Echelon’s President on Launching a New Website, and the Reality of Change

I recently read “Naked Conversations” in preparation for launching Tradeshow Insights, and came across the chapter titled, “Everything never changes.” And the first thought that crept into my mind was, “Yeah right, this person obviously hasn’t been living on the same planet as the rest of us.”

The idea behind the chapter is that challenges we face today aren’t entirely new, but instead, it’s the context around those issue changes with time.

After reading the chapter in full, it made me stop and think about this industry, trade shows and exhibiting that is, and all of the changes I’ve experienced over my twenty year career as business owner.

“Everything never changes,” still seemed to be an unlikely claim. The effects of 09/11 alone were enough to make me question its validity, not to mention an ever-increasingly globalizing economy, and skyrocketing fuel prices, of late.

But after some additional consideration, I had to ask myself, “has anything really changed that much?”

• It’s true some shows have seen declines in attendance, but where one industry may be down for a while, another may see surprising growth because of fluctuating market conditions.

• It’s true this is an industry that depends heavily on travel, which has become increasingly challenging with the rising costs of transportation and services, but there’s a silver lining in every challenge.  Trade shows could in fact become more important than ever for companies looking to get face time with customers, and cut back on the day-to-day sales calls, which require a lot of road time and travel costs.

• And it’s true the Internet has enabled businesses to shift resources to the online retail space, but people still need to be connected to one another, to be able to touch, feel and experience products, brands and services.  This is where the trade show comes in to play.

Tradeshows sustain and encourage relationship building for our clients, as well as ourselves, and it’s through those relationships that we’ve seen continued success as an exhibit marketing firm. And it’s my goal that through our new web site (and evolving blog) we will foster new relationships with new and existing customers, industry partners, and others in the online community.

It’s still about building relationships and delivering results that matter.  Everything never changes.

What do you think, would you agree? I would love to hear your thoughts, so please post a challenge you’re currently facing in our Ask an Expert form, and I will discuss it one of my next posts.

I will be thinking about it, until then…