Contrast the value of a smaller trade show against the value of a large event such as Essen. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

30 Sep 2014

Editor Introduction

We are in the midst of tradeshow season. With Security Essen and ASIS International back to back this year, several manufacturers are present at both. ASIS is one of the largest security tradeshows in North America, but not nearly as huge as Security Essen. Some prefer Essen, and others prefer smaller shows like ASIS or IFSEC. We asked some of our panellists for their thoughts on smaller versus larger tradeshows. Let's see what they had to say.

Omer Shavit ForeScout Technologies

Larger shows allow you to meet and network with an expanded group of people including customer prospects, current customers, partners and consultants. You also gain a unique perspective on current and emerging industry trends and new technologies. Additionally, there is a unique opportunity to participate in a wide variety of educational sessions.

Smaller shows are generally more focused on a specific topic or vertical where you have more time to meet with specific individuals. There are also typically more networking opportunities with the entire event (both attendees and exhibitors).

Overall, smaller shows are a great opportunity to focus on a specific region or market while a larger conference offers the experience to engage with a great number of people and companies in one space.

Simon Lambert Lambert & Associates

Indulge me for a while as a self-employed consultant where my time spent at trade shows means I forego my income that day. That’s a more significant hit than people who get a salary every month will appreciate. So, the upside must promise to outweigh the downside. Small exhibitions & conferences sometimes fail to achieve this because there might be little value in their selling point of ‘opportunities for longer, more intimate conversations’ if there are too few interesting parties in the room. If invited to speak at a small event I would want to be assured the audience contained strong possibilities for moving my business forward. Large shows can simply offer far greater expanses of fertile territory. This means that several days might be needed with hotels overnight and hours of evening emails. A small show can be complete within a day. This cost-benefit balance will be evaluated ahead of every event.

Larry Anderson

Small trade shows provide more quality time with a select few exhibitors, but you can’t beat the scale of an ASIS or ISC West to provide almost endless opportunities to see and learn. The condition of one’s feet after a long day is an obvious downside. Smaller conference-type events can work well, including planned presentations and plenty of networking time involving an intimate group of colleagues. The exhibition part of a small event might be “table-top” exhibits during a lunch period or cocktail hour. That’s enough time to see everybody.

Editor Summary

Every tradeshow in the security industry will have its own pros and cons, and each regular attendee, whether visitor or exhibitor, will have their own preferences in terms of larger or smaller tradeshows. Of course, as evident from our panellists' responses, it also largely depends what your main purpose of attending the show is. For manufacturers and consultants, larger tradeshows would make more sense and there's more chances of getting "more" out of it than with a smaller show. However, for networking purposes, this can go either way. While larger shows do provide more networking opportunities due to the larger number of attendees present, one must weigh up the costs of travel and accommodation for out-of-town shows. Also, these tend to be busier, so if you don't plan well in advance, it may be difficult to meet everyone you were hoping to meet. On the other hand, smaller shows might be easier to network at, but would it be worth going out of town for and staying overnight for a few days? Most people would say no, hence it's at larger international shows like Security Essen or ASIS that people will fly to from all over the world.