Beyond buy-sell in exhibitions

I had a superb interview for the SISO column with with Peter Eelman, the VP of Exhibitions for the Association for Manufacturing Technology last week on the subject of 'beyond the buy sell equation' in events. You would imagine that an association in manufacturing might be 'pulling in their horns' given the what's happening to GM, Ford and Chrysler in Detroit. Far from it.

Peter has the fortune of having the backing and urging of a very innovative group of folks at the association who gives him a fertile opportunity to keep producing areas of creativity. Why does he do this? Because as he says "in times where sales are down, people still need to know what going to happen in the next three, five or ten years, so we've provided a forum for that in addition to a massive tradeshow where business is done". Just another way the event is a must attend, even in bad times.

Looking forward to writing the full article which will be available on my resource page soon.

Just another way that a really good event stays vibrant in tough times. What are you doing to keep your head above water?