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Trade Show Week: Exhibitor Numbers Are Down

By Candice Yang, Tradeshow Week -- Gifts and Dec, 10/31/2008 7:05:00 AM

For the second quarter in a row, The Tradeshow Week Quarterly Report of Tradeshow Statistics saw all three indicators that are tracked heading down, generally reflecting developments in the national economy.
Taking the biggest dive appeared to be the number of companies exhibiting at tradeshows, down 6.5 percent, compared with the same quarter a year ago. Overall net square footage in the third quarter dropped 2.5 percent and attendance dipped 3 percent.
Lower numbers were the norm throughout the report, as 46.8 percent of shows that submitted figures indicated net square footage was down, 51.6 percent reported decreases in the number of exhibiting companies and 61.3 percent of shows registered fewer attendees than in the 2007 shows.
Shows held in July seemed to suffer the biggest declines, down 7.1 percent in showfloor size, 9.7 percent in number of exhibiting companies and 3.5 percent in attendance. August shows actually saw a 1.2-percent growth in net square footage, while shows that month experienced a 7.7-percent decline in attendance and a 2.4-percent drop in number of exhibiting companies. September's attendance remained flat, but saw 6.4 percent fewer exhibiting companies than in 2007 and a 0.9-percent decrease in net square footage.
In terms of destinations, Las Vegas particularly was hit hard in the third quarter. Attendance declines were in line with the national average with 3.2 percent fewer buyers trekking to Sin City. Net square footage at Las Vegas-based shows suffered a 7-percent decline and 9.3 percent fewer exhibiting companies turned out, compared with the same quarter in 2007.
Tradeshows in the retail sector were down more than those in most other sectors. When figures for retail-related shows were considered separately from the overall stats, net square footage slid 6 percent, the number of exhibiting companies dropped 9.4 percent and professional attendance dipped 5.5 percent.
As an example, the Denver Merchandise Mart Gift, Home, Jewelry & Resort Show experienced declines in all three indexes, registering an 11.4-percent decrease in net square footage (from 64,340 square feet to 57,000 sq. ft.), a 22.2-percent reduction in vendors (from 311 companies to 242 companies) and a 13.8-percent loss in attendance (from 3,722 buyers to 3,207 buyers).
“It's the same thing that faces you and me and everybody,” said Carol Hash, Denver's show director. “It's gas prices, it's what's happened to housing markets, it's what happened with the stock market. That affects the sales at retail stores, which eventually gets back to the shows and the vendors.” […]
Despite the overall declines, few of the show organizers voiced pessimism about the coming year and the consensus seemed to be to remain aggressive. […]
Hash said, “We just plan to keep working harder at it ... and not letting up or cutting back.”

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