Volunteering keeps us sharp. Listening to students tackle modern case studies forces us to see how they interpret today’s landscape. Their creativity, fearlessness, and digital fluency are energizing. They remind us why we got into this in the first place.

At FREKWENCY, we believe trade show success isn’t about showing up. It’s about showing up with a strategy — before, during, and after the show.

For the last 15 years, “being found” meant ranking on page one and earning the click. In 2026, the click is optional. Prospects are asking ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Copilot for the answer—and those systems are increasingly summarizing, recommending, and citing a small handful of sources. Publishers are already warning this shift is shrinking traditional search referrals and changing how discovery works.