endub, From spooznewz re: Expo:
At 12:21 PM, Paul Strickland said...
Both Darryl Dennis and I have extensive experience with trade shows of the FIA variety. I think I have attended this particular show every year for the last 20. Last year we finally developed, what we believe, the most effective way to "work" FIA.
Firstly, we are not exhibitors this year as the least expensive booth is priced in excess of $10,000 before you pay a union electrician to plug in an extension cord. Then there is the issue of the display, etc. We believe there are far better tactics to get a "bigger bang for your buck" than exhibiting at FIA.
The FIA show floor does have a few scattered trading software company exhibitors, but the majority of the exhibitors are the exchanges and brokers. These are our target customers but their booths are not manned by decision makers, rather, they are manned by "bird dogs" who will take you right to upper level managers if your story is a good one. The idea is to make contacts for meetings with managers OFF the floor.
The point is that there is a tremendous amount of business that is done at FIA, but that business is conducted off the show floor in the cocktail lounge, in private offices, hotel rooms, and at receptions and social events.