Whose Show is It, Anyway?

by Robert Hughes 

Whose show is it, anyway!?

After twelve months and hundreds of exhibitor interviews, one of the many findings that I found surprising is that exhibitors really do not understand who owns the show they exhibit in. There is a significant disconnect about who owns and puts on the tradeshow that the exhibitor is exhibiting in!

Ninety percent of the respondents were absolutely sure the general contractor was the group that put on and owned the show, and could not understand that it could be anyone else. Their reasoning was the general contractor received the bulk of the money spent on the show, the general contractor name was on the service desk and, as everything went through the general contractor, they were assumed to be the greatest presence in the show. The exhibitor thought the show was owned and run by the group that collected the money and solved…