International
single preferred growth channel,
or development path, we use a
multi-channel growth policy,”
he said. “We’re active in 20
countries, we serve roughly 15
industries with more than 200
events - we have to adapt to each
market and situation.
If we want to keep strong,
entrepreneurial DNA alive
within a structured company
that means that we are
always looking for constant
balance between strategy and
opportunity.”
Mary Larkin
Glocalisation - a US
perspective
Day one also saw a panel
discussion featuring Gabrielle
Weiss, publisher and editor,
Trade Show Executive, Mary
Larkin, executive vice president,
Diversified Communications,
Cassandra Farrington, co-
founder and CEO, Marijuana
Business Daily and president
at Anne Holland Ventures and
Dianna Steinbach, vice president
– international Services for ISSA.
The focus of the discussion
was the move by US organisers,
who historically focused on
national events, to a more
international view for new
launches.
Steinbach described her
business’ growth strategy:
“The way we’ve been growing
has been through mergers and
acquisition within our industry,
both from associations and from
events, as well as joint ventures
in some cases with local
partners.
“Our format is to evaluate
what makes the best business
sense, almost every one of our
expansions and acquisitions has
had its own structure based on
the local market or the players
we were talking with.”
Exhibitions 2.0
On day two of the conference,
Denzil Rankine of AMR
International took to the stage
to discuss the next stage in the
evolution of exhibitions.
Rankine spoke about
challenging elements of the
historical exhibitions model, and
wondered whether there could
be a new way to approach them.
“This is an industry that
hasn’t been in a hurry to make
changes compared, for example,
to retail,” he said. “But we are
now coming into a time of
unprecedented pressure and
change.”
Rankine mentioned some of
the giants of the exhibition world
– CEBIT and Interbike – which
have closed their doors over the
past year. He pointed out the
huge importance of delighting
attendees.
“We don’t want the concept of
hostages, or people who have to
go because they have to go,” he
explained “It is possible to make
more money while delighting
your customers. But we have
to be very careful to make sure
we’re not just taxing them by
saying, ‘here’s a service you pay
for but you don’t value’.” EN
Robert Peston
Denzil Rankine
June — 13