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Free eBook – Tech Trends & Tradeshows

James Krouse — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:22:59 +0000

Let’s face it…new technology comes and goes and separating real trends from the latest gizmo can be difficult. The Rogers Company put together a brief overview of some of the important technological drivers for tradeshows. Keep in mind, these trends are driven as much by what the industry needs as what it offers. It’s important for exhibitors to recognize what they can get from technology and not be driven by the ‘latest and greatest’ thing out there. From the book:

When it comes to technology, yesterday’s new toy is tomorrow’s indispensable business tool. We’ve seen this happen with everything from desktop computers to cell phones to GPS systems. Keeping this in mind when approaching technology for tradeshows is a good idea. A fancy booth toy could just be a waste of money, but the right investment in technology could help attract attention, achieve business goals at a show, or help create an unforgettable branded environment.

Looking at some overall trends in event marketing can reveal where new technologies can be most effective. We examined some of the prevailing trends in event marketing and compared them to new evolutions in technology to help you choose which might help build business at your company’s next tradeshow or event.

Twitter Storm? What's That?

Jeffrey Blackwell — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:02:52 +0000

We’ve all heard about Twitter and there’s been a lot of head scratching as to how it will be used in business. At searchenginewatch.com they are covering The Search Engine Strategies (SES) New York 2009 Conference and Expo. They’re top story is about Twitter and it gives some clues as to how this will be useful at live events like tradeshows:

The opening keynote was by Guy Kawasaki, a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures, who spoke about “Twitter as a Tool for Social Media.”

You can read the full post here: Link

They describe this opening day as starting a “Tweet Storm”. We checked Twitter (TSF Twitter) and, indeed, there are many, many, many entries on Guy Kawasaki and his keynote on Twitter. (Search Results Here)

So you have someone speaking at a tradeshow about Twitter and then that talk is defined on Twitter itself. You have to look past a few layers of weirdness here to get to an essential truth which is: Twitter (or something like it) will define almost every live, public interaction we have in business in the near future. In some businesses, this is already happening.

Guy Kawasaki is essentially being defined by these individual perspectives on his talk. Yes, he’s a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures, but that public profile has been further enhanced by all of these tweets. For the folks tweeting, their public profile has been enhanced or at least clarified by the fact that they were at this talk and have told their readers about it.

Confused? Think about it this way: a few years ago, just adding tradeshow dates and booth numbers to a companies website was a big deal. Now you have the means to update information from you and your entire tradeshow team and what they’re doing at a show in real time. Who cares, right? Well, you should when you consider how all of this adds to your overall online profile.

Case in point: Search for Guy Kawasaki on Google and you’ll get a pretty good idea of who the guy (ha-ha) is. But search Twitter, particularly during a tradeshow, and you get an idea of what he is doing at this moment and who is watching him and what they think — and you can join the conversation. That’s very powerful.

This all goes to show that Twitter can be a very valuable tool in enhancing live, one-to-one contact that you get at a tradeshow. Of course, this tradeshow is a self-selecting group. It’s going to be a while before we see this kind of interaction at more industrial shows — but it won’t be long.

LED in Architecture

Jeffrey Blackwell — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:19:13 +0000

LED technology has been with us a long time. But the use of it to create brilliant effects far surpasses those scrolling red and black signs we’ve all seen. Creating brilliant effects that catch the eye and are ever changing.

While this example might be a tad ambitious for most tradeshows, it does show an important aspect of branding a space. This installation is eye catching without hammering us with a lot of images or flashes. It’s very soothing to watch and so it draws us in more. Maybe this design aesthetic could be the next big thing after so much in your face branding.

The Rogers e-book, Tech Trends and Tradeshows: Knowing the Right Technology Mean Knowing the Right Trends, points out that LEDs also have an environmental angle:

“Lighting is also undergoing a revolution with LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes. These small and efficient light sources are increasingly being used for consumer and industrial purposes. They save energy, are very durable and will last for years of use. While electrical consumption isn’t typically a large concern for most booths, LED lighting does reduce heat and while having an overall smaller carbon footprint – an important consideration for a growing number of companies. “

You can download the entire e-book here: (Link)

Watch the video by clicking on the picture above in the post.