The Darwinian Trade Show

Computer and tech shows are flat, says TradeshowWeek. The 89 shows in its "Eighth Annual Computer & Electronics Show Report" averaged less than a 1 percent increase in number of exhibiting firms and net square feet in 1999. But 13-year-old Supercomm breaks the pattern in a big way, "growing at an 18 percent to 20 percent clip each year," says its general manager, Jack Chalden. In fact, in the Tradeshow Week 200, a ranking of the 200 largest U.S. trade shows in terms of net square feet of