What happens when you attend a trade show without a smartphone?
Smartphones now shape almost every part of how we experience events - so what happens if you choose to leave your phone at home? Paul Harvey has decided to find out...
This week at IMEX Frankfurt, I’ll be attending one of the meetings industry’s biggest international trade shows without a smartphone.
No WhatsApp. No maps. No event app. No checking emails between sessions. No discreet scrolling while pretending to “just quickly look something up.”
From the moment I leave home to the moment I return, I’ll be completely offline. I've written down all my appointments in my trusty notepad, printed out my badge and boarding passes, and invested in a disposable camera to capture the experience. I've even had to go and buy a watch for the first time in 20 years (the natty orange Casio, pictured).
The reaction when I mentioned this on LinkedIn was fascinating.
Some people called it brave. Others described it as madness. One person compared it to Race Across the World. Another joked that they could already hear a collective ‘hey, hang on now’ from the event app providers.
But mainly, people seemed genuinely intrigued by the idea of disconnecting from the permanently connected event experience modern trade shows have become.
And perhaps that’s because smartphones now shape almost every part of how we experience events.
Our attendance at trade shows today runs through the device in our pocket. Event apps, schedules, networking, navigation, live updates, messages, boarding passes, photographs, payment... the smartphone has become the infrastructure of the modern event experience.
To be clear, this isn’t an anti-technology exercise. Event apps and smartphones solve real problems. They make large-scale events more efficient, responsive and navigable. They help people connect instantly across enormous venues and packed schedules.
But they may also have quietly changed the way we experience events in ways we rarely stop to think about.
Events are supposed to be about connection, yet many of us now move through them in a state of partial attention: replying to messages while walking between halls, checking LinkedIn during panels, photographing moments instead of fully inhabiting them.
Even networking itself increasingly happens through the phone.
“Where are you?” “Two minutes away.” “By the coffee stand.” “Outside Hall 8.” “Sorry, just finishing another call.”
The smartphone has become both the operating system and interruption layer of the modern event.
And maybe that’s why the idea of voluntarily removing it feels so radical and garnered so much attention - despite the fact that, not that long ago, this was simply how everyone attended trade shows.
A LinkedIn comment from IMEX itself pointed out the strange irony: “Isn’t it crazy that not that many years ago we all attended trade shows this way, yet this now feels totally novel?”
And that's true; it is strange that something that was very recently the norm now feels so totally alien. However, this experiment isn’t really about nostalgia or rejecting technology. It’s about curiosity.
What happens when you can no longer fill every dead moment with scrolling? When getting slightly lost becomes a possibility again? When boredom, observation and accidental conversations are no longer instantly interrupted by notifications? When you have to rely on your colleagues actually being where they say they're going to be when you're meeting for evening plans? (This is the bit I'm most nervous about, I'm not going to lie).
Do trade shows feel more immersive without a smartphone - or simply more inconvenient?
Do you notice more? Remember more? Speak to more people?
Or do you just spend three days wandering Frankfurt looking confused and desperately searching for printed signage?
I genuinely don’t know. But I'm looking forward to finding out.
I’ll report back after IMEX - assuming somebody can still find me...