It sounds like the show floor at the recent annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New Orleans was a little sparse. On the scene, Dr. Carlat poked around and heard that "ever since the drug companies had stopped giving out free gifts, the attendance at exhibit halls was down." Another person told him that foreign attendees also were fewer now.
And yet the latest CEIR Index found medical tradeshows actually outperforming other sectors (only government shows were doing better than medical). Of course, outperforming doesn't mean much when you can do it while still being down 6 percent when it comes to exhibitors and attendees.
Then there are the outliers, like the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, which actually grew its attendance 50 percent this year. Not without a fair amount of work, though.
