Blogs have definitely made tradeshow and conference planning more transparent. I didn’t come upon his post until just now, but Loic Le Meur, who organizes the Le Web event in Paris each year very publicly outlines where the event hit home runs and where they struck out in this post on their home page. Most show planners would sooner run naked through the exhibit hall than admit areas where they failed, but I think doing so makes for happier attendees who know you’re looking out for their best interests and hear them when they give feedback.

One of the “failings” that caught my attention:

“failed wifi but with a 120K EUR investment and about 6 full time Swisscom team dedicated on it we tried really hard…

It doesn’t surprise me a bit that even $120,000 Euros and six techs couldn’t keep the WiFi up - but it sure makes me want to scream. It’s absurd that we as organizers continue to get ripped off by empty promises from convention and hotel Internet providers. I feel your pain Loic.

Doing this kind of exercise is a great example for us all and I think I’ll be doing a similar post after the New Media Expo this August.