In the times of more and more information becoming available online you would expect the decline of trade shows, but you'd expect wrong:

American Business Media's Business Information Network released figures showing trade show revenue grew 8.9% in 2005, generating more than $9.8 billion in total revenue. Trade show attendance showed a slight increase, up 1.1% compared with 2004, while net square footage increased 9.3%.

Interesting side note...