Yesterday was my last day attending the ProMat show in Chicago, and it got me to thinking about the real value of such events. Trade shows are often one of the first items to be cut by both exhibitors and by attendees in tough times.

For exhibitors, the cost reductions are great as doing a trade show well is expensive (space, advertising, staff, travel, ugly shirts, Snickers bars, etc.) And especially in difficult times, it is not clear if the right folks will attend. For attendees, the cost is less, but even with no capital to invest, it is not clear that there is any ROI on attending the show.

However, Tompkins Associates was an exhibitor at ProMat 2009 and there were many attendees. In fact, this was the most productive trade show we have participated in to date. An awesome ROI!

Contrary to many other shows where there are a lot of folks wandering around, "to see what is new," this year's ProMat show was about teams of well-organized people in pursuit of specific solutions to specific problems or opportunities. They were not doing a live version of what they could do electronically from home, but rather spent their time in pursuit of the true value of trade shows. Similarly, for the exhibiting companies who invested in the show by staffing the booth with professionals (and not models or salespeople in green or orange shirts), they obtained the true value of trade shows.

So, what is the true value of trade shows? I think it is the face-to-face interaction between exhibitors/attendees. The true value is sitting down across a table from someone and brainstorming about how you can work together for mutual success. The ROI for smart exhibitors is the creation of new relationships that can lead to new business and the ROI. For smart attendees, the true value is the creation of a relationship that can lead to better performance of their organization. I mean, hello, it is about people!

The tendency in these crazy economic times may be to cut, cut, cut trade shows from your budget. But aren't both exhibitors and attendees both cutting off their noses to spite their faces if they do this? Exhibitors need more clients and interactions today, not fewer. And attendees need more cost reductions, strategic innovations and operational improvements than ever before. So, instead of slashing trade show budgets in difficult times, we should be growing trade show budgets in difficult times.

So yes, trade shows are very important, and if you approach being an exhibitor or an attendee as an opportunity to build relationships, you will move ahead of your competition. So, establish a clear plan for exhibiting or for attending. Yes, in a down market, there is less chocolate and there are fewer fancy pens, squeeze balls and little toys – but maybe this is a good thing.

If people attending trade shows focus more on building relationships and solving problems, there is huge value, huge ROI and any report on the death of trade shows is not only crazy, but absolutely contrary to the ProMat show that just concluded in Chicago. And, by the way, Tompkins did have chocolate, we did do a drawing for a free iPod, and we built many new very positive relationships. We did not have models, we had no ugly bright shirts, but we did make a plan to be back at the next ProMat in two years. I should warm up by then.

Jim