The LeadingAge Annual Conference and Exposition wrapped up yesterday in Washington D.C..  The Expo floor was larger then I have seen at LeadingAge or ALFA in the last few years, but that did not seem to translate into increased traffic.  Traffic was solid on Monday, dropped off some on Tuesday and than was scant on the third (usually useless) day.

 

LeadingAge did a great job promoting the conference and updating followers on real time happenings via Twitter.  There was a great Social Media lab at the show, helping attendees with current trends.

 

Overall, besides the Social Media lab, it was a pretty normal tradeshow.  I am starting to think that Exposition organizers need to look at making changes to increase the ROI for attendees.  Definitely drop a third day. Many exhibitors seem to view the event as a necessary evil, sacrificing return on investment at the show for the more lucrative meetings and events that surround the conference.  Organization of the floor may be an issue.  The floor is so massive that the attendee has to really study the program to find what they want to check out.  Might be an idea to organize the floor by line of business, giving the attendee looking for marketing options to go through a section with all exhibitors offering that product.  Just a thought, what about you?  Ideas on improving tradeshow ROI?  Block smart phones?  (kidding, calm down)