Tuesday, I took a moment to wander around the exhibit hall at the VON.x conference in San Jose. There were surprisingly few people wandering the halls, and few people at the one presentation I attended. The stuff I actually saw in the exhibit hall? Nothing that excited me.

I know that VoIP Watcher Andy Abramson says the value of trade shows is not in the exhibit hall, but in the hallway outside the main event. That may be true, but I do wonder if companies that are spending all this money and time to exhibit or present at VON.x are getting their money's worth.

Most of the products demonstrated at these events are not products you can go out and buy today. Either they are services that require time to set up or hardware that requires even more time and money to set up. You can't walk out of the trade show with much of anything other than information or maybe a commitment. Those potential sales can be tracked and quantified.

Originally, when I had written this piece, I saw dubious value in VON.x and other trade shows. With a little bit of behind-the-scenes insight from Andy Abramson and others, I was able to interpret the things I saw walking around VON.x in a different way. I now get it and see tremendous value.

The trade show itself is really an excuse to meet potential customers and partners in person. The people who use trade shows effectively will use that time to make in-person connections, meet with potential customers, make partnerships, and close sales. Where are these meetings happening? Not necessarily on the exhibition room floor. They are happening in the hallways and in the hotels around the events. I saw it with my own eyes.

There are companies who aren't even exhibiting at the event, but they have scheduled meetings in the hotels around the trade show location to meet potential customers and partners. That's pretty smart.

Picture from Jeff Pulver