WWW .EVENT TECHBR I E F .COM

ART I C L E BY M ICHE L L E BRUNO

I S THE TRADE SHOWINDUS TRY READY FOR

UBER I ZA T I ON ?

@EVENT TECHBR I E F

THE EXH I B I TOREXPER I ENCE

If there is any customer experience ripe for disruption, it is

the exhibitor experience.

From start to finish, the exhibiting process is fraught with

friction—from multiple service providers, manual form

completion, and high costs to complex show-floor logistics

and long walks to the exhibitor service desk.

It is now within the trade show organizer’s power to help

transform the exhibitor journey.

THE S TORY OF

The story of Uber, the international transportation network

a.k.a. ride-sharing company, is well documented.

The company founders recognized the desire for taxicab

customers to forgo a number of indignities: waiting on the

curb, climbing into a germ-infested vehicle, experiencing a

harrowing ride, guessing about the final cost, and fumbling

for payment.

Instead, the company upgraded, digitized, and synthesized

the end-to-end customer experience to an unprecedented

level of success.

EXH I B I TOR CHA L L ENGES

While exhibiting in a trade show is far more complex than

taking a taxi, the process is similarly painful for many.

Exhibitors at trade shows confront a range of challenges

from repeatedly entering and reentering the same

information on general contractor order forms year after year

and show after show to having no easy way to consolidate

purchases from vendors—general contractors, floral, printing,

display properties, promotional products, exhibitor-

appointed contractors, etc.

EVENTR . I O

Eric Schaumburg, the developer of the Eventr.io trade show

marketplace, has created a cloud-based platform that makes

it possible for exhibitors to combine purchases from multiple

suppliers.

It consolidates and digitizes all ordering, invoicing, and

payments. Exhibitors can also track reports, show budgets,

margins, deadlines, tasks, files, and messages.

In the future, he envisions using the

platform to create other efficiencies as

well: finding shows, contracting labor,

or selling exhibitor products,

for example.

EVENTR . I O

Trade show organizers are the key to transforming the

exhibitor experience, Schaumburg says.

By adopting Eventr.io, they gain more control over the

exhibitor journey and visibility into what contractors are

charging and exhibitors are spending—data they can use in

negotiating with contractors, venues, and CVBs.

Organizers get the platform for free. Exhibitors

and vendors pay a small transaction fee for

access through the event website.

EVENTR . I O

Schaumburg believes that his platform could disrupt the

existing ecosystem of general contractors and preferred

vendors with what he describes as an Amazon-style

fulfillment system.

The news is not all bad for those companies though. “General

contractors make very little money on rentals. More and

more of them want to focus on delivering more creative

services,” he says.

They, like many other vendors, could

benefit from renting their properties

through a centralized system like

Eventr.io, he suggests.

EVENTR . I O

The “uberization” of the exhibitor journey, as Schaumburg

refers to it, will compel service providers to think more

deeply about the exhibiting process and address the

fundamental problems. And, disruption will occur whether

the incumbents are ready or not, he asserts.

Already, many small exhibitors are being priced out of

exhibiting and large companies are leaving trade shows to

organize their own events, not to mention the

preferences of a new generation of

millennial exhibitors who will find

the exhibiting process too archaic,

he adds.

UBER I ZA T I ON

Taxicab services existed for decades until Uber turned the

industry upside down with a mobile app and a better way to

do business.

The same thing will happen to trade shows, says Eric

Schaumburg. “Trade shows are great. They are one of the

most valuable activities a business can engage in, but

eventually organizers and service contractors will have to

provide a better experience to exhibitors,” he says.

Schaumburg is hoping that Eventr.io helps to spark the

revolution.

READ THE FU L L ART I C L EOR SUBSCR I B E AT

WWW .EVENT T ECHBR I E F .COM

@EVENT TECHBR I E F