CMP Updates U.K. Events-industry Show
By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 10/17/2005
Convinced the market offers substantial growth potential, CMP Information is channeling more resources to Intl. CONFEX, its annual conference and exhibition for event organizers.
CMP, the U.K. division of United Business Media, has had its eye on the 21-year-old CONFEX for most of the year. According to an Audit Bureau of Circulations audit, attendance sagged at the Feb. 15–17 show. The 7,163 net square meter (77,102 net square foot) exhibition drew 7,198 buyers, compared with a 7,687 net sq. m. (82,742 net sq. ft.) exhibition and 7,684 buyers in February 2004.
In June, CMP hired insider Duncan Reid as the new event director, replacing Jessica Blue, who had been promoted to the position a year earlier. Over the course of the following summer, the company conducted extensive research, using focus groups of past and potential participants, to determine the show's chances for growth.
The result was a plan for change. For starters, CMP tripled its staff, including a 60-percent increase in its sales team, allowing the marketing team to focus on attracting new visitors. To identify these visitors, CMP has added 51,000 names to its existing CONFEX database, through a combination of new list acquisition and mining CMP's existing databases from other markets. The larger team will use its expanded resources to increase its own promotions and those it offers exhibitors.
Changes will also be made at the show. The conference will be free and integrated into the showfloor, along with attractions like VIP lounges and food-tasting areas. CMP will hold exhibitor training for some of its other shows alongside CONFEX, in the hope of drawing them to the event-organizers' show. And the U.K.-based Assn. of Exhibition Organizers, which has partnered with CONFEX since last year, is expected to hold meetings there as well.
"We believe these changes will affect all areas of the show, increasing visitor numbers across sectors," Reid said.
Some things won't change, however. The show will remain at London's Earls Court & Olympia and — unlike competitors EIBTM in Spain and IMEX in Germany — won't offer a hosted buyer program. The research report concluded that visitors were "keen to stress their desire to be treated like professionals and insisted that travel bribes were unlikely to influence their desire to attend."
Intl. CONFEX 2006 is scheduled Feb. 21–23 at Earls Court. According to the ABC audit, its largest buyer segments are organizers of conferences, meetings, corporate events and exhibitions.
