Going Global

By Adam Schaffer -- Tradeshow Week, 5/31/2004

I recently had the opportunity to attend IMEX in Frankfurt, Germany, and was struck by the enthusiasm at the show and the energy emanating from every part of the globe. The best part was running into many of our friends and partners, not only from the United States, but also from Asia, Europe, Canada and Mexico.

The team from Poland gets the award for being most aggressive (but very polite). Mauritius had the most colorful booth you could imagine. And the folks from Belgium made the best chocolate I have ever tasted right in their booth.

More importantly, the power of global commerce smacked all participants right in the face. This was a very busy show with a lot of meetings going on – no idle grabbing of key chains or mouse pads here. The shift that is occurring, from a collection of unrelated national industries to a global web of partners, was evident.

The German Messes are looking for "guest exhibition" business to supplement the events they produce themselves, perhaps writing the next chapter in their long history of successful trade fairs. American show organizers are producing more events overseas. SISO and IAEM are working with the Chinese. U.S. venues are hosting shows from abroad.

I had dinner in Frankfurt with Steve Shuldenfrei of Access Intelligence (formerly PBI Media). Steve was on his way to Rome to scout locations for the Satellite show. The show had been out of Europe since 2002, but is now back in. Before his visit to Frankfurt, he stopped in Belgium to take a look at Brussels Expo, which the peripatetic Bob Dallmeyer represents. Steve sees Europe and other continents as a real opportunity for the show – also running in Washington, D.C. since 1981.

You get the picture here, and so do we. Tradeshow Week recognizes this is an international industry, and remains committed to covering every bit of it. We will continue to bring you regular international coverage and analysis here in Tradeshow Week. This August, the Major Exhibit Hall Directory will be a complete global directory – listing all venues over 25,000 square feet in size. Look for more "Doing Business In" conferences like the one we had in February in Mexico. We are also helping the world learn about the United States via the regular content we contribute to UFI's Exhibition World magazine.

Safe travels.