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The Stars Came Out TRADE SHOW EXECUTIVE GOLD 100 AWARDS & SUMMIT RECAP The summit portion of the Gold 100 Awards & Summit has become a timely forum for industry leaders to review new ideas tested in the current year and look ahead at the challenges and opportunities for the year ahead. This year’s sessions did not disappoint. With its fast-paced format — most sessions were an hour or less — the summit packed seven sessions and lunch into an eight-hour time frame. Gold 100 delegates could get a quick handle on burning issues and the wave of the future from some of the brightest minds in the business — on the stage and in the audience — who were not shy about speaking their minds. Creating a Culture of Creativity Lyn Heward, creative director for Cirque du Soleil, opened the conference with a deep dive into the business of audience engagement. She shared ideas on how to develop a creative and versatile staff to keep your shows fresh and appealing to both exhibitors and attendees. Heward explored the philosophy of hiring that has kept Cirque du Soleil on the artistic cutting edge of live entertainment. Management has a duty, she said, to foster a close-knit and talented team and then allow it to push the envelope together. “It is all about people who are able to trust one another with their most creative ideas.” Cirque du Soleil literally plays with fire on a daily basis, she said. “The repetitive action of igniting the floor beneath your feet 475 times is certain to yield accidents. Still, you must learn to leverage your risk and creativity because complacency is the biggest risk you’ll ever take,” Heward said. She assured show organizers that risk can be its own reward. “Even the downside of tight budgets and projects that flop can be turned into positives that can focus the creative process and prevent you from getting into a rut,” Heward said. Trending & Spending The discussion moved from circus magic to the salt mines with an assessment of the frustrating economy by a panel of industry leaders in the Trending & Spending session. Moderator Darlene Gudea, president of Trade Show Executive Media Group, gave an overview of trade show growth using data from TSE’s Monthly Dashboard of Trade Show Metrics. “For the past four quarters, trade show growth has been solidly in the black. Net square footage has led the recovery, reaching as high as 8% in Q2 of 2010 and hovering around 3% in the first two quarters of 2011.” She warned, however, that change was in the air as the year winds to a close, and noted that TSE’s 20-member Exposition Forecasting Board went out on a limb in predicting a slowdown. “The economy is clogged up like a kitchen sink,” said TSE Chief Economist Frank Chow in summing up a business www.TradeShowExecutive.com | October 2011 19
The Stars Came Out TRADE SHOW EXECUTIVE GOLD 100 AWARDS & SUMMIT RECAP Everything’s Coming Up Roses. With magnifi - cent fl oral displays, soaring nearly three feet above the exquisite table settings, the Gold 100 reached new levels of grandeur, thanks to the artistry and generosity of Vicky Pappageorge, president of Victoria’s Event Productions. environment that has basically remained stalled since the last Gold 100 in 2010. “After a long 2009, we saw a pretty good recovery from the middle of last year through the middle of this year,” said Paul Woodward, managing director of UFI, the Global Association for the Exhibition Industry. “But frankly, I am a bit nervous about next year.” The level of uncertainty around the industry was reflected by the results of an audience poll in which 67% of the respondents were neutral or pessimistic about sales growth in 2012, compared to 33% who were optimistic. In terms of profits, 61% were neutral or pessimistic about growth while 39% were optimistic about increased profit margins. “The recovery has been very similar to the downturn — gradual and broadbased,” said Aaron Bludworth, COO of George Fern Exposition & Event Services. However, he predicts that a full thaw in the recession is a ways off. Patrick Fallon, vice president of business development for CompuSystems, Inc., which handles registration for 26 Gold 100 shows, said he was encouraged to see exhibitor counts holding fairly steady for most shows although there were still concerns about construction events and smaller shows that might not have strong financial underpinnings. James Rooney, executive director for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, said that while shows and corporate events were still in the game, attendees and exhibitors continued to wait longer before committing to attend, which was making the management of venue space and hotel blocs trickier to manage. Leading and Managing During Extreme Crisis Tad Ishizumi, president of Reed Exhibitions Japan, proved why he is known as “Mr. Exhibition” in Japan in the aftermath of this year’s huge earthquake. The quake unleashed a devastating tsunami, which led to serious damage at a nuclear power plant outside Tokyo, just a month before Finetech, a leading regional trade show with a strong customer base in mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea. Faced with the choice between holding Finetech as scheduled or canceling it, Ishizumi quickly decided the show would go on even though 80% of the exhibitors had said they were cancelling due to concerns about a nuclear fallout in Tokyo. Ishizumi’s team got to work reaching out by telephone and in person to exhibiting and attendee companies throughout Asia. “We needed to void the rumors that Finetech was being canceled,” Ishizumi said. Through reassurances that Tokyo was well outside the contamination zone, Finetech roared to life with brisk registrations and exhibit space numbers that were in line with last year. “But our anxiety did not go away until we actually saw the attendees arrive at Finetech,” Ishizumi said. The Inside Scoop A panel of top industry executives told audience members their businesses had gone past selling square footage and tote-bag sponsorships in their quest to keep their shows profitable and attractive to an evolving customer base. “There are a lot of levers you can pull besides the price per square foot,” said Chet Burchett, president of Reed Exhibitions Americas. Burchett said Reed is using extensive research to develop pricing for shows that is highly individualized and based on location. “The idea is to make it impossible for a prospective exhibitor to say no,” he said. Don’t give up on b-to-b media was the message from Charles McCurdy, chairman and CEO of Apprise Media. “Trade magazines have taken a battering in recent years, but it doesn’t mean they are finished or have little to offer investors,” he said. McCurdy pointed out that the trade show component of many b-to-b companies remains sturdy but is sometimes overlooked by equity firms. “The hardest part is getting investors to recognize a good trade show business as opposed to considering it another b-to-b disaster waiting to happen,” McCurdy said. No show is going anywhere without broadband. Fresh off a successful show that was heavy on digital promotions, Mary Pat Heftman, executive vice president of conventions for the National Restaurant Association, said show organizers should not overlook broadband capacity 20 October 2011 | Trade Show Executive
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