[lordnacho]

> >it seems nobody really WANTS to be at a trade show

> What experience do you base that on?

I worked for years inside an exhibition hall (they had offices we rented) and there were constantly trade shows for all sorts of things. On breaks I'd wander around and look at whatever it was.

It was predictable what was popular and what wasn't. If you had a celebrity talking, that would be popular. Anyone else, it's free seats.

Canapés, aperitifs, anything consumable would be popular.

Most of the time though, the attendees would be bored. Walking around, not talking to anyone, waiting for time to pass between the one or two meetings they'd have for the day.

[bombcar]

Exactly - I should have been more clear. People love trade shows for a “paid work vacation” and “expense account beers” and free chochkees but few people seem to be terribly interested in the booths and exhibits beyond those.

[vwa-pat]

During your time at the exhibition hall, did you see any trade shows that had more overall activity and interest among all their booths? I'm curious to know if there were things done by event organizers with theme or type of event that could help make a tradeshow be desired or enjoyable.

Tradeshows about new tech for example, such as CES, typically are interesting for people to discover what new things are being developed.

[lordnacho]

It seemed very dependent on industry. Unglamorous stuff like window manufacturing would be a ghost town. Anything more towards consumers would also draw in people from the street.