Trade Shows

This year, the orcs and elves returned to the City of Angels. And they brought money with them -- more than $15 million in direct spending on taxi rides, hotel rooms, wine and sushi, among other things. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, which was substantially scaled back in 2007 and 2008, came roaring back this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center, attracting more than 35,000 visitors.

News and notes from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Monday: Toyota Motor Corp. finally lifted the veil on its completely redesigned Prius. The big news: 50 miles per gallon. Spy shots leaked not long ago, but Toyota's Bob Carter, group division head and general manager, did titillate the standing-room-only audience with a few details about the new vehicle, due out in the U.S. and Japan this spring.

All three major U.S. automakers are pulling out of the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, the latest sign that a bad economy and crashing sales are disrupting the industry on an international scale. The gathering, scheduled for October, is one of the auto world's premiere events, where cutting-edge vehicle designs are showcased for a technology-savvy crowd. By pulling out, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co.

Get ready for a week of phone porn. The Mobile World Congress, the cellphone industry's version of the Consumer Electronics Show, kicks off in Barcelona, Spain, today. Thousands of mobile-industry professionals will converge on the city to show off new gear, announce previously secret products and try to convince one another that the sector will weather the economic downturn. Research group Strategy Analytics predicted last month that the global mobile phone market would shrink 9% in 2009.

The best way to think about this year's BookExpo America -- the book industry's annual trade show and convention that concluded Sunday at the Jacob Javits Center -- is as a mirror: What you see reflects who you are.

Since February, President Obama's comments about bailout banks going on junkets to Las Vegas have shined a new light on the city's convention business. Civic leaders such as Mayor Oscar Goodman have acted as if going to a convention here is like a trip to a dull government office, while detractors have argued that Vegas means a pure pleasure romp. The truth is that the big trade shows work like most things here -- mixing business and pleasure, celebrity and money, with plenty of VIP exclusivity.

Board shorts, bikinis and flip-flops were again the dress code at the biannual Action Sports Retailer trade show. But unlike last September's subdued event -- hampered by buyers scaling back orders amid a deepening recession -- many companies were upbeat as they displayed the latest surf and skate styles and products for next spring and summer. "This year it's a hundred times better," said Christel Hathaway, North America sales manager for swimwear company Banana Moon USA, which by Friday afternoon had already signed about 40 orders -- more than three times its total from last year's show.

The 41st Tokyo Motor Show 2009 is opening this weekend, but what used to be Asia's premier showcase of new automobile technology is turning into, well, pretty much a domestic event. Just 109 exhibitors will participate, compared with 241 companies during the previous show in 2007. No U.S. automakers will display their wares. Just three foreign passenger carmakers are exhibiting, none of them major. The decline underscores a shifting balance of automotive power in Asia, where China is the rising star.

Recreational vehicle sales have fallen off a cliff this last year, but that didn't stop Pomona from going full speed ahead with its fourth annual RV and Travel Show. Also, a boat show. And a home and garden show, spa and pool show and computer fair. They're all together at the Pomona Fairplex this weekend, providing tapped-out shoppers with a chance to do some conspicuous consumption on the cheap.