Manageable competitive environment – Market leading events seem to create
a competitive vacuum, as they suck in all of the best attendees and relevant
exhibitors. The events sector, however, can be very competitive: Rival
organizers can quickly spot a gap in a major event, where perhaps it has
failed to keep up with the needs of attendee groups.
Growth routes
Exhibition organizers can achieve growth via three routes:
 Organic
This is the hardest. It means launching a new event from scratch. There are
two types of launch:
 New market launch. For example, organizers are launching a range of
events to serve the markets for emerging fuel technologies.
 Competitive launch. A broad-based show can easily fall out of touch with
the specific needs of its attendee base, allowing a rival organizer to launch
a “vertical” (single segment) attack. For example, Nepcon West suffered at
the hands of Apex, which was launched by the surface mount industry
association, IPC.
 Clone
An organizer with a successful brand can clone this brand, both by geography
and by time. Primed holds its CME events across the U.S. and has extended
its brand overseas. The German halls have driven much of their international
expansion through the launches of cloned events. This is a low-risk strategy
because the organizer has good knowledge of the market and can leverage
its existing brand to attract exhibitors.
 Acquire
Acquisition is a widely used development tool in the exhibition industry. Some
major organizers – who are better at growing and defending their assets than
launching events – become serial acquirers. Others make acquisitions in
order to make a step change in their business. For example, UBM added
MediaLive to its IT portfolio, allowing it to become a more integrated B2B
player in the sector.
Growth challenges
Regardless of the growth routes chosen, the challenges are the same:
 Attendee interest and time pressure. It is a common complaint that events
calendars are too crowded. Attendees and delegates can only justify
allocating a limited amount of their time to them. In the developed
economies, the long-term trend towards downsizing, particularly in mature
industries, is hurtful and is reflected in the gradual reduction in the potential
attendee base.
Attendee numbers are measured and reported (with varying levels of
accuracy around the world) so organizers are keen to see numbers
maintained, as well as to maintain the “buzz” on the show floor. It is,
however, attendee quality that is more important than sheer numbers.
(Buyers are far more valuable than students bussed in for the day.) No
organizer has really done a good job at measuring quality.
 Sustained (exhibitor and sponsor) marketing budget pressure. Exhibition and
sponsorship spending comes out of marketing budgets which are coming
under increasing scrutiny, with ROI being either talked about or measured.
20
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26