Anaheim, Calif. — Attendees at trade shows are normally in a passive role in their interaction with exhibitors; they have to wait for the exhibitors to sift through data collected by lead-retrieval systems and get back to them.Now, with ShowToShelf, a product from American Exposition Technologies, show attendees are the ones who electronically gather information on products and services being exhibited. This relieves them from having to stuff their carry bags full of brochures and merchandise. The process is simple: Each attendee is given a scanner that he uses to scan bar-codes on the products he's interested in; the ShowToShelf team then downloads the product information and emails it to the attendee."Attendees will have the information the next day," said Carmen Long, product manager with AET. "If they want it right there on the show floor, that's also possible. In the past if you wanted information about products you ended up with a whole stack of brochures. This makes it so much easier."Privacy is a critical concern, but Long maintained that individual attendees' information will remain confidential and secure.Pricing depends on the agreement with the show manager, according to Long. Factors include the location and the number of attendees.Corbin Ball, a meetings technology consultant, estimated that customers will pay $60 to $200 per scanner — which "may be too expensive if you have hundreds or thousands of attendees." Another version of ShowToShelf is in the works for possible release in about a year; it is possible that the next incarnation will be more economically feasible.Ball said he believes there is a viable market for this type of product among shows displaying products that are bar-code-intensive. And in fact, to date, the only customer of ShowToShelf has been the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, whose show includes a large quantity of bar-coded products. Long, however, said ShowToShelf's potential extends to other uses, including inventory control by show managers.Whether or not this particular system revolutionizes trade shows, there is value in exploring reverse lead retrieval. Said Ball, "It puts the control in the attendees' hands, and I think they like that empowerment."