The Social Side of Trade Shows

Let’s say it’s the end of the first day of the trade show, and The Booth Gang has put in an eight to ten hour day, coming off jet lag from the night before. It’s about six and the hall is clearing out. What to do now?

Most likely, The Gang will head over to the bar and unwind with a few drinks, and then someone will suggest dinner, and you’re all off in a cab to someplace, and that’s OK. Dinner can be a debrief of the day, and a good day in the booth might be worthy of a celebration and a genuine bonding experience among the staff.

But it might not be the optimal use of The Gang’s time. After all, you’re here to take the temperature of the industry and that’s going to be hard to do without taking the temperature of its participants. Or you may be invited out with a client or even a competitor.

Double Date?

One way to have it both ways is to double date. Take somebody from your office with you to the client dinner and suggest they bring someone along too. That way, you’ll be spared the burden of carrying a whole dinner’s worth of conversation by yourself. If they then say they’d rather meet one on one, consider the possibilities–you may be going into a job interview, or they may want to lay a resume on you. If this doesn’t sound like your idea of fun after a ten hour day in the booth, you might suggest lunch tomorrow when you’ll be more focused on whatever business they might have in mind.

It is true that some people do think of themselves as “out of school” during conventions, and so it’s handy to bring an office mate along in case your dinner companions decide to stage a Long Island Ice Tea endurance contest.

What Happens in Vegas

Since every place has a casino now, it shouldn’t be necessary to drop in a cautionary word about Las Vegas, but it is. I once got the “chef’s tour” as part of an investigative reporting assignment on security at a Vegas casino, and long story short, pretty much everything and everyone is under constant surveillance.

In addition, there are a raft of acts that are misdemeanors in other jurisdictions, but in Nevada they are felonies that carry automatic prison sentences. The movie “Casino” isn’t too far off the mark.

Wherever you are, there is always the possibility someone in your party will land in some sort of trouble far from home. Imagine getting one of these calls at 3 a.m. If you are in a supervisory or leadership position, it might be best to have a plan with headquarters–who will most likely have a lawyer on staff–just in case you need one. That’s the number you’re calling first. This is doubly true if you are meeting in a foreign jurisdiction.