Are exhibitions losing their charm?

OND quarter is the beginning of the exhibition season for the channel
community as this is the time when all the prominent IT associations of the
country are busy organizing their gala event of the year. For some it is just an
annual feature and for some it is a matter of prestige for the association.
Almost all the A and B-class cities have been witnessing IT exhibitions for
almost half a decade. But the poor turnouts at the recent expos held across the
country have left participants asking only one question: Are such exhibitions
losing their charm?

For participants the main expectation from an exhibition is to get noticed by
a large number of potential customers in one go. However, participants now feel
that this basic expectation is not being met at exhibitions because of poor
attendance, hence organizers should seriously look at ways to charm back people
into exhibitions. “Today, the whole IT products trading community is in an
uncertain state. People wind-up their business within two to three years, and
then it becomes a problem for end-user service support. The exhibitions help in
conveying a message to users that the company still exists and is very much a
part of the industry,” said Amit Shah, Secretary, Baroda IT Association (BITA).

Manoj Lalani, Lalani Computech, Bhubesneshwar has been actively participating
in the exhibitions but now is reviewing his stand on the same. “Participating in
exhibitions has become a liability. It is just due to peer pressure that we have
to participate in the expo. Exhibits are already known to visitors, moreover,
with shrinking margins the cost of participating in the expo does not justify
the presence anymore,” he added.

According to Lalani, expos have now become platforms for end-user to get the
cheapest deal and squeeze the best bargain from the resellers. For instance,
students just walk in and collect the leaflets and freebies, which puts a
question on the nature of the visitors. “It's important to attract the right
kind of audience to the event,” expressed Lalani.

Given the mundane nature of the expos, its time to review the exhibition
formats. “It's time for organizers to think from a different perspective while
organizing exhibitions. Instead of having too many channel partners show-casing
the same brand of products and fighting over price, let vendors directly
participate at the expo. Vendors can showcase their products while channel
partners can do the value addition of manning the stall,” added Lalani.

Snigdha Karjatkar