Trade Show InsightsNews, tips & tools to expand your knowledge of exhibiting

There’s no doubt that gadgets and apps have taken the trade show world by storm, but just how efficiently are you using the latest tools? Here are some resources to get you up to speed.

This list of 50 apps contains some handy ones for road-warrior trade show pros, including Alfred or Fondu (restaurant finders), CardMunch (converts business cards to digital contacts), SpringPad (personal assistant), and of course two rising stars –Instagram and Pinterest.

In the last post, I told you about 100 trends to watch regarding consumer behavior and marketing. In this Slideshare presentation by Julius Solaris, you’ll likely see some things you haven’t thought about using for your events, including social ads, livestreaming, and event dashboards. And be sure to check out the list of resources at the end of the presentation for links to learn more about each of the 10 trends. There are a wealth of tools in there!

So what do you see as trends that will shape the meeting and trade show industry this year?

Technology, food, and human interactions are all included in this list of people and things that will shape consumer behavior in the coming 12 months. JWT Intelligence has released their seventh annual forecast of consumer trends, and they’ve proven to be pretty accurate in the past.

Check out the complete list on Slideshare (shown below), or view a summary of 10 Trends on the JWT site. As you view the list, think about which items you believe will influence the world of meetings and trade shows. Here are the six I choose as most applicable (not in order of importance):

Ever since I wrote my book, Build a Better Trade Show Image — ten years ago — I’ve been trying to convince both show managers and exhibitors that doing shows the same way won’t cut it anymore. If you look at the statistics for many expos (especially association shows), you’ll see the primary demographic is age 40-plus, with many averaging even age 50-plus. But if you want your show to stay alive, you better figure out how to reach the 20- and 30-somethings, and you better do it quick!

Someone recently told me about this video featuring a company in South Korea who has created a supermarket in the subway. The key to the store’s success is their use of QR codes. In case you’re not familiar with them, they’re little bar code-like squares that are popping up everywhere from print ads to packaging to business cards. The way they work is that you snap a photo on your smart phone, which takes you to a link or some other kind of information embedded in the code. Although they’re not yet mainstream in the U.S., they’ve been popular in Asia for quite a few years already.