Attendee: Participant survey results

The attendee survey was mailed to 1,437 distributor and retailer attendees of ICAST 2003, of which 258 responded for a response rate of 18 per cent. This is a respectable response rate. It is somewhat less than the response rate for exhibitors, which is typical.

Reasons For Attending
New Products. Discovering new products was the top reason indicated for attending the show, with 97 % of respondents indicating this was very important or important. Of these, 88% indicated the show delivered well (57%) or extremely well (31%) in this area.

Personal Relationships. Developing personal relationships with suppliers was indicated as important by 95% of respondents with an identical 95% reporting that the show delivered well in this area. This is a very positive response since developing personal relationships is at the heart of the trade show experience. This response should be helpful in marketing efforts.

Show Specials. Taking advantage of Show Specials was indicated as important by 66% of respondents. Of these, however, only 15% indicated the show delivered extremely well in this area while 59% indicated fairly well. Nearly one in four indicated the show did not deliver well in this area and there were many comments regarding Show Specials. This is discussed in the Recommendations section.

Seminars. Attending seminars was indicated as important by only 30% of attendees. This may mean that attendees are not interested in seminars at all or are not interested in the seminars presented. For a variety of reasons, seminars are an important component of the trade show and ASA should give thought to developing seminar topics of particular interest to attendees, especially retailers. We fully realize this is easier to suggest than to accomplish.

Attendance
The survey responses indicate an interesting attendance pattern whereby only 80% of respondents attended the first day; 87% attended the second and 57% attended the third day.

Nearly 78% of attendees indicated other representatives from their company also attended the show. In 44% of responses there were two attendees per company and in 17% there were three. Other responses ranged from four to 40 to “lots.”

Attendance at Special Events
In general there appears to have been very modest participation by attendees at the various special events and venues.

New-Product Showcase. Only 57% of respondents indicated that they visited the New Product Showcase. This is difficult to understand since 97% indicated that discovering new products was an important reason for attending the show. Only a guess, but perhaps attendees feel they’ll see the new products—and be able to talk price, delivery, etc. at the individual company exhibit.

New Product Preview Reception. Only 16% of respondents indicated that they attended the New Product Preview Reception.

Other Events. Fewer than 10% of respondents indicated they attended any of the other special events such as the Industry Breakfast, Chairman’s Reception or Cyber Lounge. And fewer than 5% indicated attending the New Product Awards Announcements!

Buyer Raffles
Fewer than 30% of responding attendees indicated they were aware of the Buyer Raffle for buyers who wrote orders at the show. We don’t currently know enough about this program to make a recommendation but if there is much expense involved it is a promotion that might be revisited.

Writing Orders
Slightly more than half (55%) of responding attendees indicated they wrote orders at the show. Of these, some 70% were under $50,000. Nearly 25% of orders were over $50,000.

Show Specials
Slightly more than half of respondents (54%) indicated they took advantage of Show Specials. This is very consistent with the number who placed orders. Thoughts on improving response to Show Specials are provided in the Recommendations section.

Value of Show Specials in Off-setting Attendance Costs
Nearly 40% of responding attendees agreed that buyers could totally or partially offset the expenses of attending ICAST by taking advantage of show specials. However, 41% indicated that they weren’t sure. Only 7% strongly disagreed with this notion. We believe a marketing opportunity exists here.

MAATS
Fewer than 25 of responding attendees indicated that the co-located MAATS Show enhanced their ICAST experience. More than half indicated it did not and 26% indicated they were not sure.While 43% indicated they did not know what their reaction would be if the shows were co-located again, slightly more than 50% thought it would be favorable. In our view, if the shows are co-located again, a better job might be done of making attendees aware of when they can attend MAATS.

Future Show Dates
The majority of attendee respondents indicate a preference for the current show time frame. While 43% indicated preference for the “Current Schedule,” an additional 17 indicated July/August as preferred. No other time frame was preferred by more than 15% and Jan/Feb was preferred by only 7%. This response might provide an opportunity to quiet the controversy about Show dates.

Venue
Slightly more than 70% of responding attendees feel that all future ICAST shows should be scheduled for Las Vegas. 17% disagree and 13% were undecided. On the option of holding most shows in Las Vegas but moving to an alternate venue every few years, 40% agreed while 45% disagreed and 15% were undecided. See comments in Recommendations section.

Plans For 2004
Eighty percent of respondents indicate they plan to attend ICAST 2004, 14% aren’t sure and only 2% say no. Good news.