Staying Relevant in the Trade Show Industry

rel·e·vant
adjective \ˈre-lə-vənt\

a : having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand

While attending the Exhibit Designers and Producers Association annual conference this past December, it became clear that the main goal shared by all who attended (whether we knew it or not) was practicing the art of staying RELEVANT. Staying relevant involves many things, and among my personal favorites are:

• Product showcases
• Attending social media seminars
• Taking continuing education courses
• Attending networking events and roundtables

All of these activities are designed to help connect individuals, educate, and share knowledge and awareness of yourself or your organization. Sounds like the holy grail of brand marketing, but if you think about it this way – while technology keeps evolving at a dizzying pace and everyone is connected to a device in some way all the time, this tech is still simply attempting to foster human interaction. “Hello, this is my world!” – mine is the world of trade shows, conferences, corporate events. Good old face-to-face marketing is still the desired result. In other words, technology is not replacing face-to-face, but enhancing it. When you look at it that way, even the old-fashioned among us can embrace technology, and that is a great way to remain relevant. 

Participating in industry events like EDPA Access, ExhibitorLIVE Show and others is just one of the many ways we gain the knowledge and experience needed to stay relevant and have positive impact on our peers, colleagues and customers. Yes, relevance is a bit of a buzzword, but that’s one bandwagon that seems worth riding.