Why We Stopped Doing Trade Shows (And What We Do Instead)

I remember one of my first trade shows with United Robotics Group. It was the SLAS show in Boston. We had a big booth, a great location, a great team — and it was one of 20 or 30 events we were going to do that year.

In hindsight, what we did was allocate large budgets over the years to trade show setup, teardown, marketing the show, promoting our booth, etc. Then at the end of it, when the show floor closes and everybody starts packing up the same displays, the same monitors, the same tables and chairs — all we were really left with was a stack of business cards and some contact information we'd punched into an iPad.

That was it. We really didn't have much to show for the effort.

Sure, those were fun times. We had great team dinners, team-building activities, all kinds of fun at these events, and a lot of people know our name because of the big signs we put up, but the results stopped there. That's what we have to show for our effort, that some people out there kind of remember our name.

The Hard Truth

The reality is we are not (and never were) going to sell robots on a trade show floor. Nobody's going to walk up to our booth, see a robot, hand over their credit card, and walk away with their new purchase. That's not how these sales work.

And that has to start with a relationship. It has to start with a conversation. We need to get on a video call, a phone call, meet in person, whatever works. Introduce ourselves, both parties and then begin to understand what it is you are solving for?

It Starts With Your Story

What's the need you have? Do you need to be more efficient? Do you have a labor shortage? Do you need to add a third shift but can't staff it? Do you need to increase efficiencies? Is there a specific reach or lift that's really challenging for human workers?

Do you need to increase student engagement in K–12? Push the boundaries of what your research department is doing in higher ed? Assist the current servers and workers at a restaurant? Support the employees and staff at an airport, museum or convention center?

What is your situation? Tell me your story, tell me your pain points and then once I understand your situation, story, and pain points, now I can run through the solutions we have. The robots, the software combinations, the possible custom solutions in the form of physical AI that might work for you.

From "Hey Alexa" to Physical AI

More and more people are using AI as part of their everyday life — whether it's ChatGPT, Gemini, Alexa at home, Google Assistant, whatever the case may be, they're using these tools regularly.

If I can get them to understand that the convenience and rapid answers they get from these tools can be embodied in physical AI — in a robot — now we've moved into the third dimension. Into physical reality. Where the same simple prompts and communication with AI deliver real-world results.

Part of the reason we don't offer point-of-sale on our website is because I don't know what you're trying to buy it for. I need to make sure you're spending your money as efficiently as you can. I need to make sure the solution you're looking for is actually the one in your cart.

That's where we want this journey to start. It's not "give me your business card at a trade show." It's not "click here, the sale ends at midnight tonight."

Rather, it's let me know when you have time to have a conversation. Let's learn more about what we can do for you. Maybe we're a good fit, maybe we're not. But that's the beauty of establishing a relationship and understanding one another's solutions and pain points. Once we get to that point, we can really partner with you in your business and take you to the next level.

The Invitation

That's the learning. The days of traveling around from trade show to trade show, spending our budget just to collect business cards are in the past.

The way of United Robotics Group Americas today is simple. Reach out, tell me about your business, and let's see what we can solve together.