Straddling the Globe: The World, According to Angus

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 6/14/2004

Sandy Angus, chairman of Montgomery Exhibitions in Great Britain, has been running trade fairs since 1968, developing a familiarity with the world's exhibit halls that is shared by only a handful of individuals. Angus served as president of UFI from 2001 to 2003 and is now on the boards of directors of both the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management and the Assn. for Exhibition Organisers in the United Kingdom.

Straddling the Atlantic with his trio of association roles, Angus is uniquely positioned to comment on the flow of tradeshow business between the United States and Europe. Recently he spoke with Heidi Genoist, senior associate editor of Tradeshow Week, about a global promotion of exhibitions and other plans involving the American and European industries.

Question: What are the most significant happenings on the global exhibition landscape today?

Answer: I think the fact that Milan is building the biggest exhibition center in the world is significant right now. You might say the monster tradeshows are under some threat. That is not a view they share.

One other thing is the amount of exhibition space being created in China. Every single Chinese city is getting an exhibition hall. I don't think there's any question that there won't be enough activity to fill all that space. That's going to create a very interesting situation.

Q: Besides China, where are the opportunities abroad?

A: India. When one talks about the go-go economies, they speak of the BRIC: Brazil, Russia, India and China. (Montgomery has) plans in three of them; Brazil is the only one where we don't, largely because there's no opportunity there. I think Russia has been one of the best markets for tradeshows over the last three years.

Q: Lately, only a couple American versions of large European shows, such as CeBIT, have launched with any success. Do you expect to see more of this in the future?

A: I don't think we'll get more than we've got. The brands that will travel have done so. I think there's much more promise in travel of American niches coming to Europe. But at the moment the Americans are not very attracted to operating outside the United States.

Q: So there's more promise for American shows launching in Europe than the reverse?

A: If their own shows are big and successful enough. For instance, if the Consumer Electronics Show would try it again, they'd be successful, because they've probably learned from the mistakes they made last time they tried, and it's a strong brand that would travel well, in my opinion. The Society of Petroleum Engineers out of Houston has a pretty strong global influence, but that's a rarity in the United States. U.S. organizations lately have had a tendency to want to stay within the U.S.

Q: Do you expect that attitude to change?

A: I'm hoping it will. One of the things I'm hoping to encourage through IAEM is more American companies taking their shows outside the United States and into China and other parts of the world. The opportunities exist if the will exists.

Q: Do you expect the geopolitical situation — particularly in light of the Iraq war — and the deteriorating opinion other countries have of the United States, to affect American tradeshow companies abroad?

A: No, business is business. Businesspeople on the whole are fairly practical. I travel extensively and I can't think of a single American product that's being discriminated against. I can't say the same of the reverse. When France and Germany didn't support the U.S., German and French imports to the U.S. suffered.

Q: There have been few mergers or acquisitions in Europe during the last year or two. Why is that?

A: One trend I think people will have to look for is cities that keep their facilities but allow other companies to either link with exhibitions, or to be set up independently to manage the exhibitions. Jaarbeurs spun off its exhibition business and it was snapped up by VNU, which is now seen as the organizer of shows in Utrecht. That was a trend a couple years ago, but it hasn't gathered speed at the pace I thought it would. Rather, cities have become landlords.

Q: Do you expect to see much cross-Atlantic M&A activity?

A: Reed, VNU, Penton — I think they've made most of the obvious acquisitions in Europe. There are businesses in Europe that are available, but whether people believe they're worth the kind of money it takes ... Exposium in France has been on the market for over a year now. There are a few European companies that will take a brand or niche they have to the United States, but I can't think of a single company that's investing in the American market. It is one of the most competitive and sophisticated in the world, and a number of companies, Montgomery included, have tried to break into it with little success.

Q: UFI and IAEM have cooperated recently on several projects. Do you see the two as simply American and European versions of the same organization?

A: IAEM is much, much stronger from an educational standpoint than UFI. The programs they run in the United States and are now taking elsewhere with relative success — in Europe and Asia — are impressive by any standards. And, although there are changes coming in the structure of IAEM, I think that the two organizations are not dissimilar. One could say that UFI is very strong in Europe, IAEM is very strong in the United States, and they're looking to establish themselves in Asia.

Q: Will there be cooperation on that push into Asia?

A: Inevitably, because both organs and SISO will sit on a board with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). IAEM is doing its CEM program in Asia with success, but I think the Chinese in part are conscious of the fact that they need better relations with both Europe and the United States and want to achieve that by involving all these groups.

Q: Where does the joint agreement with the CCPIT stand right now?

A: It's being clarified and is due for signing on the 18th of June.

Q: As both organizations attempt to expand globally, has the working relationship between UFI and IAEM been successful?

A: So far, I don't think anyone would accept that the cooperation agreement between IAEM and UFI has achieved anything significant, but that's not to say it's not capable of doing so.

Q: What do you hope it will achieve?

A: I think the greatest success it could have would be in cooperating in a global generic promotion program that we've both talked about and pushed through our memberships worldwide.

Q: IAEM recently changed the structure of its membership to be more inclusive of contractors and other industry suppliers. Has UFI done the same thing?

A: We divide into exhibition owners and venue owners, then there are associate members, which include stand contractors, but they have nothing like the same influence as those categories within IAEM. Where the United States has very wealthy, successful businesses like Freeman Decorating, we don't have what I would call European contracting companies. They're either German, French or Italian, and they work outside the countries where they exist, but they are not as strong as the U.S. contractors.