Here are some quick tips to help draw visitors to a trade show booth.

Alluring tactics are nice, but why not just offer a better product than the competitors?

At a recent expo, I observed the management company's banner hanging in a prominent location in the convention hall.

Several events displayed a management company logo on their registration forms, alongside sponsor logos.

Another company devoted a web page to itself on the event site, but none to the event it was hired to manage.

Event management companies should remain "behind the curtain." Their job is to promote the event, not themselves.

The Association for Exhibit & Event Professionals offers advice about how to demonstrate the value of a trade show presence to executives who approve expenditures.

Suggestions include documenting exhibit marketing efforts that focus on strategy, results, budget,and plans for improvement.

The hotel exhibits at Association Forum of Chicagoland's annual "Holiday Showcase" were as opulent as ever, when I visited yesterday. Hotels often purchase entire aisles, install plush carpeting, and create the feeling of a private, upscale, corporate suite.

One of them - Hilton Hotels - seemed a little too private, though. A drawn back curtain, much like what borders hotel windows and doorways, stood at each end of the aisle. It seemed to be marking a private space, so I didn't enter. I noticed fewer people loitering there than in other, more open areas.

More than three-fourths of the exhibitors here are typically destinations. If you aren't exploring conference sites, there's not much to do.

I spent my time networking. I chatted with colleagues who wandered the hall and touched based with people I don't see that often, like Tom Corcoran, the first expo manager I ever worked with.

Last year I won a raffle drawing but I'm usually just a sightseer. Unless I have real business at a booth, I just troll the aisles looking for people to talk to.

At Forum and ASAE, it's worth the time.

"People like human interaction. They want face-to-face contact," says John H. Graham IV, CAE, President and CEO of ASAE & The Center. He believes that association meetings serve a valuable need and will continue to thrive.

Meeting goers may still want to chat with exhibitors and colleagues, swap business cards, and get the lowdown about educational sessions. But that's not all they want.

They want to be able to communicate with vendors, customers, members, speakers, and others in ways they could not have done in the past. They want to use technology, not to replace personal contact, but to add to it and to enhance it.

Association Convention & Facilities magazine suggests tools and networking techniques that can make the meetings experience so much more valuable.

One tip of my own: If, while strolling through a convention or expo, you want stop to read or send a Tweet, first step to the side to conduct your business. You'll be less likely to block the aisle or have another distracted attendee bump into you.

Most association members have no idea what it costs to produce a trade show. Unless they've purchased expo booths, they don't know how expensive it can be to exhibit, either.

When Boards select meeting locales, costs are only one consideration. Geography, transportation, hotels, educational venues, sightseeing opportunities, and organizational politics also come into play.

The Chicago-based Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) balanced all of those issues and concluded that Chicago was too expensive for its next meeting. The city's advantages as a transportation hub and big city attraction were canceled out by the high cost of exhibition services.

HIMSS secured a better deal from Las Vegas NV. Its members may be very happy with the choice.

My wife is an avid gardener, so we always visit the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, at Chicago's Navy Pier. She checks out the buds, I examine exhibitor space and promotional materials.

The show is under new management (and ownership?). Here's what we observed this year:

- Elimination of not-for-profit and civic group tables. That's OK - that's not what people came to see. Besides, those tables, segregated at one end of the hall, were usually not attractive and the groups probably didn't pay for the space.

- Fewer booths in the "market" area. Vendors selling garden equipment, bulbs, plants, and various patio-related items were formerly shoehorned into one part of the hall. The reduced density of booths this year gave attendees some breathing room but probably robbed the show of income. It made the wine tasting exhibitor stand out even more (wine?).

- Big exhibits - featuring exquisitely designed gardens, walkways, and outdoor structures - were more clearly promotional displays for private companies and public places (museums, schools, botanic gardens) than in the past. Formerly, the displays were more about the plants and flowers.

- A play area was added for kids, with a sandbox and swings - courtesy of a company that sells upscale sandboxes and swing sets.

- Lots of promotion for the new management company (and owner?). "About us" on the web site talks about the company, not the show. The company even had its own banner hanging in the hall.

Although Navy Pier is an inconvenient, and expensive location, it is a favorite for association trade shows and meetings. Out-of-towners love it, and my wife was able to buy honey roasted almonds on the Pier (a tiny bag for $4).

"...when you add it all up, I've come to the conclusion the ROI may not be worth it."

These are the words of a company that no longer finds value in conferences. I wonder how many association vendors feel this way?

The Metro Chicago Association for the Education of Young Children (Metro AEYC) is beefing up its annual educational conference and trade show to stand up to competition from the national association, which has brought its program to Chicago with increasing frequency in recent years.

As part of its improvement effort, Metro AEYC is trying to increase traffic to its trade show, long a problematic part of the conference.

ASAE & The Center drives traffic to its show by providing free lunch in the exhibit hall. No educational sessions are scheduled during show time. The Chicago Marathon, and other athletic events, place runner packet pickup at the far end of the expo hall, so all participants have to walk the exhibition aisles before obtaining their bib numbers (registration), t-shirts, and goodie bags.

In past years, Metro AEYC did very little to draw attendees into the expo hall. Educational sessions were scheduled all day, and show traffic , not suprisingly, was often slow.

This year, the association is conducting a "Business Bingo," with raffle prizes drawn for attendees whose bingo cards are stamped at 15 or more booths. However, exhibitors must pay a fee (beyond the booth price) and donate a raffle prize if they want to be included in the game.

Vendors have long felt they were not treated as valued constituents and some now prefer exhibiting at the national conference. Socking booth buyers for extra fees will just erode whatever association loyalty remains.

The Rig Expo, on May 28 in Red Deer, Alberta, expected 5,000 attendees but only 22 showed up. Didn't organizers know ahead of time?