Comdex was owned by what later became known as the Interface Group, a company that produced conferences and expositions around the world.

NEWYORKER: The Brass Ring

The Shanghai government partnered with the Bureau International des Expositions to build a massive 35, 000sqm World Expo Museum.

BBC: Shanghai after the World Expo

Now Gary Goodman, of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions, points out that Madison Avenue is paying a lot more attention to the audiences that fairs draw in.

ECONOMIST: State fairs

"We have approximately 1, 200 state, regional and county agricultural fairs as members and none of my staff is aware of a large-egg competition at any of them, " says James Tucker, chief executive of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions in Springfield, Mo.

WSJ: Big Chocolate Eggs May Be Big, but Big Hen's Eggs Not So Much

The writing is skewed and brilliant (scientific expositions and shopping sprees stand in for declarations of love).

NEWYORKER: Good Girl (Gentille)