, sponsorship, but it must be done.

My biggest concern about the exhibition industry is that we don’t hire and bring fresh talent into our industry AND that the next generation of marketing decisions makers devalue the power of exhibitions, blinded by technology and the perception that it can replace the power of face-to-face marketing.  We must bring new talent and next generational thinking into our industry so that exhibitions continue to evolve. To stagnate is to die.

Look for good…evolve as a professional…share with others….and the “what ifs” will turn into “can be’s”.