The number of people attending trade shows bottomed out in 2009, the number of exhibitors and total show floor space did the same the following year. Since then, the number of attendees is growing at a high rate each year and is predicted to be more in 2014 than the previous peak in 2007.

Whether or not to go to a trade show is a question faced by landscape professionals every year. The benefits of attending have to be balanced by the costs of attending, not just travel costs but the cost of lost time and work.

Trade show attendance is valuable or the shows wouldn't survive. And indeed, the industry took a real hit during the recent recession. According to the Center for Exhibition Research, attendance levels bottomed out in 2009
but have since increased dramatically since then and have outpaced the rate of growth of exhibitors and net
square feet.

In other words, since 2009 people are going back to trade shows at a much higher rate than exhibitors are returning or that trade shows are adding floor space for the exhibitors. The CEIR is predicting trade show attendance to continue to rise through 2015.

That then raises a question that landscapers have to consider. Can you afford not to attend a trade show that more and more of your competitors are attending? And especially if it has been awhile since your last trade show – think of how much innovation you might have missed out on, or are going to miss out on while your competitors who attended have not.

Upcoming trade show information can be found here.