I read an article “Trade Shows, Web 2.0 Style” on Forbes online. A very catchy title that draws my attention. But the editorial is kinda disappointing. After all these years, the fellow media are still chasing the myth of virtualosity.

Certainly, I am not a big fan of Second Life. Although I know how cutting-edge is the Second Life technology, I just don’t connect with the virtual reality kind of presentation. Having said that, Second Life is quite gimmicky for business community these days. Many big organizations are hosting their SL presences on this virtual community. Coke hosted its SL press conference, CISCO hosted its SL mini show, etc. Public commentary are once again propagating “Here come Virtual World Trade Shows… Seriously.”

Let’s say if we are progressing toward the “trade show 2.0 era,” I believe usability and user experience are still the two elements that trade show organizers need to put effort to make improvement. Usability means how effective a trade show or trade show media can facilitate the exhibitors and visitors to get the job done. User experience is all about navigation and all the information being acquired and perceived during the process. The present life of trade show has no difference compares with the second life. They both aren’t just about “Booth.”

I was once explaining the similarity between a search engine and a trade show to a friend in the search marketing community. Both search engine and trade show are about “when someone looks, someone will be found.” If you are in the trade show business, you will know how competitive the exhibitors are paying for visibility. Same as the companies are bidding for keywords and optimizing contents for good ranking on a search engine. They all want to be found. For the people who search on the Internet or walk a trade show, the experience are also the same. Some do search with preciseness, some do navigate and browse with patience. Usability and User Experience are two big words in Internet community. They also apply to your trade show business.

Each year we have more than 3,000 trade shows organized in this region. Most of the shows are just booths and ads. I seldom or have never seen a trade show organizer who can provide a portable barcode reader, which allows the exhibitors to scan the visitors’ badge and makes easy for the leads management. Believe me, it will make the trade show usability and user experience a huge difference. And because each year we have more than 3,000 trade shows organized in this region, if the trade show organizers don’t improve usability and user experience; if your exhibitors happen to be someone like Xerox, one day they will choose Second Life over your present life.

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