Talk the talk
Agents in all branches of our far-reaching ecosystem need to walk the walk if we are to get where we want to go. Particularly those responsible for promoting their clients to us; we deal in trade, not tourism.
Making it count
When AIPC, ICCA and UFI sought to unite and identify areas of common interest for education and research, what they in effect set out to do is give us all a little of our time and energy back.
Agents of change
Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia Ltd. Well, we’ve got a new prime minister here in the UK; Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. He’s not to everyone’s taste, and in fairness he took the post on the votes of just over 92,000 eligible party voters (the general public having already had their say in which party to elect), but we’re hoping he’ll do a good job. It was also a surprise to nobody. Born to wealthy upper-middle class parents, a pupil at Eton then on to study classics at Oxford Uni [...]
Guild-y by association
Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia Ltd. News that three of the most prominent business event associations are putting ‘collaboration over competition’, pooling their resources to bring greater value to their members, reveals much about the shared paths our industries are following. The global associations AIPC (International Association of Convention Centres), ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) and UFI (Global Association of the Exhibition Industry) have embarked on [...]
Far from extinct, the Mercosur roars
Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia Ltd. Twenty years in the making and the European Union has finally signed the paperwork on a trading deal with the Mercosur trading bloc in the Americas, a deal that creates the largest multinational trading market in the world at 780 million people. It’s big news for EU organisers active in the region, such as Reed and Clarion, which represent many EU companies looking to enter or grow in the Mercosur members Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay (Ven [...]
Turning JMIC’s research into an explosive campaign tool
Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia Ltd. The Joint Meetings Industry Council's recently-unveiled report on the benefits of our industry; Business Events Legacies, may prove to be a lot more significant than its title suggests – but it needs our help to give it the impact it deserves. The report’s authors from the University of Technology Sydney, associate professors Carmel Foley and Deborah Edwards, and Pavlina Javoska and Anja Hergesell, claim it reveals “significant” shortcomings in the [...]
Making it look EASY
Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia Ltd. Eric Everard, CEO and founder of Belgium’s Easyfairs is a keynote speaker at this year’s UFI European Conference in Birmingham. Before he takes the stage I managed to catch up with him to find out if the company’s model continues unchanged, and to what he attributes the company’s success. Easyfairs operates in 20 countries, manages a portfolio of 218 fully owned events and ten venues. Its revenues and profits are derived roughly 80 per cent from its [...]
Organisers’ future in Russia: paved in silk?
Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia Ltd. Among the presentations at the upcoming UFI European Conference at the NEC in Birmingham, Thursday afternoon’s talk ‘Glocalisation 2: Russia – China - One Belt One Road (OBOR)’ is likely to raise eyebrows for some seeking to make in-roads in central Eurasia. The May event looks at ways and measures to benefit from the shifting trade patterns emerging as new alliances are being forged, which makes the debate between Eugen Alles, managing director of [...]
An ovation for innovation
Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia Ltd. One thing that has always endeared me to the global exhibition industry is the fact that the events you create foster innovation on a definitively industrial scale. The SMEs that typically comprise the bulk of your exhibitors are more often than not pushing innovation to an audience of buyers seeking competitive advantage through fresh partnership. So naturally when I was invited to take part in a two-day workshop, created by Future London Academy, [...]
Not so social media
Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia Ltd. River damming and distrust. Can organisers still use social media to grow show’s attendance? Since 2016 Facebook has restricted its data sharing practice, and regulations such as GDPR in European Union member states have slowed the flow of data to those in search of it. Interfaces between organisers and social media have changed too. Last year Facebook removed the API for automatic sharing, a tool commonly used (perhaps ill-advisedly) to promote tra [...]