Ownership models
There is a variety of ownership models for events – but there is no one rule as to
which is best.
 Dedicated events organizer, e.g., Reed Exhibitions
These businesses have no interest in other media types and focus only on
events. As a result, they represent best practices in the sector. A future trend
may be for their powerhouse brands to take the opportunity to leapfrog the
paper medium of their publishing competitors and to develop electronic
offerings.
 Mixed B2B media owners, e.g., Advanstar, Nielsen
These groups have strong skills in both events and publishing, although there
is often a limited overlap in their selected markets. For example, Advanstar
has no fashion publishing. These companies – together with integrated
media companies (below) – are best positioned to take advantage of cross-
media opportunities between events, print and electronic media in the same
industry.
 Integrated Media companies, e.g., Hanley Wood, United Business Media,
1105 Media
These media owners have a leading position in select industry segments,
seeking to provide the full range of B2B services around a range of platforms.
There is a growing trend towards integrated B2B – for example, Cygnus has
sought to transform itself in this way by building a set of B2B services around
each of its brands.
The top organizing and management companies in the U.S. are seen in Figure 14.
Figure 14: Top U.S .organizing and management companies
Organizer/Manager Number of events in ‘Tradeshow Week’ top 200
Dmg world/GLM 18
Nielsen Business Media 11
Reed Exhibitions 10
Advanstar 4
Hanley Wood 4
Smith Bucklin 4
Hall Erickson 4
Source: Tradeshow Week
 Venue-driven organizers, e.g., the organizing arms of the German Messen
In Germany and a number of other countries, the organizing arm of a venue
runs events in order to fill up its own venues. These organizers then tend to
develop by cloning their events internationally. A downside of owning the
venue can be the constraint of being inflexible in choice of location, which can
limit growth or adaptability.
In 2008 Viparis, the merger of the two major Paris venues will become a
venue powerhouse. Total revenues, including those from hall ownership, will
be over $700 million.
The table below shows that three venue organizing arms feature in the top
five organizers worldwide.
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