I think items such as your October 1 editorial cartoon better serve BtoB readers than the more recent article titled "Trade show destinations scramble for business" [October 15, 2001].

The true value proposition in trade show marketing is not in logistics — dates, space, ease of access. Rather, it is in advancing commercial transactions. That is how the dialogue should be framed.

There is a direct and quantifiable correlation between industry-by-industry reductions in the use of trade shows and losses found in key marketing metrics such as loyalty, identity, and culture cohesiveness.

Your own issue notes that "Forty-three percent of executives polled said brand building is vital to their companies," and fifty-seven percent "said their companies spend too little on branding efforts" ["Survey: Execs view branding as vital"].

Brands aren't sticking these days because branding is a multi-dimensional experience dynamic.

New media can't deliver this alone, and the disproportionate reliance we've seen skewed toward them in recent years is demonstrating that. The impact of vital trade show de-selection since September 11 is going to make that crystal clear.

We now have an unfortunate opportunity to truly see what the landscape would look like sans face-to-face meetings. Will it make a difference? For the first time we'll really know for sure.

Trade shows are marketplace prototypes, as close to commercial reality as it gets.