I often use the dating analogy to talk about exhibitions and to make a contrast between what I think used to happen in the good old days of the trade show and what happens now. In the good old days of the trade shows, particularly major industrial shows, major manufacturing events, the salesman would turn up. He would park his Vauxhall Cavalier in the NEC car park. He'd stand on the nicely built exhibition stand in a double breasted grey nylon suit, with a clipboard and he would sign orders. But it is not like that any more. Exhibitions are much more akin to dating. To go into a nightclub or a party. Someone catches your eye. You flirt a bit. You are not going to get lucky there and then. You are going to exchange numbers. You are going to agree to meet for a coffee - first follow up. You then might go to a movie -second follow up. Somewhere between this and the seventh date, you might get lucky. That is the modern exhibition. It is about the interaction of humans. It is not about taking orders.
