The year is 1985:  I’m presenting at one of my first trade shows: Comdex.  Strolling around the Sands Convention Center, I see more women falling out of their clothes than I’d seen at Caesar’s Palace the night before. I turn a corner and actually see one booth offering lap dances with women cooing high-tech features of products to highly “attentive” attendees.

But, of course, that was then and this is NOW, right?  We’ve progressed WAY beyond that kind of thing. (Insert ironic smirk, here.)

Several months ago, I attended a very large and respected annual event in Las Vegas. There were “stewardesses” in micro-miniskirts and skin-tight Spandex everywhere I looked. Attendees were getting whiplash walking from one booth to the next — and senior executives of some of the same companies exhibiting the questionable practices, were taking offense. (Senior executives of both sexes, mind you.) It became such a cause for concern that I understand Show Management will now be enforcing a booth staff dress code for future events.

This conduct is precisely why it can be so difficult to articulate the value of a legitimate, professional crowd gatherer to an exhibitor; they’re lumped in with all the rest of this “eye candy.”

As I have written about before, qualified, savvy crowd gatherers can be a huge help on the trade show floor. But these women and men are doing much more than selling sex and taking photos with attendees; they’re delivering a pitch, stratifying prospects and bringing target attendees to the booth staff capable of following up. It’s important, meaningful work.

All this sex appeal raises a very important question: What do these companies think they’re getting for their money? Sure, attendees are stopping by the booth for a “closer look,” but who are these people and what are they looking at? Sex sells … but what does it sell? What’s the takeaway? When calls are later made to follow up on these leads, the people picking up the phone aren’t real prospects. They just wanted a photo between two bikini-clad models. A guy in a suit might be less attractive, but he’s attracting serious prospects. And by that, I mean “serious” in demeanor and interest in your product.

Companies need to keep in mind that when they run their trade show presence like the Vegas strip, they don’t get the benefit of “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” These attendees have smartphones with 5 megapixel cameras and 1080p video. Now it’s more like  “What happens in your booth is on YouTube in 30 seconds.” And if what’s happening there is not consistent with your company image, or potentially offensive, THAT can be some risky business.

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Richard, I have really strong feelings about this topic. First of all, I don’t like that term. I resent references to “booth babes” or “booth bunnies” or “booth bimbos” … really “booth anything” other than booth assistant or booth hostess.

But I do understand where you’re coming from. All too often you have a fashion model just sitting on a high stool with her legs crossed, checking her nails and handing out literature. That is not a particularly valuable investment for a trade show.

But a real booth assistant can be a substantial asset for a relatively small amount of money. I’m talking about a skilled, experienced person who goes out into crowds and asks the right questions and can deliver a killer 30-second pitch on your behalf. I’m talking about someone who knows what to do if an attendee asks, “Is your marketing director here?” … And here’s a hint: It’s doesn’t involve just pointing to the opposite end of the booth.

That person has real value at a trade show for about $400 a day or less. But a lot of people feel “we don’t need that.”

In fact, they do.

Otherwise, they’re not going to have any one person who is dedicated to that “crowd gathering” task. Booth staff should be engaging people at a deeper level and getting involved in potential sales and qualifying leads and showing off technology.

It’s the job of the booth assistant to bring people into striking distance for a trade show presentation or booth demo. That being said, you can’t just go to a modeling agency and select someone 6-feet-tall who looks like Angelina Jolie.

The value is in selecting someone with years of trade show experience who knows how to behave when an attendee brushes them off. You want someone who can smile in the face of trade show adversity. Those are the types of people you look for, and those are the types of people we have worked with at Magnet Productions for at least 10 years. They are real trade show professionals who deserve respect and have an important role in delivering a highly successful trade show that brings in lots of qualified leads.

So, before you dismiss them as mere “eye candy,” consider all there is to be gained from professional booth assistants as part of your trade show presence.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.