International Attendance Remains an Issue
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 3/7/2005
Getting international buyers to U.S. tradeshows remains a concern, judging by two industry groups' recent steps to address the issue.
The Professional Convention Management Assn. held a Feb. 23 teleconference detailing Chicago's efforts to ensure foreign attendance at the Radiological Society of North America Scientific Assembly & Annual Meeting. At the same time, the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management formed a group to collect advice from organizers who have participated in the U.S. Department of Commerce's Intl. Buyers Program.
IAEM's Intl. Buyers Program Users' Group will supplement its DOC liaison committee, headed by consultant Jack Chalden, former general manager of SUPERCOMM. Chalden said he suggested the users' group because of the IBP's strong reputation for encouraging international attendance.
As head of the liaison committee, he will compile the attendance-building experiences of IBP participants and share them with IAEM members. "As soon as we can assimilate the practices, we'll get them out to everybody," he said.
The users' group will hold its first meeting during the May 4 IAEM Professional Development Conference & Supplier Showcase at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Organizers of events enrolled in the IBP have been invited to participate.
Meanwhile, Dave Fellers, RSNA executive director, stressed during the PCMA teleconference that getting foreign attendees to his event is critical. "This is an issue we're living with now. If we don't give attendees information and make it easy for them to attend, we will lose them to Europe or other countries. I don't want to lose our attendees to other parts of the world," he said.
Some 6,700 of the RSNA's 37,000 members come from outside the United States. Fellers said the drive to draw international attendees begins the day after the annual meeting, a Tradeshow Week 200 event that drew nearly 700 exhibitors and more than 32,000 attendees to Chicago's McCormick Place last November.
The society's Web site is the primary vehicle for relaying information on visa processing and travel restrictions and providing letters of introduction to potential international attendees. Information is also contained in registration materials and in the RSNA newsletter. "We went to the extreme to make sure they were advised, educated and warned about what to expect," Fellers said.
An important aspect of assuring strong international attendance is working closely with local and federal officials, he said. The Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, Chicago's aviation department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are all involved in planning for the annual RSNA gathering at McCormick Place.
John Roberson, the Chicago commissioner of aviation, said it's important to advise international attendees on what they'll have to go through when traveling to the United States. "If a passenger is educated and knows what to expect, it will help arrival go more smoothly," he said.
Bureau CEO Christopher Bowers said organizers should bear in mind how much preparation and documentation is needed for visa applications and personal interviews in some countries. In Brazil, for example, a country of 135 million, there are only three processing centers. "It would be like living in Des Moines (Iowa) and having to go to Dallas to do your personal interview," Bowers said during the teleconference.
Some attendees also complain that their business travel visas are valid for a year or less, forcing them to go through the application process annually. In answer to those complaints, the U.S. State Department in January extended visa terms for Chinese visitors from six months to one year.
While some organizers worry that posting invitation letters on Web sites will open them to liability, Fellers believes federal officials are responsible for determining whether visa applicants are legitimate attendees.
No matter your approach, it's important to start early, said Robert Harris, a passenger services representative for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security. "If you don't take the time to really sit down and plan and coordinate all these things, then everyone waits for the last minute and it becomes an emergency," he said.
