But bad co-location can be like a cancer on an event. I worked for several years on the largest smart card industry event in the US. This event was essentially a co-location of two industry events: one for security/ID and one for financial services. One group uses smart cards for identity purposes and the other for payment services. Simple, right? Everybody uses the same card technology, so why not put the whole thing together? Except these groups are like night and day. Imagine an event that tried to attract both farmers and airline pilots. How would you create a marketing message that appeals to both groups? The obvious answer was to split and try to grow two smaller shows. Except every financial scenario showed an immediate drop in net profits, with no guarantee of future success. The company opted for the “safe” status quo, which was essentially a guarantee of future failure: the event eroded steadily and consistently, year after year. Industry alignment got worse, and the exhibitors got a smaller and smaller audience.

One last word about the very relative perception of success: The Medical Design show was packed. There were hundreds of attendees in every aisle, and it was difficult to speak with some exhibitors because they were busy with potential clients. I know a dozen shows that would kill to have that kind of traffic. But when I spoke to exhibitors, several were disappointed. Their perception was that the event was down from the previous year.