Pleasing the Gods

Several years ago, I hired a cabinetmaker to construct half a dozen cherrywood built-ins with adjustable shelves. Handsome, beautifully-crafted things.

I noticed the man was finishing every edge of every shelf―all 60 of them―and asked, "Why bother to finish all four edges, when you can only see the one facing you?"

His reply was dour. "Because I see them."

It's delightful to encounter mortals who won't run in the race to the bottom.

The sculptor Phidias was commissioned in 440 BC to create statues for the roof of the Parthenon. 

After the installation, the city accountant refused to pay his bill.

"These statues are on the roof of a temple on the highest hill in Athens," the accountant complained. "Nobody can see anything but their fronts. Yet you have charged us for sculpting them in the round―for sculpting back sides nobody can see."

"You're wrong," Phidias replied. "The gods can see them."

There's danger in the race to the bottom, as Seth Godin says: you might win.

And whether you do or don't, the gods can see you.

Stirred, Not Shaken

An angel investor and a tradeshow producer, Marco Giberti and Jay Weintraub, have pooled their considerable talents to write the 185-page book The Face of Digital, a look-see into the turbulent tradeshow industry and the changes that will be wrought by technology in the coming five years―a time they agree "will redefine the way we think of digital media in connection with live events."

Tradeshows, "the original social networks," can stand a stirring, the authors insist. Exhibitors, who foot the bills, cannot calculate ROI; and attendees, shows' raisons d'etre, can barely navigate them.

But the improvements wrought by tech will be gentle, the authors say.

"The events industry is not ripe for a disruption, in the mold of Uber or Airbnb," they write. "Instead, it's more likely that hundreds, even thousands, of small players will emerge to solve individual problems."

Among the problems solved by digital technology:

• No attendee will ever again stand in a line to get in; apps will let them buy their badges weeks in advance, in seconds.

• No attendee will ever again feel lost in a crowd; apps will signal when friends are nearby.

• No one will waste time scrutinizing inscrutable signs; apps will recommend the best path to the next booth you want to visit.

• No attendee will ever miss a speaker's session; livestreaming will let her watch it on demand.

• No attendee will ever go home empty-handed; matchmaking apps will connect her to other attendees and exhibitors even after the show.

• Exhibitors will no longer pay a penny for drayage; products will be demonstrated in virtual reality.

• Follow-up will no longer be dismal; CRM systems will automate and personalize the activity.

• Exhibitors will no longer grouse about foot-traffic; beacons will smooth crowd-flows.

• Rainforests will no longer fear tradeshows; digital will replace paper exchanges 100%.

The solutions to these problems aren't imaginary, the authors point out: they exist now. 

Tradeshow producers just don't know it―or care much.

"Like the newspaper industry," they write, "the events industry is still very much in transition between the predigital age and an era in which digital integration will become commonplace in every aspect of our lives and businesses."

But competition against digital marketing for exhibitors' dollars will wake complacent producers up, just in time for "the Cambrian explosion of digital tools for events."

Giberti and Weintraub's book is a must-read for every tradeshow producer and exhibitor, as well as anyone whose livelihood is derived from face-to-face. Their viewpoints are sensible and admirably realistic.

My own is that the changes ahead will be less incremental; that the tradeshow business is less like the newspaper business and more like the apartment-rental one; and that an Airbnd-ish "disruptor" lurks just over the horizon.

Yes, tradeshow producers have a lock on things for the moment.

But, as James Bond might say, the industry's about to be "shaken, not stirred."

How to Draw a Crowd

Drawing attendees to events remains producers' runaway biggest challenge, as Sam Lippman's latest ECEF Pulse proves.

Six in 10 producers name attendance acquisition their Number 1 challenge, according to the study, while numerical event attendance has declined three straight years in a row.

That's a pity, because drawing a crowd ain't rocket science. The formula goes as follows:

Step 1. Build an evergreen e-list by promoting your event year-round. Use e-mail marketing and social media. Smother prospects with great content. Supplement those tactics with retargeting. And rent prospect lists, to be sure you're covering the universe.

Step 2. Mobilize your speakers, sponsors and exhibitors to help spread the word. Tap influencers to do the same. Make it easy for them to help you. If some resist, move on: there are more than enough enlightened ones out there to make a king-size dent in your universe.

Step 3. Telemarket VIPs. They merit a special touch. And roll out at the same time some targeted direct mail―attendee marketing's Old Faithful.

Step 4. Hire a decent agency. Attendance acquisition isn't a DYI project. If you want a recommendation, I have one.

Power Corrupts

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

― Lord Acton 

Former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich has accused President Trump of "trying to start a civil war" to forestall his impeachment for treason.

It can't happen here, you say?

I have two words for you.

Aaron Burr.

A Revolutionary War hero, Burr lost the 1800 presidential election to Thomas Jefferson, becoming his vice president.

Jefferson rapidly distanced himself from Burr, withholding support for his renomination to a second term in 1804.

Alexander Hamilton, quoted by a newspaper at the time, called Burr "a dangerous man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government.”

Burr killed Hamilton in a duel over the remark, and fled from New Jersey to New Orleans, where he met with an agent of America's old nemesis, Spain. Together, the two men plotted to create their own independent republic in Texas, and began assembling a militia to seize the land.

In 1807, while leading that militia, Burr was arrested for treason in Alabama by the federal government (his co-conspirator had snitched on him), and taken to Richmond for trial.

As it happened, Burr was acquitted on grounds that he had not waged war against the US.

Chief Justice John Marshall argued that Burr had a First Amendment right to voice opposition to the government, and that merely to engage in a conspiracy against it isn't enough to be convicted of treason: you have to wage actual warfare. "There must be an actual assembling of men for the treasonable purpose, to constitute a levying of war," Marshall wrote.

After the trial, Burr fled to England, where he tried without success to convince several foreign governments to provide him an army with which to seize Texas.

He returned to America five years later, when the incident was all but forgotten, and lived to age of 80.

Break with the Past

If you don't contradict yourself on a regular basis, then you're not thinking.

― Malcolm Gladwell

Three months ago, I insisted the 1,500 Confederate memorials peppering public spaces throughout the South should be preserved.

After Charlottesville, I have changed my opinion.

The monuments represent not only an eyesore to most African Americans, but a threat to public safety. They should be removed from the streets and parks where the former Confederates placed them.

Enough souls―625,000―perished in our Civil War.

No more need do so.

RIP, Heather Heyer.

What's your opinion?