Suppliers Hoped for Merger Savings
By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 5/2/2005
(Editor's note: This is part two of a series looking at the decision to forego an IAEM-SISO consolidation.)
When the Society of Independent Show Organizers announced last month that it was ending consolidation talks with the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management — at least for now — industry reaction focused widely on the missed opportunity for unified representation.
But there was another missed opportunity, hinted at rarely since merger talk began: the chance to save suppliers some money.
At January's annual meeting of the Professional Convention Management Assn. in Honolulu, outgoing Chairman Michael Payne, executive vice president and managing director of SmithBucklin, pointed out industry suppliers' huge contributions, and advised associations not to abuse this generosity.
Paul Dykstra, president and CEO of GES Expositions, one of the industry's two largest general contracting firms (and hence one of its largest sponsors), said he understands the needs of particular segments, but supports the idea of greater unity — especially on certain issues.
Ticking off the alphabet soup of groups it sponsors, Dykstra said, "GES supports the face-to-face marketing industry in many ways: financially, through the various organizations and foundations of those organizations; we attend their tradeshows and put ads in their publications; we do a lot of volunteer leadership, because we think that's important; and services. It's significant dollars, when you add it all up."
He felt unification could have offered more effective means of using those dollars.
Donald S. Freeman Jr., chairman and CEO of Freeman — the other of the industry's two largest general contracting firms — shared Dykstra's view. "I have to say I was disappointed, because I think we missed some opportunities to consolidate some industry programs," he said.
Freeman also recognized the unique interests of different groups, but wondered why they couldn't keep separate initiatives to respond to those, while consolidating programs that overlap.
"Take the educational foundations," where suppliers have "made substantial contributions," he said. For instance, SISO's fall conference and IAEM's and PCMA's annual meetings all offer classes on tradeshow operations — sometimes with the same speakers. "That's an area where I see a lot of duplication that could be eliminated," he said.
IAEM's 2004 strategic plan, which sparked association-merger talks to begin with, also included attention to suppliers' needs. It envisions a reconfigured board of directors, including liaisons to councils representing every industry sector.
Current IAEM Chairman Chris Brown, senior vice president of conventions and expositions for the Natl. Assn. of Broadcasters, said having the IAEM-SISO merger off the table will allow IAEM to refocus on other elements of the strategic plan, starting with how membership and dues are structured.
Current SISO Chairman Margaret Pederson, president of Primedia Business Exhibitions, said the issue of suppliers' support didn't come up in the IAEM-SISO talks. "We didn't get that far," she said, but "we certainly want to continue the dialogue with IAEM and other groups."
However, she said the two groups looked at their respective performance in four areas and "thought we were doing a good job in education and networking." Advocacy and marketing were areas of weakness.
