Fall Conferences and "Pitch-fest"

[yagoparamo]

From a dealer's perspective, what will make any of the current or new fall conferences not turn into a "pitch-fest"? I see many of the same vendor/speakers at each of these shows - and if there are already multiple tools in place at prior shows (clear warnings in speaker agreements, Twitter handles to report "pitching", speaker reviews that report this, etc), why would these same speakers do anything different at another show? Is there someone in the back of the room with a Taser watching the speaker?

I realize I am being cynical, but I don't see what could be done much differently to stop a vendor from pitching their product in a presentation. On the other hand, I have not found this to be a major problem, and in reality, I have no problem with a vendor taking a few minutes at the end of their presentation to share some information about their product. If the vendor/speaker has spent a lot of time presenting useful information to share with dealers, and they believe in their product, I am open to giving them a few minutes at the end of their session to share what they offer...

From a vendor's perspective:

Conferences are not easy requiring a lot of effort in time and resources. For the vendor the conference starts way before you attend with much preparation needed and lots of personal time involved. A vendor spends a lot more than the 8 hours the show is opened every day. They also require heavy investment with the chance to maybe get some business. I would compare this to the Olympics of the vendor as a salesperson:

Your investments in knowledge and preparations will be measured against the rest of the top players.

Getting pitched is almost a must or else; what were you expecting? If you come to learn what I'm best at and the subject I know the most it ism inevitable that I must say how I do it or how I have done it for other dealers, etc (hence sounding like a pitch).

You must also understand that to be a vendor at the conference level you are dealing with guys that are not just smarter than the average, but committed, en-tuned, trained, ready, because they want to be the best at their game. At that point there is a certain degree of ego involved: I'm not here because I want to make a few hundred bucks on you but because I want to prove that I'm among the best at what I do. That also implies some pitching since what I do also defines who I am.