I've been to HT for the last 3 years and it seems perfectly sensible as far as trade shows go. You can buy, charter, finance and sell aircraft and buy many mods, equipment, avionics and interiors. There are industry insiders doing talks and the whole event is full of aviation experts to talk, network and meet with. What exactly is it missing? Genuine question.
Also Excel is huge so it looks very quiet when it isn't. I'd say it was a good 1000+ people yesterday with more to follow today now that MRO is open across the hallway. Rotary is a small industry, how many people were you expecting. And Excel has 2 DLR stops so it's hardly a disaster.
I'm not trying to say it's perfect but lets be objective at least?