Are Social Media and Trade Shows on a collision course or are they heading down the aisle?

Several months ago I would not have even thought about this question much less thought about it enough to actually do some research.  I was not so much surprised by the results as I was the speed in which the question and answer became obvious.

I attended the ARM Tech conference (#ARMTechcon) in Santa Clara today and if you are not familiar with ARM technology then all you have to do is look at the smart phone you have in your hand and any one of a thousand intelligent electronic products to see what these people do.  They make and program the brains in many intelligent product applications that impact our lives every day.  I point this out because as far as Geek shows go this is about as close as it comes to the alpha point of all geeks (at least those that go out in public).

What struck me right off were the signs all around promoting the use of mobile devices from completing your registration, to joining the Twitter Scavenger Hunt and Tweetup for prizes to be held during the show.  Remember these are the engineers who make the things that control the world not Bloggers, or 2.0 web people or Internet touchy feely types these are HARDWARE engineers working at the machine level.

So to me, after attending Blog World and 100’s of other Internet shows were everything at the show is about social media this show actually used it for what it is and not a product to be promoted.  The difference the was clear when next door Enterprise 2.0 was having its conference with the hall ways full of signs all about enterprise and business learning how to use social media, in other words promoting Social media as a thing.  While back at the ARM Expo the engineers were actually using it at their trade show for the attendees in an organized way.  So what if it was for a scavenger hunt it was still interesting to me as a trade show guy for several reasons which have nothing to do with Social media the thing but the application.

The “Scavenger Hunt” is a two day event with a “Pre-Competition Tweetup” located in the Expo Hall theatre from 5:30 to 6:30 to “Meet your competition, get your phone set , beer party…” get together today (#ARM_Hunt).  Tomorrow the actual hunt will be from 1 to 2 in the Expo hall.  Having a contest on the trade show floor so attendees go around to sponsoring booths is nothing new.  It is a good idea in smaller shows where the attendees are very similar in backgrounds and interests.

The twist on this one is to use Twitter to communicate to people who are all within sight of each other in such a way that the contest rules are not visible to anyone not participating.   No better way to create interest than to make it seem as if the information is special or exclusive.  The very nature of a scavenger hunt makes it noticeable by casual observers which create interest and the circle repeats.

This may be no big deal to those of you who spend more than 20 minutes a day on Twitter but it introduces an interesting element in the trade show marketing mix.  For example, is this only available to “sponsors” at the show or can any exhibitor participate just by joining in with a Tweet offering a contest of their own.  Is this a way for the show organizers to make more money from sponsors or is this a useful tool for exhibitors and attendees?

Regardless, I now see Social Media as much a tool for trade shows as the banner stand.  The questions going forward for exhibitors is this something they should put into their trades show assets or just leave it with the marketing and sales department, thus making it independent of the show floor?

Somehow I think asking the question is a little rhetorical.