(AI-Free post)

Now back to 2025.

Did you know NYE’s party and trade shows have a lot in common?

Let me demonstrate it to you.

Let’s say you’re a startup, you’re not at the CES and you’re dreaming of making it in the US?

If you match the description above you must be feeling FOMO.

(For those who just landed on earth yesterday it stands for Fear of Missing Out).

So why this feeling?

It’s complex. But curable. I’ll give you a few recipes for it below.

But first the diagnosis.

FOMO stems from self confidence.

It is a blend of a few (some nasty, some not) feelings and cognitive biases, to name a few : social comparison, anxiety, compulsive behavior, loss aversion, scarcity bias, herd mentality or group effect, recency bias or simply the need for belonging made famous by Maslow.

Now here’s how to cure it (and you can use it for the NYE parties as well, since we’re at it).

First take a mental note : fame and talent are two different things.

Like causality and correlation.

But as humans we tend to confuse one with the other.

Since we sometimes confuse correlation with causality… we also tend to fall for the thought fame = talent.

But causality is still yet to be demonstrated.

Talent factors in, but it’s not the only parameter.

In an ideal world yes, if you have talent then you MUST have fame.

But do we live in an ideal world?

Here’s a counter example and a way to bridge that, that I’ll borrow from Nassim Taleb’s famous book, Antifragile.

The counter example : reality TV (or politics 🤫).

Remember these people who suddenly became famous?

What was their talent again?

Yes you know it, but in case you didn’t, fame can be engineered.

And that’s for sure a talent, but is it the one that matters and does it last?

Here’s now my Taleb card : the great equalizer is time.

So, next time you feel you’re missing out on a trade show, remember this.

One thing these major trade shows do well, is to put to fame a few selected exhibitors during the short time the show lasts.

And that’s not only why exhibitors want to go, to be part of the famous, that’s how the show organizer sell them the show, saying in substance “if you want to be famous, you must be one of us”.

The cure? Focus on building your talent instead, and go to shows when you already shine.

Real talent transcends time, so be patient, fame will come in its own time, and the right show with it.

If that didn’t heal your FOMO yet, maybe the following recipe will.

Take a look at the fame some had at the same show last year for example.

Are these companies that were put on stage still around?

Not everything that shines is gold.

Did the light on them came because of their talent, or because they grabbed the light for a moment.

Now the parallel with NYE.

What’s the best party you ever had or been to?

Was it a NYE party? (the most famous party of the year)

Or was it were the life of the party were? And were you it?

Was it the container or the content?

Now that you know how shows sell themselves, focus on being the content, the container will come in its time.

It might as well be the CES, in which case, it’s like the NYE, there is one every year.

Or another show.

If you’re in tech, they are other entry points in the year into such a market.

Vivatechnology is one, in June.

And the Websummit is one too, in November.

But there are a myriad of other ones.

So when to choose it?

An old tale from La Fontaine answers it perfectly (I’ll translate for the anglophones), l’important est de partir à point, the importance is to start at the right time.

In the context of shows, build your talent, the right show will follow.

Slow and steady wins the race.

I hope this post will help you start on the right foot in 2025, select the right show and go be successful at it.

Happy 2025 everyone!