Cover feature
building stuff,” said Rowe. “Exhibition
stand and design companies are way
much more than that, and do so much
more, from marketing, designing
through to installation. I still don’t
think people get that and even some
clients.”
Young said the word ‘design’
was key and the idea of a ‘complete
journey’, including pre-comms, who is
invited, as well as the experience that
takes place at the show. “If we’re not
really thinking in terms of the whole
process, how we can collaborate and
market together beyond the show
footprint.”
Hoinkes said it was important
to catch exhibitors early enough
so that they are thinking about a
comprehensive strategy on how
they’re going to maximise their
return on their investment. “Do they
stand behind a desk that doesn’t
invite people in for a conversation
or are they going to set it up so it is
warm and inviting? We have to look
at the customer journey.”
It seems the agencies are open
to changing the stereotypes: “Sure,
organisers have massive space to fill
and shell scheme is the norm, but
there are so many other options,” said
Rowe. “You don’t have to just stick up
posters on shell scheme.”
“Should organisers, therefore, be
matching more appropriately their
relationships at Ops, Marketing and
Sales levels to those of businesses like
Ignition or M-is?” asked Burton.
Onay thought it took a special
kind of client to engage not a stand
contractor but an end-to-end design
company. “Those companies that
outsource all of their exhibitions
know what they want. But, we have a
handful of clients coming to us before
a show talking about how they can
get more footfall on their stand.”
“Those that ask questions such
as, ‘Can we look at your data and do
something together’. That is active.
When that happens, when we work
with an agency rather than the client
itself, we find much better common
ground and the clients tend to rebook.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
So, we like it.”
Young said it was no time to
stand still, and warned of the speed
of change washing away some
previously healthy shows, such as
Consumer Electronics Live.
Burton also gave the example of
the Basel Watch fair, “where,” he said,
“an organiser absolutely believed it
had a dialogue with its key exhibitors
and woke up one day to find they had
no such thing”.
Clearly there are different cultural
and national approaches clouding the
communication issue further, such as
US trade union restrictions and pipe
and drape.
Young’s view was that the US
formula is “stuck in the past”.
Rowe added that any show in
America revolves around union
labour, “so you have to learn” and
watch the implications for budgets.
Onay added that it would help
holistically to have consistency in
operating procedures around the
world and he gave the example
of health and safety being very
advanced in the UK and fire safety is
paramount in Russia, while India and
Turkey had different challenges. “At
ITE we are trying to get an Ops Bible
out to help improve this situation,”
he said.
Alan Sheridan of Octanorm, from
the audience, agreed on the differing
standards among countries, even
within Europe. “Maybe it is time for
something new,” he said, “with shell
scheme 50 years old this year.”
Burton asked the agencies whether
An
organiser
absolutely
believed
it had a
dialogue
with its key
exhibitors
and woke
up one day
to find they
had no
such
thing.
they were being asked about show
selections rather than just delivery.
The dialogue with organisers
does appear to have fundamentally
changed, agreed Young, who said his
agency spent more time doing data
research with organisers to find who
is turning up as on the ROI or review
of the show itself.
“Agencies like us hold more
information than the clients do and
clients’ exhibition and marketing
managers move on very quickly,”
noted Rowe, again underlying
the importance of the agency
intermediary in the relationship.
Burton said he perceived a growing
realisation that tradeshows were no
longer transactional sales tools but
becoming more experiential.
“There is an analogy here of what
happened on the High Street,” Young
added. “We have to innovate and
bring in sustainability and change the
way exhibitions are used.”
EW’s editor asked the panel if we
were talking the same language on
sustainability?
“There is still a long way to go,” said
Hoinkes. “And much to do around
educating exhibitors over what can
be reused. Our own team didn’t know
we were recycling carpeting, so we
are concentrating now on giving
company staff the knowledge to
support customers.
In conclusion, Burton felt that,
“Ostensibly there’s no disconnect
between exhibition organisers and
design and build agencies that some
‘education’ wouldn’t fix, but the
challenge is more profound than that.
Despite sharing the same clients, ‘the
exhibitors’, I don’t think the same
language is being spoken.
“We live in a global world and
major exhibiting companies take a
global view. This means that their
trusted advisors on all things live and
experiential are agencies with the
scale, structure, insight and expertise
to advise on event strategy and
execution. The exhibition industry
needs to adapt its communication to
match this.”
Issue 2 2019
37