Trade show attendees often see the show floor as a place to pick up free stuff, see product demonstrations and take in the local, er, scenery, but others say the booth-babe practice is sexist.
The phenomenon of the ‘booth babe’ pleases most trade show attendees, but some observers object to the offensive and sexist nature of the practice of packing your booth with attractive, scantily-clad women who for the most part know very little about the company, technology or product they are helping to sell. But for many vendors the bevy of beauties brings at least some boys into their booth, hopefully willing to listen to a product pitch while they admire the, um, staff.
A recent post by Network World blogger Michael Morris caused a bit of discussion on that site as well as chatter across social media network Twitter. He held a contest immediately following Cisco Live to identify the hottest booth babe at the show. BlueCat won Morris’ contest this year, and I have to admit the vendor’s choice of theme and costume has landed on more than a few of my show “reporter’s notebooks” over the years. The company usually goes all out on equipping its show booth and apparently it pays off, if winning such contests is any measure of success. One Twitter commenter claimed that employing “booth babes” resulted in “1,000s of useless leads vs. legitimate prospects that can turn into purchases.”
For many, booth babes are seen as what they are: an obvious ploy to lure show attendees into a vendor’s booth. That certainly doesn’t mean the intelligent attendees at such shows don’t thoroughly enjoy the presence of booth babes or even mind that there is a product pitch waiting for them after they snap a picture. And for many others, employing attractive young ladies to stand around half-naked to be ogled by as one person put it “lusty geeks” is archaic and sexist.
For instance, Morris’ blog generated both negative and supportive comments. I can see why so many get passionate about the topic of preventing these types of displays. And I can see both sides, and for me, the booth babe is an accepted reality at trade shows I attend. (Honestly, I barely notice most of them now, unless I am tasked to take pictures of show attractions, but it’s as if they’ve become invisible to my aged female eyes.)
I understand why vendors use them, the women are paid for their services, which to some is considered modeling. On the surface, it seems harmless to the individual, but for women overall to be viewed as eye candy and not as colleagues at such events (if viewed in only that light) is definitely an ongoing challenge in this industry. I can’t count how many times I went to interview a CEO or CTO of a large technology company and was asked to get them coffee or water before the reporter joined, assuming a young (at the time) female would not be conducting such an interview. (I did enjoy some of the looks on the faces when it was clear I was said reporter and a major insult was just lobbed my way.)
Does putting women in skimpy clothes at conferences that attract mostly male attendees make women appear as objects? Yes it does. Could some of these attendees assume that women aren’t of equal intelligence or value? They certainly could. Do female attendees get put into an awkward position when having to endure their colleagues’ and superiors’ comments or actions in relation to seeing a booth babe? Absolutely. But does it set back the efforts to get more women to enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields? That premise, I am not so sure about. Sex sells and it is used in almost every industry for that purpose, which makes me think young girls considering a career in technology might not be directly impacted by this practice.
Working in the high-tech publishing industry as a journalist for many years, I witnessed the frequency of an attractive female image being coupled with, say, an iPhone increase substantially as time rolled on. One would think as society advanced the idea of plastering women on products would subside. It was clear the motive: get more people to click on the link. But the question always came up as to whether we really needed to sink to that level for the sake of page views. And often the photos continued to be published, and in some cases, drove a lot of traffic, but I would think they were potentially one-time site visitors – much like the empty leads booth babes can draw.
The one thing I do note at these shows, being in a position required to approach and speak to attendees and being female, is that I am definitely in the minority there. And often when I approach male attendees, they seem a bit shocked that I am talking technology with them. And when sitting in on sessions and looking around the room, I am always elated to find another female in attendance. But I have found that some of those women work for the vendor doing the presentation and aren’t IT professionals attending the show. Still I have to admit in the 10+ years of going to shows, the number of women in attendance has increased, based on my informal opinion.
Personally, I’ve never encountered direct disrespect or lewd behavior at such shows, despite most of them being hosted in Las Vegas, but I have definitely had to endure countless comments among coworkers such as, “How hot is that booth babe?!” For me, the overt excitement, ogling or more of the booth babes just lessens my respect for the males acting in such a way. I understand heterosexual men find attractive women, attractive, but I think there is something to be said for discretion. I would often add my own comment, such as, “Really? You’re a grown, intelligent man and this is how you behave publicly upon seeing an attractive woman in a sexy outfit? It’s like you’re 12 and seeing a girl for the first time!” And frankly some have simply responded, “Yes, and yes it is.”
(For the sake of full disclosure, a couple of CA Technologies’ booth staff happened to be included in the contest. CA Technologies representatives say they train the models to work with other booth staff to be knowledgeable of the general market and products. They are also briefed on being outgoing and able to interact with attendees well, before passing them on to a more knowledgeable booth staffer for in-depth discussions.)
Are you for or against booth babes at high-tech trade shows? Why should the practice live on/be abolished? Am I a hypocrite for being uncomfortable with the booth-babe practice, yet also accepting it as an IT conference reality? Please leave a comment here or let me know directly at Denise.Dubie@ca.com.
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