Trade show attendance

On 7/19/05, Kirk McElhearn <kirkmcelhearn.com> wrote:
> Adam wrote, in this weeks TidBITS:
>
> <http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08178>
>
> > (In contrast, January 2005's Macworld
> > Expo in San Francisco saw nearly 36,000 attendees).
>
> <http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07952>
>
> The Paris Apple Expo claims 60,000 attendees last year - is it
> possible that Paris is getting nearly twice as many visitors as SF,
> or is this simply bogus numbers? (I got this directly from the PR
> person for the Paris show...)
>
>
> [The article I link above does talk about how IDG World Expo has gone to "real" numbers, so there's no telling how those might compare. -Adam]

I was at the Paris Expo this past year and as I remember it there was
some noise about them counting people as they came through the entry
doors, so if you left and came back you were counted twice. They
claimed that the numbers were averaged over the show's run so that it
works out to a reasonable estimate but it's hard to say.

I can tell you that there were a LOT of people there and I certainly
think it rivaled the last MacExpo SF I went to (about 2000 or so).
They had an overflow room set up for the keynote and closed circuit
screen throughout the lobby trying to get enough capacity for all the
people trying to attend. Three years earlier the keynote was only 1/2
to 2/3 of the same (huge) conference hall (Palais des Congres).

There has definitely been a BIG upswing in interest in the Paris Expo
in the last 3 years.

Christopher Appell
European Market
FreeRecruiting.com

Christophe Appell wrote:

>I was at the Paris Expo this past year and as I remember it there was
>some noise about them counting people as they came through the entry
>doors, so if you left and came back you were counted twice. They
>claimed that the numbers were averaged over the show's run so that it
>works out to a reasonable estimate but it's hard to say.

This is traditionally how trade shows have counted attendees.
Macworld Expo switched to an audited (i.e., real) system a couple of
years back. The resulting numbers are much lower but actually
accurate. Because yes, you could go outside the hall to pee and then
come back in and you'd count for two people. :-)

-jason
--
Jason Snell: jsnellintertext.com - AIM/iChat: mw jsnell
www.teevee.org - sports.intertext.com

On 7/28/05 21:06, "Jason Snell" <jsnellintertext.com> wrote:

> This is traditionally how trade shows have counted attendees.
> Macworld Expo switched to an audited (i.e., real) system a couple of
> years back. The resulting numbers are much lower but actually
> accurate. Because yes, you could go outside the hall to pee and then
> come back in and you'd count for two people. :-)

I tried to think about this once, and realized that I could argue both sides
equally well.

Are you counting bodies or names? If someone comes in once per day for three
days, do they count once or thrice? If they count once, then you could, by
that standard, have a Macworld with zero attendance on every day after the
keynote.

That's not accurate either. I decided that it was all guesswork, and as long
as you were consistent within the framework of whatever system you used, and
published your methodologies and raw data, then you were being just as
honest as any other "audited" system.

--
John C. Welch Writer/Analyst
Bynkii.com Mac and other opinions
jwelchbynkii.com

Since you have to register for a badge and cannot enter the exibition floor without one, wouldn't a more accurate measure of attendees simply come from the recorded number of registrants?

On Jul 29, 2005, at 10:20 AM, Norman Oldfield wrote:

> Since you have to register for a badge and cannot enter the exibition
> floor without one, wouldn't a more accurate measure of attendees
> simply come from the recorded number of registrants?

Now's a good time to jump in about trade show attendance.

I cannot speak directly to what Macintosh shows do or don't do, but I
can speak for what happens in the model railroad field where I work and
play.

Our hobby and its' trade show attendance is much, much smaller than
anything that we would deal with in the Mac field. But, there is
probably a good comparison percentage wise. There is one particular
show that I exhibit at most every year where I have complained bitterly
(for years) about actual attendance. Show management would brag about
the fact they had, say 1700 attendees. True enough, pure number wise.
I would counter argue with the fact that they counted the model
railroader himself, his wife, children, exhibitors (and exhibitor
"helpers", wives, children), guests, all sorts of assorted hangers-on,
ad naseum. I was at one show a few years ago where I started tracking
this sort of stuff, and just a rough count got the number down to
around 500 actual model railroaders there. You can imagine show
management reaction to that fact...

A few years ago, I decided to do an annual two day, narrow
gauge/logging model railroad show here in Brevard, N.C. (called Narrow
Trak). I put the prime MODEL RAILROAD attendants on one badge numbering
track; wives, girlfriends, guests, etc. on another and exhibitors on
their own numbering track (even using different colors). I had
complaints from some (not all) exhibitors that "There's no one here..."
or words to that effect. Trying to explain the numbering system was
like trying to explain nuclear physics. I further said that you could
tell by badge numbers which people were really model railroaders and
would SPEND MONEY WITH YOU. Seemed to fall on deaf ears in a number of
cases. I had one guy tell me: "I'm not coming until you get your
attendance numbers up."

The other thing I've done is the only way you can sell anything at my
show is to be a manufacturer or publisher selling your own products and
buy a table. I allow no dealers (mail order, internet, full-retail or
discounters), or no one wandering the show room floor passing out
literature and no selling in the parking lot, etc. I had a hard time
getting that message through for a long time.

However, I'm going to stick with my system. I'm stubborn enough to
believe it will eventually work. When I go to Macintosh events, I
simply don't pay attention to attendance figures. Not worth the energy.

Frank A. Pearsall
Underground Railway Press
President, Transylvania Macintosh Users Group (www.transyslvaniamug.org)
Brevard, N.C.

On 7/29/05, Norman Oldfield <normano1mac.com> wrote:
> Since you have to register for a badge and cannot enter the exibition floor
> without one, wouldn't a more accurate measure of attendees simply come from
> the recorded number of registrants?

Not really, many more people register for a badge than actually show
up. They give them away after all and mail them to your office a month
ahead of time.

Christopher Appell
European Market
FreeRecruitng.com

On 8/1/05 08:52, "Christophe Appell" <butchfaggmail.com> wrote:

>> Since you have to register for a badge and cannot enter the exibition floor
>> without one, wouldn't a more accurate measure of attendees simply come from
>> the recorded number of registrants?
>
> Not really, many more people register for a badge than actually show
> up. They give them away after all and mail them to your office a month
> ahead of time.

Count badgeholders. Those you normally have to show up for.


[OK, we're starting to split hairs here... enough on this. -Adam]


--
John C. Welch Writer/Analyst
Bynkii.com Mac and other opinions
jwelchbynkii.com