Having been a presenter and booth-staff trainer for 23 years, I thought I'd seen it all. Sumo wrestlers in the next booth. The UNLV band marching through the exhibit aisles. A water-main break near the show's hotel that left showgoers unable to shower. But I never imagined I'd witness our entire events industry forced into a COVID-induced coma for 15 excruciating months.

When World of Concrete confirmed it would run in person in June at the Las Vegas Convention Center, becoming the first major show in the United States to do so since COVID, I wondered: How would exhibiting change amid the pandemic? How would it stay the same? And what new best practices for engaging attendees might emerge? I decided to visit the show and see for myself. Here's what I found.

Fewer Exhibitors + Fewer Attendees = More Qualified Leads?
In 2020, World of Concrete (which ran as normal in early February) featured 1,310 exhibitors. This year's edition showcased roughly half that total, i.e., about 650. Not all came willingly. One exhibit staffer told me his company exhibited only to maintain its seniority for booth placement at next year's show, just seven months away.

On the attendance side, World of Concrete attracted 54,000 attendees in 2020, down a bit from its average of 60,000. In 2021, Informa Markets, which produces the show, declined to release the attendee count. But I'd estimate the show drew roughly 10,000 to 20,000 attendees, which is less than one-third of normal attendance.

Why so few attendees? Likely culprits behind the decline include everything from health concerns and the logistical challenges of air travel today (especially from outside the United States), to employee shortages and seasonal industry fluctuations. (Prior to the pandemic, the show typically took place in the winter; whereas, the most recent interaction was in June.) For example, I overheard one exhibit staffer explain that some concrete workers might not make the trip this time simply because "Summer is pourin' season!"

Given this show's attendance levels, you might worry that in-person events on your upcoming calendar might not generate enough qualified leads to justify exhibiting. Actually, fewer attendees may work in your favor. Considering the obstacles to attendance, those who did invest the time and money to visit World of Concrete were likely serious shoppers, not tchotchke hunters. Moreover, fewer booths to visit meant attendees probably spent more time at each exhibit. As a result, chances are that many exhibitors spent less time handing out goodies and more time engrossed in productive conversations with qualified leads. In fact, the next iteration of your upcoming show may be your only chance to capitalize on lower attendance before it bounces back to prepandemic levels in 2022. So if you're planning to exhibit, also devise a way to seize this opportunity.

Optional (and Ignored) Safety Precautions
To minimize COVID-transmission risks, World of Concrete's safety protocols (which were reduced just days before the show after Las Vegas lifted its COVID restrictions) required 3 feet of distance between attendees, one-way entrances and exits to exhibit halls, capacity controls in enclosed spaces such as elevators and restrooms, fewer chairs in seating areas, and more. But based on my observations, few if any of these protocols were obeyed much less enforced.

Everyone moved freely through all indoor and outdoor areas of the show without any visible restrictions or oversight. No one seemed reluctant to congregate, stand in line, sit, eat, shake hands, or even hug friends and colleagues. While the show provided hand sanitizing stations in the aisles (some sponsored by exhibitors, others unbranded), I never saw anyone use them. I did observe cleaning staff wiping down tables in the food courts but did not witness any staff enforcing social-distancing rules or capacity controls. (Perhaps the low show attendance kept crowds well under capacity limits.)

Moreover, when World of Concrete shifted mask-wearing from mandatory to optional, it seemed almost everyone abandoned the strategy altogether. I estimate that well less than 5 percent of exhibitors and attendees wore masks. I only saw two booths in which booth staffers donned them and only one booth in which staffers asked attendees to wear masks while in the stand. Suffice it to say, if you'd been in a coma for the last 18 months, woke up, and went directly to World of Concrete, you'd never know there'd been a pandemic at all.

Of course, every show and audience are different, and I think we'll see significant variations in protocols and enforcement. For example, the upcoming Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society show (HIMSS) and Salesforce.com Inc.'s event, Dreamforce, will seemingly require proof of vaccination for entry. So chances are each industry, show, and audience will dictate the protocols, and it will be up to exhibitors to respond to each variation.

Digital Badges: Boon, Blunder, or Opportunity?
To provide "contactless entry" to the exhibit halls, World of Concrete decided it didn't need no stinking (paper) badges and switched to digital versions instead. My electronic badge stayed tucked inside my iPhone's digital wallet alongside my credit cards and airline boarding passes. When I approached the exhibit hall entrance (in the North Hall) or the building entrance (in the new West Hall), an event staffer scanned the badge's Quick Response (QR) code with a handheld scanner.

If your show shifts to digital badges, you'll likely find that productive interactions at your booth become more challenging. Without a physical badge, you can't learn a visitor's name or affiliation at first glance; you won't even know if he or she is an attendee, exhibitor, member of the press, or competitor. That makes it impossible to greet people by name and tougher to assess their potential needs and status quickly.

Moreover, attendees can't find your name and title at a glance either, so they may be wary to share vital information with you and perhaps less likely to remember your name when you contact them after the show. And since you have to wait for attendees to dig out their digital badges from their phones, even commonplace tasks like quickly scanning a series of attendee badges can be cumbersome.

However, you can transform your show's badge omission into your opportunity. If your show won't provide a physical badge, make your own for your staff. Create branded badges or tags showing staffers' names and job titles in big, easy-to-read letters. The device then serves not only as an identifier but also as a proof point telling attendees: "We notice the little things and fix them in advance so you have a smoother experience."

Badges aside, which other giveaways got traction at World of Concrete? To my surprise, exhibitors reported that COVID-related swag such as masks and hand sanitizer got a cool reception from attendees, who apparently wanted to forget the pandemic and everything in its orbit. Instead, people gravitated to the classics, such as T-shirts, hats, pens, and candy. It seems these goodies never go out of style – at least for this particular audience.

What Still Matters Most: Engaging Attendees
While many things have changed, one thing remains the same: Effort matters. Walking the aisles during World of Concrete's opening minutes, my heart broke seeing so many exhibit staffers behaving in ways that failed to attract (or outright repelled) attendees. Standing with their backs to the aisles. Chatting with co-workers. Reading their phones. Working on their laptops. Eating and drinking. Sitting and staring. On and on. I even saw one exhibit staffer still setting up his booth after the show began, and another was still training his team on their own products while potential leads strolled by.

Surely, if ever a moment existed in trade show history that incentivized staffers to make a little more effort engaging attendees, it's after a 15-month hiatus – a point when sales pipelines desperately need a refill and the whole trade show industry is watching.

So please accept this friendly reminder: In most attendee interactions, the visitor's attitude toward your company is influenced more by your staffers' behavior than by your signage, products, giveaways, or anything else in your booth. In other words, your staffers are not supporting players; they're the stars. People attend shows to talk to staff and enjoy the personal contact and customized information that's unmatched on a website. To convert them into qualified leads, staffers must engage them proactively, giving them an urgent, inviting reason to enter your booth, share their stories, and learn yours.

Sure enough, the few busy booths I observed at World of Concrete were the ones that engaged attendees. One exhibitor threw trash in the aisle so he could demonstrate the suction power of his construction-site vacuum. Another held a booth-side press conference, and someone else hired a magician to perform close-up magic. I saw product demonstrations, chair massages, an assistant handing out koozies in the aisle, a professional presenter, and even an oil drum filled with free, branded hats. All of these efforts drew attendees to those booths and created engagement. They proved yet again that pandemic or not, doing something, anything, to get attendees to look your way can mean the difference between success and failure at your next show.