10 Tips for Working Trade Shows

Aren't trade shows supposed to be dead? More than a decade ago, with the rise of the Internet, many predicted trade shows would go the way of the dodo.
But instead, they've flourished. I think people long for personal contact more than ever in our era of Webinars, video calling, and instant messages. Also, the more global business becomes, the more convenient it is to meet everyone at a trade show in Las Vegas or Boston, rather than trying to see customers one at a time. So, no surprise trade-show organizers report stable revenue, even through the downturn.

Still, it's a serious financial commitment, and it's hard to know whether attending a particular trade show will be worth the expense.

I've been to dozens of trade shows over the years. Here are my tips for how to decide which ones to attend and get the most out of the ones you choose:

Review the speaker list. Are these thought leaders you respect? 

Look at the attendee list. An online registration page will often show you who has signed up. I recently did this with a convention I'm considering and immediately spotted people I would love to spend time with in person.

Check out the seminar list. What are the topics? A single great session that answers  business questions you have could make the whole trip worthwhile.

Consider renting a booth. Yes, it costs a bundle. But a booth can be a home base for your team and it can leave a big impression on attendees. For instance, entrepreneur Scott Friedman of SoulR Products in Hermosa Beach, Calif., bet $75,000 on a booth at the recent Consumer Electronics Show to introduce a new, high-quality speaker. His haul? More than 700 business cards to follow up on, a few orders, and solid connections with major retail chains.

Schedule appointments. If there are important people to see, don't wait until you get to the trade show to set up a time to chat. Arrive with a schedule.

Eat lunch for two hours. When I want to meet a lot of people at trade shows, I hit the food court around 11:30. I sit down at a table, and then as others sit down, chat them up. I often stay until 2 p.m. or so. People are a a captive audience once they sit down and most are pretty amenable and friendly when they're at lunch. 

See booths systematically. You can save a lot of time and shoe leather if you have a logical game plan for visiting booths.

Wear comfortable shoes and clothes. You want to project positive energy, so make sure you don't have tired feet or a pinching waistband. I did years of trade shows in a fabulous turquoise silk suit that had a hidden elastic waist. I felt like a million bucks and was completely comfy.

Watch your liquor consumption. I think everyone who's ever been to a trade show has a story about watching an executive who got too drunk at a mixer event. Keep it professional, even in the event's "off hours."

Follow up and connect. The real work starts when you get home. If you just throw all those business cards in a drawer, the trip may well have been a waste. Find creative ways to follow up -- connect on LinkedIn or Twitter, send prospects an interesting article. Develop ways to stay in touch that go beyond saying, "Why don't you buy something from me?"

Going to any trade shows in 2011? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Booming China shows off its 220 mph train

HANGZHOU, China — China rolled out its fastest train yet on Tuesday and announced that the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric project, is now generating electricity at maximum capacity — engineering triumphs that signal the nation's growing ambitions as its economy booms.

The successes demonstrate how, after decades of acquiring technology from the west, Beijing has begun to push the limits of its new capabilities, setting the bar higher on mega-projects as it seeks to promote the image of a powerful, modern China. But many of these initiatives have come at great human and environmental cost, and some have questioned whether the country fosters a sufficiently innovative spirit to compete on the next level.

Still in the works: more nuclear power plants, a gargantuan project to pump river water from the fertile south to the arid north, and a $32.5 billion, 820-mile (1,300-kilometer) Beijing-to-Shanghai high-speed railway that is scheduled to open in 2012.

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'Now much faster'
"We are now much faster," Railway Ministry spokesman Wang Yongping said at Tuesday's inauguration of the super-fast line from Shanghai's western suburb of Hongqiao to the resort city of Hangzhou. "Now other countries are hoping to cooperate with us."

The train will cruise at a top speed of about 220 mph (350 kph), making the 125-mile (200-kilometer) trip in 45 minutes.

China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network and aims to more than double its length to 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.

Chinese companies are also vying for projects overseas, including in the U.S., which leads the world in freight railway technology but has almost no high-speed rail expertise. That's a mark of how well and quickly the technology has been adopted by Chinese companies, who have traditionally only been able to compete on price in bidding for railway and other basic infrastructure projects in the developing world.

The Three Gorges Dam has been more controversial, though the government has relentlessly touted the $23 billion project as the best way to end centuries of floods along the mighty Yangtze and provide energy to fuel the country's economic boom.

The water level in the vast reservoir behind it hit its peak height of 574 feet (175 meters) at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, according to project operator, the China Three Gorges Project Corp. The previous record was 567 feet (172.8 meters), set in 2008, the year the generators began operating.

In the future, the water level will be adjusted depending on flood-control needs but kept within 100 feet (30 meters) of the maximum.

Warnings of damage
While raising the water level increases the electricity production of the dam, some geologists have warned that damming up too much water in the reservoir carries a heightened risk of landslides, earthquakes and prolonged damage to the river's ecology. As officials attempted to raise water levels in the reservoir last fall, at least one town had to evacuate dozens of residents after a hairline crack appeared on the slopes above homes.

In addition, millions have been displaced and great swaths of productive farmland sacrificed for dam and projects like it.

Company chairman Cao Guangjing called Tuesday's feat a "historical milestone." He said annual power generation will reach 84.7 billion kilowatt hours, enabling "the project to fulfill its functions of flood control, power generation, navigation and water diversion to the full."

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Average economic growth rates of more than 9 percent per year over the past two decades have laid the foundation for rapid progress in a growing number of fields, including launching three manned space flights since 2003 and building a railway across the Tibetan plateau from Beijing to Lhasa. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and this year's mammoth Shanghai World Expo have demonstrated a growing managerial sophistication as well as ability to build infrastructure on an enormous scale.

But while the tremendous growth has enabled China to build big, some wonder if it can build smart — and become a source of true innovation.

Stifling bureaucracy
Science and technology research in the country tends to be heavily topdown, laden with a stifling government bureaucracy. Many of China's best scholars and scientists depart for greener pastures abroad, while other top minds are pushed into administrative roles, leaving them little time for research.

Although China holds the patents on the technology, design and equipment used by the CRH380 train, some in the industry question the degree to which China is justified in claiming the latest technology as its own.

"Everybody knows that a lot of the core technology is European," Michael Clausecker, director general of Unife, the Association of the European Rail Industry, said in a recent interview.

And despite the obvious benefits high-speed railways bring, the replacement of slower lines with more expensive high-speed trains has prompted complaints from passengers reluctant to pay higher fares, especially on shorter routes.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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