Level Measurement Blog Feed

Trade Shows-Are they still valid?

Greetings,

A few weeks ago I was tasked with "manning" the Monitor Technologies booth at a trade show.

Over the years I have participated in many trade shows, stranded on a 10X10 square of cheap carpet hoping to share a smile with a "qualified" customer dying to place an order with me.  This particular show was no exception.

As I looked down the aisle targeting my next victim, I asked myself if the entire concept of the "trade show" was still relevent.  After all, we have the Internet available, any and all information known to man (and beast) is ready to view with the click of a "mouse" from the comfort of your own cubicle (or couch if you work from home).

With the Internet available, why would anyone still want to travel to a convention center, pay an outrageous amount for parking, spend $13.00 for a hot dog and a bottle of tepid water(in a bottle that may have already been used!) and spend the day being hounded by overly eager salespeople out to up their "lead count" for the President sitting back at the office?

I can only provide an answer from my perspective, a desperate sales manager trying to hit "goal" so I can avoid having my employer ask for their "logo" shirts back!

I see each conversation as a sales call.  I look at the number of "booth chats" and ask how long it would have taken and at what cost would have been involved for me to travel to see all of these people.  Usually, the trade show was cheaper than what the travel would have been.

I also find value in the "networking" that occurs at trade shows, (I hate the word "networking", it reeks of marketing mumbo-jumbo) but there is real value to seeing people face to face, building relationships. 

I also think that trade shows are a necessary evil, we need to be there just because our competition is there!  Imagine what would happen if "they" were there and we were not!  What would that say about our company, what would that say to our customers?

Enough about my senseless ramblings, what are your thoughts? Do you see trade shows as something of value for your company?  Why?

Please let me know, maybe I will reward you with a handful of orange or white golf tees the next time I see you!

Scott Bonine

Regional Sales Manager

What's useful to you?

So what industry websites and tools do you use?  I'd really like to know how useful our visitors feel that industry sites like Powder and Bulk Dot Com are to them.  There appears to be some great content at this website.  I personally think the discussion forums, the News Center summaries and the Case Histories are valuable.  But to be useful the user and readers need to be in charge.  While I have nothing to do with the creation or content on the particular site mentioned previously, I am interested in what you think.  And, if you are really in the powder and bulk solids processing industry or in the need for instruments or PBS equipment and take the time to comment on this blog post I will make sure we send you a "thank you" gift in return (we can get your mailing data by email after you post a comment).  The gift will include one of the popular industry white papers on continuous level measurement along with a marketing premium (small token or gift) from Monitor Technologies for you to use.  All comments are screened.

In addition to the website mentioned above, do you actively review magazine websites and their forums and product news information?  Take a look at some of the better ones in our industry, such as Processing magazine, chemengonline - Chemical Engineering, Powder Bulk Solids magazine, Powder Bulk Engineering magazine and Canadian Process and Equipment Control News.  Are any of these sites useful to you?  If yes, why?  If no, why not?  What can these sites and this blog do to be of service to you?

Let's start a conversation!

Joe Lewis

Technorati Tags: level sensor level measurement bin level indicator level control solids level indicator

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Want to read the Level Measurement weblog whenever their is a new posting?  Want to read it without coming back to the blog to check to see if anything is new?  You can make that happen.  Ever hear about RSS feeds and newsreaders?  A newsreader is a free web tool you can use to read any blog you subscribe to.  It's simple and there are lots of blogs out their, close to 80 million as we speak.  I use bloglines and I recommend it, though there are many others.

It's quick and easy to begin using a newsreader.  Go to Bloglines and register if you don't already have a newsreader you use.  The registration process is quick and easy and you can use it for subscribing to as many blogs or RSS feeds as you want.  After you register with a user name and password, just subscribe to the Level Measurement blog by copying the blog URL into the subscribe page at Bloglines.  If you want to learn more about using RSS feeds and newsreaders I recommend Seth Godin's blog post on this subject as he is very knowledgeable and can be entertaining too.

Once you are setup using Bloglines or some other newsreader you can also subscribe to this and other blogs by clicking on the subscribe link usually present in any blog.  Ours is in the upper right hand area of the main blog page just about the category listings.

If you need assistance, give us a call or email me.

Joe Lewis
Vice President
Monitor Technologies LLC

(note: comments and recommendations contained in this blog posting are personal opinion of the author and does not represent any view, position or strategy of Monitor Technologies LLC)

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