Posted 04.03.01
Trade shows aren't usually considered a particularly sexy type of event. But leave the U.S., and you see a slightly more sordid version of business exhibiting. In a column on the International Event Planner Digital Web site, Vanessa Saunders, director of global operations for Heritage Exhibits in St. Paul, Minn., reveals the "The three B's" of international trade shows: booze, babes and butts. (The butts are from cigarettes.) In contrast to Americans' resistance to serving drinks or smoking cigarettes on a trade show floor, both activities are quite common in many foreign countries. And hiring attractive exhibit hostesses--seen as sexist by many Americans--is a common practice. But what if you or your company disapproves of such ploys? Saunders' advice: "Without them you will stand alone in the crowd. Very alone."
Inside Your Industry Archives...
Trade shows aren't usually considered a particularly sexy type of event. But leave the U.S., and you see a slightly more sordid version of business exhibiting. In a column on the International Event Planner Digital Web site, Vanessa Saunders, director of global operations for Heritage Exhibits in St. Paul, Minn., reveals the "The three B's" of international trade shows: booze, babes and butts. (The butts are from cigarettes.) In contrast to Americans' resistance to serving drinks or smoking cigarettes on a trade show floor, both activities are quite common in many foreign countries. And hiring attractive exhibit hostesses--seen as sexist by many Americans--is a common practice. But what if you or your company disapproves of such ploys? Saunders' advice: "Without them you will stand alone in the crowd. Very alone."
Inside Your Industry Archives...
