It's no secret that countless large companies could, if they so desired, shift their ample trade-show exhibiting budgets towards the creation of their own proprietary events. But that's unlikely to happen, because trade shows are still valuable to even the biggest companies in America. Jon Bromberg, director of corporate marketing group events for Microsoft, in Redmond, WA -- which spends huge sums each year for a prominent presence at Comdex and the Consumer Electronic Show as well as at many smaller, vertical shows -- says that "third-party events and trade shows will not be eliminated from our marketing plan. The percentage of our budget that we put towards external shows will vary depending on our product cycles and the specific objectives over a period of time, but external shows are always a sizable percentage of the mix. They're necessary for comparison opportunities, showing the breadth of our products versus competitors, which you can't get with a proprietary event."
Here are some of the things that show managers can do to persuade Bromberg of the value of having Microsoft's presence at an industry exhibition:
Use independent audits. "We need real information on who the attendees are, their specific demographics and habits. It's the big-ticket item for us. Show managers used to be able to work their magic on the numbers any way they liked, but more shows are getting on this bandwagon, which is good. And we need not only independent auditing, but consistency of audit systems and feedback from shows in a particular industry for comparison ability."
Improve the value proposition. "Smart negotiating by show managers that reduces our costs for space, labor, technology, and services is important to us."
Improved sponsorship opportunities. "We want the ability to comarket such that our presence is well publicized across all the marketing materials and on the Web."
Tapping the firm as an educational resource. "We'd like to see an ability for us to sponsor additional tracks or sessions that, in the context of a particular issue, would allow us to educate people on our products. And the potential for positioning one of our executives in a prominent place in a session, like a keynote, doesn't hurt."
As for outboarding -- holding unofficial proprietary events during an industry show rather than having a show-recognized presence -- Bromberg says that Microsoft will try to stay clear of it in the foreseeable future. "If we are going to benefit from a show, we feel that we should support that show. We've always had a presence on the floor and ancillary parties off the floor, but in conjunction with that industry event."