The Model T of Inspiration

In one of my Exhibitor Show classes, I talk about how much our industry needs to re-invent itself. Many shows still do business via fax machine, and the preponderance of shows use an outdated 1970's business model.

If you find your company's exhibit program stuck in a rut with no easily visible way out, let me suggest you look to an industry giant of the past, and learn from his method of inspiration.

Henry Ford is credited with making the automobile affordable for regular families in America. He did this by inventing the assembly line, reducing the time it took to assemble his famous Model T from 14 hours down to an hour and a half. But do you know where he found the inspiration to do this?

Legend has it, Ford got his idea from watching slaughterhouses butcher cattle carcasses. The carcasses were hung on hooks on an overhead rail, and slid from butcher to butcher, each one lopping off a different part of the cow. By watching cows get taken apart, Ford realized this was a good way to put automobiles together.

Quite a leap of inspiration, don't you think?

It's a model that serves us well in the trade show industry, and my advice to all trade show managers is this, "go visit some slaughterhouses".

Well, not literally. But DO go visit trade shows outside your industry. Pay attention to the business models that work for other industries. And most importantly, always ask yourself, "how could I make that work in my exhibit plans?"

Just imagine what our industry would look like if I&D teams were assembled and trained like NASCAR pit crews, or exhibits patterned after American Idol.

It's fun to think about the possibilities.

TSB