Industry View
When big is
beautiful
As some big global events continue to struggle, Paul
Woodward of Paul Woodward Advisory turns his
attention to those that are thriving
S
“I continue to believe
that the route to
success may be
different in the
future, but there
are clearly some
giant events which
are doing very well”
66 — March
ometimes you write things which just seem
to strike a chord. A blog that I posted in
mid-December generated more response than
anything I’ve said or done for a while. Entitled
‘Too big to succeed’, it shared some thoughts on
what is going on as some of the biggest names in
world exhibitions put up the shutters or struggle.
With CEBIT and Interbike gone, Baselworld
and several of the major remaining motor shows
on life support, I wondered whether the days
were numbered for the giant trade fair. I quoted
Swatch’s Nick Hayek who is reported to have
said, “When you look at these old traditional
watch fairs, it doesn’t make any sense anymore”.
Some were surprised. After a number of years
cheerleading for exhibitions as the managing
director of UFI, had I turned to bite the hand
that had fed me? Not really: I did say in that
blog that, “I believe that there is a great future
for business events” although I wondered
whether “the ones which succeed will either be
smaller and much more focused, or very social
gatherings, multi-dimensional networking
events which Web Summit and SXSW typify”.
I continue to believe that the route to success
may be different in the future, but there are
clearly some giant events which are doing very
well. In January we saw another remarkably
successful edition of CES in Las Vegas, a fair
which has sucked up much of the buzz which
used to be reserved for Comdex, CEBIT and even
the Detroit Motor Show. Association-owned and
with a laser-sharp focus on its core mission to
promote innovation and technology, CES has the
advantage of a sexy subject matter. Not all events
are so naturally appealing for the media.
Hayek’s beef seems to be with ‘old’ and
‘traditional’ events, which haven’t learned to re-
invent themselves. There is nothing wrong with
tradition, but there is a great deal wrong with
complacently assuming that your customers will
happily come back for more of the same.
This is particularly true for events which rely
heavily on large, corporate exhibitors. With some
imagination and creativity, your customers, who
can measure their success directly from their
orderbooks, will keep coming back.
But the big corporates are getting more
demanding and want to know why events are
worth their while. Exhibitors are looking for
real insights into who is at your show and why.
Increasingly, the tools are available to organisers
to collect and present that data. The smartest
exhibition businesses have also been investing
heavily in the people who can make it work
and, more importantly, make it useful. The very
smartest of the lot are beginning to get their
heads around how to sell it as well.
But, it’s not all about digitisation. There is
clearly still value in being the biggest and the
best. I was recently at the Boot boat show in
Düsseldorf. While this show has thrived others,
notably the London Boat Show, have faltered
and failed. The UK’s glamour boat builders –
Princess, Fairline and Sunseeker – stalwarts
of the old London show, were there in massive
and impressively professional booths. The show
seamlessly caters for the industry professionals
and the ticket-buying tyre kickers. It’s logistically
impressive and, at £74 for a BA return ticket to
Düsseldorf from Heathrow, probably a cheaper
trip than many UK trains to ExCeL.