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The Case for Investing in our Second- and Third-Year Exhibitors and Attendees
The Case for Investing in our Second- and Third-Year Exhibitors and Attendees

The Case for Investing in our Second- and Third-Year Exhibitors and Attendees

Stephanie Selesnick, International Trade Information, Inc. Many interesting facts came out of the UFI/Explori Exhibitor and Visitor Insights over the last couple of years, among them that the largest attrition for both exhibitors and visitors happens from years one to two and years two to three. (LINK: https://www.ufi.org/industry-resources/surveys-and-studies/) It costs significantly more to recruit both new attendees and exhibitors. So, what’s an organizer to do? Here are some suggestions. F [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2019-05-21T10:32:15+00:00 May 13th, 2019|All, Exhibition Marketing|0 Comments

The UFI Digital Debate in Tokyo: Digital Revolution in the Exhibition Industry
The UFI Digital Debate in Tokyo: Digital Revolution in the Exhibition Industry

The UFI Digital Debate in Tokyo: Digital Revolution in the Exhibition Industry

Gunnar Heinrich, CEO, adventics GmbH. At the high-profile UFI Asia-Pacific Conference in Tokyo, Stephan Forseilles, Tesi Baur and I had the pleasure to debate several controversial topics about the digital revolution in our exhibition industry. With the help of the audience which could vote in real time, we took a closer look at A.I., customer experience, digital talents and digitization in the exhibition industry. Here is a wrap-up of our discussion. 1. Will A.I. change our industry completel [...]

By Guest| 2019-05-13T13:51:12+00:00 May 13th, 2019|All, Best Practices, Digital Innovation|2 Comments

Making it look EASY
Making it look EASY

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 [...]

By Antony Reeve-Crook| 2019-05-06T13:26:32+00:00 May 6th, 2019|All, Best Practices, Education, Management|0 Comments

Some Things Organizers May Not Know About Japan
Some Things Organizers May Not Know About Japan

Some Things Organizers May Not Know About Japan

Stephanie Selesnick, International Trade Information, Inc. One of my favorite things about attending the UFI Regional Conferences is learning about other cultures and visiting countries for the first time. Here are a few things we learned last week about Japan at the UFI Asia-Pacific Conference - and how you may incorporate them into your exhibitions: 1. Signage. Japan is pretty easy to travel around! Having bilingual signage – Japanese and English - enabled us to easily travel around the co [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2019-03-19T11:30:27+00:00 March 19th, 2019|All, Asia – Pacific, Best Practices, Digital Innovation, Management|0 Comments

Not so social media
Not so social media

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 [...]

By Antony Reeve-Crook| 2019-03-13T14:13:51+00:00 March 13th, 2019|All|4 Comments

Experience is the new economy: How do trade show visitors view festivalisation?
Experience is the new economy: How do trade show visitors view festivalisation?

Experience is the new economy: How do trade show visitors view festivalisation?

Sophie Holt, Global Strategy Director at Explori. Seated alongside a panel of trade show organisers and live event specialists, I shared some of Explori’s insights on festivalisation with the audience at this year’s International Confex. Experience is the new economy... Callum Gill, head of insight at DRP Group Perhaps driven by the growing popularity of music festivals, or high-budget corporate events raising the bar (remember the accounting software conference that ran a zip line across ExCe [...]

By Guest| 2019-03-07T09:10:22+00:00 March 4th, 2019|All, Best Practices, Education|1 Comment

More global business ahead!
More global business ahead!

More global business ahead!

Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director/CEO at UFI. This year started in much the same way as last year finished – with new acquisitions and takeovers: Blackstone-backed PSAV has bought the in-house AV company Encore Event Technologies from Freeman, Reed is taking over Mack Brooks, and there are even more deals on the horizon. Despite – or perhaps because of – a more complex political and economic environment, there’s been a lot of interest in investing in our industry. In fact, this issue was a hot [...]

By Kai Hattendorf| 2019-02-26T09:41:26+00:00 February 25th, 2019|All, Exhibition Industry, UFI Updates|0 Comments

Exhibitor Retention – Are You Doing All That You Can?
Exhibitor Retention – Are You Doing All That You Can?

Exhibitor Retention – Are You Doing All That You Can?

Stephanie Selesnick, International Trade Information, Inc. Jefferson Davis, President of Competitive Edge, is a self-described, “Trade Show Productivity Expert” with more 30 years of experience in training exhibitors and working in exhibitions. We recently discussed one of his passions – exhibitor retention. In the United States, the average exhibition has 76% exhibitor renewals. That’s still 24% of exhibitors who are not returning – and must be replaced annually. That’s a lot of companies! Ev [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2019-02-11T11:26:08+00:00 February 11th, 2019|All, Americas, Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Marketing|1 Comment

Do You Know Your Competition?
Do You Know Your Competition?

Do You Know Your Competition?

Stephanie Selesnick, International Trade Information, Inc. Last year, in a post- show survey from one of the largest United States largest exhibitions, I was happily surprised by this question: Thinking about the future of the industry, are there any shows that could “steal the thunder” of the XYZ Show or that your company might attend instead of the XYZ Show? Which show and why? This annual exhibition has engaged exhibitor and visitor bases. Exhibit space sells out every year and there is a w [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2019-01-17T15:02:58+00:00 January 17th, 2019|All, Americas, Best Practices, Exhibition Industry|0 Comments

Doing away with pay-to-play
Doing away with pay-to-play

Doing away with pay-to-play

Antony Reeve-Crook, Director, ArciMedia. (Continued from previous post: Make 2019 the year we captivate our audiences) Chris Day, the senior marketing director for both MJBizCon and associated publication Marijuana Business Daily, recently told Steph Selesnick (my collaborator on The Exhibitionists and regular contributor to this blog) that you have to come at it from a very clear credibility standpoint. “Most of our editorial and programming team come from a traditional news background, that’ [...]

By Antony Reeve-Crook| 2019-01-10T10:21:09+00:00 January 10th, 2019|All, Best Practices, Exhibition Industry, UFI Updates|0 Comments