Did you Learn about Trade Show Marketing in College?

By Larry Kulchawik, author, Larry Kulchawik Consulting

I can’t tell you how many times I have cited the CLC (Convention Liaison Council) study, conducted by Deloitte & Touche in 1995, which calculated the size of the Convention & Meeting industry to be $83 billion, ranked #22 in contribution to the GDP in the USA, yet few have gone to school for direct training to work in this industry! Most of us in this business have fumbled into it in one way or another and grew to like it. We then became experts through on-the-job training and by trial and error. I suspect the industry total now represents over $100 billion in revenue. Today, there are many more training avenues for trade show marketing available than in the past, but the average university marketing department hardly mentions trade show marketing and its place within the overall marketing mix. I am…