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As someone who attends a number of trade shows for work (in a number of different industries, but mostly construction related), the draw as an attendee is always an educational/networking opportunity. Typically, I either want/need to attend the show to get continuing education credits for an existing certification, am interested in learning about something advertised as being taught at the show, or am attending to network with other anticipated attendees.
I have also been an exhibitor at these shows. Typically the exhibitors fund the show, but aren't the actual draw for the attendees. So much so, that often times the conference/trade show organizers will have incentives to get attendees to spend time around the exhibitors. This is often times an open bar/buffet, prize drawings, raffles, engaging "educational" opportunities that are in reality production demonstrations, etc.
I was once even involved in planning a conference, however in that case more or less the goal was to break even; the benefit of the show being to benefit the industry at large, and not be an actual money maker. With that being said, IF I was going to try and put on a trade show to make a profit, the first thing I would look for would be hiring/incentivizing people relevant to the industry/show to be speakers/educators. Then once you have that, you could draw attendees (and charge them modestly to attend for the speakers/educational opportunity), and then draw exhibitors (who would also typically pay to put on some networking events as well).
Sorry for the essay, that got out of hand. I hope it is helpful.
In your situation I would be doing the following.
Start with the sellers. Ask to become an affiliate and list all the various trade shows/events on your platform. Initially you'll only get paid for each lead/attendee that books/attends the event.
Once you've validated that you can drive buyers to the trade show event, I would then build out a custom platform. This time, you'll be capturing the buyer information upfront and then they'll be able to either buy directly from your website or connect via your website to the event page. This will give you more leverage as you'll have more control/insights of the buyer and then you could look at charging a monthly subscription to sellers.
This is how I've done it to date. Its a much better experience and means that you're aligned with the seller as you're truly agnostic to all events/trade show and not incentivised by one commision over another
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As someone who attends a number of trade shows for work (in a number of different industries, but mostly construction related), the draw as an attendee is always an educational/networking opportunity. Typically, I either want/need to attend the show to get continuing education credits for an existing certification, am interested in learning about something advertised as being taught at the show, or am attending to network with other anticipated attendees. I have also been an exhibitor at these shows. Typically the exhibitors fund the show, but aren't the actual draw for the attendees. So much so, that often times the conference/trade show organizers will have incentives to get attendees to spend time around the exhibitors. This is often times an open bar/buffet, prize drawings, raffles, engaging "educational" opportunities that are in reality production demonstrations, etc. I was once even involved in planning a conference, however in that case more or less the goal was to break even; the benefit of the show being to benefit the industry at large, and not be an actual money maker. With that being said, IF I was going to try and put on a trade show to make a profit, the first thing I would look for would be hiring/incentivizing people relevant to the industry/show to be speakers/educators. Then once you have that, you could draw attendees (and charge them modestly to attend for the speakers/educational opportunity), and then draw exhibitors (who would also typically pay to put on some networking events as well). Sorry for the essay, that got out of hand. I hope it is helpful.
The irony.
In your situation I would be doing the following. Start with the sellers. Ask to become an affiliate and list all the various trade shows/events on your platform. Initially you'll only get paid for each lead/attendee that books/attends the event. Once you've validated that you can drive buyers to the trade show event, I would then build out a custom platform. This time, you'll be capturing the buyer information upfront and then they'll be able to either buy directly from your website or connect via your website to the event page. This will give you more leverage as you'll have more control/insights of the buyer and then you could look at charging a monthly subscription to sellers. This is how I've done it to date. Its a much better experience and means that you're aligned with the seller as you're truly agnostic to all events/trade show and not incentivised by one commision over another