when it comes to vendors, there are only a handful of shows that really do well with vendors. Most vendors don't want to do shows. The hours are long, the drive, the set up, the tear down, the drive again (plus hotel/travel costs). Most would rather stay at home and take internet sales as it's easy (and probably more profitable.) For this reason, most shows have vendor areas falling instead of increasing. Exceptions to this might be Chicago Expo and Allentown. Note i've been to nearly every show in the country, and only these two shows seem to consistently have a decent amount of vendors. (And frankly this year Chicago Expo seems to have less vendors).

The internet has really changed shows in regard to vendors. Pretty much the only vendors i see at shows now are those that are A) local to the show and/or B) have no internet presence. Because of this shows that are in large metro areas will have more vendors than a show that is in a less populated area.

My basis for a show with good vendors is to find vendor(s) that are selling the following: pinball rubber (bulk and in various sizes/colors), flipper bats (in various colors), coils (in various types.) If these three generic pinball items are not available at a particular show, then in my eye, the vendor presence is probably not the show's strong suit. And to be frank, again, most shows don't have good vendor presence because the Internet has pretty much made vendors a rare commodity.

And to add salt to the vendor wound, most consumers probably don't go to shows to find vendors. Again, the internet and google/ebay make it a moot point. Most people go to shows to play pinball, as that's something the internet can't do.