Gone, Not Forgotten

However, it’s probably time to offer an obituary on a thing, not a person, that’s left the scene in the stone industry. To wit: The International Tile and Stone Show, or ITSS (2002-2007).
Some people out there would prefer not to be reminded at all about the loss of the ITSS. Others likely share the sense of comedian Red Skelton when describing the huge funeral of a despised Hollywood studio chief – “You give the people what they want, and they’ll turn out in droves.”
In the wake of its passing, however, the ITSS is worth some reflection. In a time of record growth in the stone industry, the show served as a change agent. It also ended up as a semi-classic case study of what not to do in starting and sustaining a trade event.
Recounting the history of the ITSS isn’t a long story. Beginning in late 2002 in Las Vegas, the show made several annual appearances in that city, along with a few spring stops in Miami and a couple of summer dates in New York. In 2006, organizers tried to expand the show’s focus to general construction with a new name: SourceExpo.
Under the new name, it appeared in Miami in 2006, but then dropped out of announced appearances in New York and Las Vegas. A 2007 return in Miami didn’t happen, and the show faded away.
And, for those producing U.S. shows for the stone trade, good riddance. To the industry establishment, the ITSS represented a bunch of interlopers, now deemed of no consequence whatsoever. I’m sure that several players in the trade won’t think it worthy of a mention now or ever again.
Go back several years, however, and those same people would be the ones eagerly seeking any scrap of information about the ITSS. During its existence, it became Concern No. 1, affecting marketing and scheduling strategies.
A good obituary gives some perspective of its subject. In the case of the ITSS, it’s a study of contrasts … and, yes, there are positives as well as negatives. It’s time to consider both sides.
As for the good:
Sheer aggressiveness. Or, if you prefer, audacity. The ITSS organizers recognized a good opportunity as the stone trade took its rocket ride of growth in the early part of this decade. With more fabricators and suppliers entering the industry, a new show would give vendors an additional place to find new customers.
Heading West. While Las Vegas now seems a natural place for a stone event, the ITSS set up shop in a time when the show scene was mainly on the East Coast. In the early 2000s, one large vendor provided a not-so-extreme dismissal of the ITSS to me by noting that, “nobody really buys equipment west of Memphis, anyway.”
Mass marketing. Remember all those mailing and email blasts from the ITSS (not to mention plenty of magazine ads)? After the first Las Vegas show, the organizers didn’t seem to take any attendance for granted. Those missives also went far beyond fabricator lists to try and corral anyone with an interest in stone.
Creating a buzz. For a few years at its Las Vegas event, the ITSS captured that elusive quality of having something, well, electric. The show floor hummed with noise, and vendor executives – both domestic and foreign – appeared to push products and make deals. It’s a feeling of importance that an event can’t buy. It just happens, and the ITSS had it.
And the not-so-good:
Way too much, way too soon. It’s one thing to be aggressive; it’s another to charge out way beyond your abilities. The ITSS went from producing one good show to elaborate plans for expansion, pushing for three shows – with one aimed at the huge Coverings market in Florida. Management also announced plans for a 2006 Brazilian event and shows/publications in a variety of business fields, none of which ever happened.
New York, New York: ITSS showed the reverse of the Kander/Ebb standard – you can make it anywhere else, but not always in the Big Apple. The 2004 show suffered from meager attendance, with the Javits Convention Center proving a poor location for a meat-and-potatoes industrial show. In 2005, the ITSS went back to the Javits with even less success. 
Lack of credibility. Instead of cutting back and regrouping after the first New York show, ITSS management declared the event a success and released large attendance figures that went beyond credulity. Further announcements met with, at best, skepticism … which can be fatal in the buzz-dependent world of trade shows.
Loss of fire. The ITSS never returned to the level of its initial success, and its final shows seemed to lack cohesion; its final New York show disappeared with a short note on the ITSS Website. Putting it bluntly: Nobody in the industry (save for those waiting to hear the death rattle) cared anymore.
And so the ITSS faded away. However, we’re also living in an environment shaped by that run of shows; it’s doubtful the purchase of StoneExpo by Hanley Wood would’ve happened without the existence of the ITSS. It also proved that the stone trade could consistently draw with an event east of the Piedmont, as we now troop annually to Las Vegas.
In the end, the ITSS died of many causes, with more than a few being self-inflicted. But it also kicked the stone industry – and its trade events – forward, to the benefit of current and future attendees.
It’s a mixed legacy. But, isn’t every life?