the June 2008 Issue in PDF Format - Trade Show Executive

Power Lunch
Continued from page 25
Chomping at the Bit. Attendees and media flood into the Central Hall at the 2008 International CES,
excited to see the latest and greatest in consumer electronics technology.
The Big Picture. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin joins CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro for a public
conversation about the digital television transition, cable compatibility and other issues critical to the
consumer electronics industry at the 2008 CES.
Bob: For decades, the CES was held semiannually.
Why did the association decide
to drop the Summer CES starting in 1996
and run the show only annually?
Gary: Many factors influenced this
decision. First, we lost a significant
portion of our Summer show by not
paying attention to our customers. The
game industry was growing tremendously,
while the rest of the consumer electronics
industry was stagnant. Our Board of
Directors was inflexible, keeping seniority
rules that didn’t make sense. Then we
moved to Philadelphia, and ultimately, E3
emerged on its own from our Summer
event. It was the most painful episode of
my career.
Bob: How did you pick up the pieces?
Gary: You learn a lot when you make
mistakes and this was certainly one of
my great learning experiences. I tried
to convince my Board that they were
walking away from millions in revenues.
It later gave me immense credibility with
my Board, but it hurt the organization at
that time.
Bob: You mentioned that you didn’t pay
attention to your customer. Isn’t this
where most organizers go wrong?
Gary: We certainly pay attention today.
We survey every segment of our customer
base before and after each show, with
about 15 direct surveys. We also survey
the registrants who are no-shows. With
the “My CES” website, we now know
who our customers are and what they are
seeking, plus a huge amount of other key
data. We also conduct indirect surveys
of 21,000 people before we do our ad
campaigns to get their reaction.
Bob: Do you segment your show ads by
industry subsector?
Gary: We do have one generic ad, but
most ads focus on a particular product
category of interest. This year, we’ve
created four different ads: one focusing
on all things home theater/video/audio
content; another on in-home technology,
home networking and IT; a third on all
things wireless and mobile; and then one
generic ad giving an overall representation
Continued on page 28
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