The era of big trade shows seems to be over. One of the first big indicators of this was the announcement of the scaling-down of the big E3 show, back in 2006. E3, of course, is a name familiar to the hard-core gaming community. Media-wise, it was something like a video game industry Super Bowl — everyone looked forward to it as a premier event.

For all its flashy hideousness however, it was still just a trade show. And, in spite of the ensuing laments, it’s probably best that E3 was allowed to shrink. Frankly, the whole thing was numbing; after dozens of announcements of games that weren’t due to be released for another year or more, often getting canceled along the way, who could give a damn?

But things really started looking bad for trade shows in general when Apple announced that it was pulling out of Macworld after January, which was a little like hearing that Santa Claus is planning to disassociate himself from Christmas.

There’s been a lot of talk about how trade shows simply aren’t a cost-effective way to engage with the public anymore. This may be true (I’ve collected at least a thousand bucks worth of t-shirts and other tchotchkes over the years, and I’m sure my meager influence on corporate procurement hasn’t returned the investments of the swag-givers a jot), but can individual events, conference calls, and big-hype press-releases ever match the level of spectacle that the old trade show offers?

Perhaps not. And, perhaps that’s why there seems to be a lot more attention being directed at next year’s CES event than I remember seeing in a long while. Not that CES lacks the kind of pedigree one might expect for a big event. After all, some of the most famous consumer electronics products in history got launched at the show. The Nintendo Entertainment System, the Commodore 64 — hell, even the humble VCR — were all had their public debuts at CES. And there seems to be every indication that Windows 7 will be on the menu for next year’s show.

With some media outlets gearing up to cover CES in a big way, it seems that CES is set to come into its own as an premier showcase once again. Because, in the end, the main benefit of trade shows is not simply that they provide a place for vendors and consumers to get together and cut deals; they are also big, bright red bull’s-eyes for media companies that require fodder for hundreds of pages and dozens of hours of soft-news pieces.

Trade shows are easy news. Send a reporter or a camera crew, let them hang around a few hours, snag a couple of media kits, and you’ve got yourself some glitzy filler right there. Events sponsored by a single corporate entity stretch the credibility of all but the most pathetic junket-whore; whereas the multi-vendor trade show still exudes some thin sliver of respectability.

Of course, these things aren’t run for the benefit of media outlets. And who cares if G4 or EGM shows up to cover E3? Their viewers and readers are already going to buy whatever it is the vendors have to sell. Frankly, all the palaver feels a lot like the industry is trying way too hard to attract an already captive audience. In the end, spending all that money just wasn’t worth it.

But don’t expect the trade show to disappear completely. Or, at least, do expect something to take its place. Fan-led conventions seem poised to become the next bastion of event-based marketing. Look at all the attention that Comic-Con has been getting. These are festivals whose primary purpose is to allow fans to come together and celebrate their hobbies, to buy merchandise, and to meet celebrities. Hey, why not try to hock your stuff to them, since they’re going to be there anyway?

It’s more democratic, at least. Most trade shows are open only to industry professionals, which are a valuable audience to be sure; but fan conventions are open to the general public, who are the end-of-the-line consumers for most of this stuff anyway, if we’re talking about entertainment products. It’s a match made in synergistic, marketing heaven. (Man, that actually sounds like a terrible place to be.)

But who cares? See you at PAX!