Are bloggers & social networks killing the big shows?
I've noticed a trend lately (actually I noticed it back when I worked at Microsoft and my bosses kept refusing to buy booths at conferences, saying they didn't return the ROI, but that trend has grown and grown big time).
Context & Ripple Effects
This is a late-2008 data point in a debate Scoble has been running for years. Back in October 2006 he asked whether conferences should ban blogging outright, and his own move from Microsoft — the subject of the January 2006 should-Scoble-leave speculation — was itself proof of how much individual bloggers could shift attention away from institutional channels. The new wrinkle here is economic rather than cultural: exhibitors like Microsoft had already concluded booths didn't return their ROI, and social networks are now scaling that substitution.
First-order effects
- Trade show organizers face direct revenue erosion as big exhibitors — following Microsoft's internal ROI verdict on booths — redirect marketing budgets toward blogs and social networks where reach is cheaper and more measurable.
- Exhibitors and vendors gain an immediate alternative channel: a well-timed blog post or network buzz can deliver product announcements to the same audience a booth floor once did, at a fraction of the cost.
Second-order effects
- Conference operators are forced to reposition — smaller, more curated formats, better speaker access, and networking value that a feed can't replicate — or compete on price as booth demand softens.
- PR and event-marketing agencies see demand shift from booth logistics toward blogger relations and social outreach, pressuring firms built around the trade-show calendar.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the industry's attention infrastructure restructures around individuals and networks rather than venues: influence consolidates in high-reach bloggers (and later platforms), while physical gatherings survive only where dealmaking or hands-on access justifies the trip.
- Marketing measurement norms shift accordingly — ROI accountability that killed the booth becomes the standard every channel is judged against, favoring channels with trackable engagement over legacy brand spend.
The trend: The slow migration of B2B marketing spend from rented physical venues to owned and earned digital channels, which trade shows must answer with experiences networks can't substitute.