Exhibition industry data gripes

Lack of good, consistent industry data is one of my pet peeves regarding the trade fair business. It is going to be hard for exhibition organisers to be taken as seriously as other parts of the business media as long as they continue to hide behind 'fuzzy' (there, I'm being polite) figures and industry associations are forced to take wild guesses about who is doing what.

This is a problem far from restricted to Asia and I was interest to see the following post on the TSMI Trade Show Marketing Report from the US:

Where's Our Red Book?: "I get a number of emails asking for sources on industry data. Usually these are fairly straightforward requests for data which can be had (often for a price) from the usual suspects. Today I got a more interesting request. The..."

(Via TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report

We recently produced a report on Asia's trade fair industry together with UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, and the fact that it is selling so well is a clear indication of just how much people need this stuff.