Industry Event: Meeting Is Work in Progress

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 10/24/2005

The tradeshow industry has been through enormous change in the last five years, reflecting worldwide political and economic upheaval. So it's natural that the industry's annual gathering, Expo! Expo! IAEM Annual Meeting & Exhibition, has undergone some transformation too.

But there might be more to it than that, according to Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management President Steven Hacker. He believes change is one of the show's defining characteristics. "Every year, we engage in an experiment called Expo! Expo! It's not a question of whether the show itself will survive, but the elements of programming we offer."

He likened it to "preparing a banquet for the chefs of the world." Organizers have high expectations, and IAEM has limited resources. So, Hacker said, "we substitute innovation and creativity, and use our events as a showcase for new ideas."

Looking over Expo! Expo! agendas from the last five years illustrates this work-in-progress attitude.

Remember the Global Matchmaking Summit? Introduced in 1999, the meeting of minds from around the world was a highlight in 2000 and 2001, then disappeared. It went the way of 2002's FROG (Friends Reaching Out to Give), a charity event modeled on the Party With a Purpose thrown by GES Exposition Services at the annual meeting of the Professional Convention Management Assn.

Other Expo! Expo! content additions have taken root — and borne fruit. The decades-old Certified in Exhibition Management program was revamped in 2001 to offer credits based on thematic modules, rather than for any class a participant chose to take, as was the case before. IAEM's investment in the revamp resulted in a leap from 116 CEM students in 2000 to 655 today.

IAEM has not been afraid to tinker with the scheduling, either.

The elaborate opening general sessions of 2000 and 2001 — featuring speakers like Fast Company magazine Editor Bill Taylor and Mount Everest climber Edward Grylls — gave way to tactics for increasing traffic through the showfloor. In 2002, a Great Debate opened the exhibition, and a cocktail party closed it. And 2003's general session featured chainsaw jugglers performing in an area next to the exhibition.

Last year, the opening general session was moved to the first evening of regular events, before the opening reception, and included the awards presentation — formerly a component of the last day's luncheon. That change is being kept — at least for now.

The show has moved from Tuesday–Thursday to Wednesday–Friday, and back again. The exhibition itself has gone from two three-hour days to one 5½-hour day.

But the most important change, in the eyes of exhibitors, has been behind the scenes.

Richard Maples, vice president for sales of Shepard Exposition Services, which has exhibited in Expo! Expo! since it began, said his company was so concerned after the 2000 meeting in San Diego that he wrote a letter to then-exhibit manager Jeff Ducate expressing his disappointment.

"Through about 2002, we felt like we had to be there, but it wasn't of much value," Maples said.

Then, something — Maples is not sure what — happened. "IAEM starting noticing that the exhibition had been an afterthought," he said. "The staff started paying more attention to it."

Maples saw a dramatic change in Las Vegas in 2003, but was skeptical that it would carry over to San Antonio the following year. It did. "With some of the exhibit programs IAEM put together and front-end promotion they did, we thought it was a great show," he said.

Convinced of IAEM's seriousness about the exhibition, and in honor of its own 100th anniversary, Shepard this year is sponsoring a hosted buyer program to bring 100 qualified first-time attendees to Expo! Expo!

"Sponsors are always being pushed for dollars, and we're concerned about where that money's going," Maples said. "This is a way to invest in the association, the industry and our own business."

Editor's note: Tradeshow Week's issue coinciding with Expo! Expo! IAEM's Annual Meeting & Exhibition, will feature a series of stories examining change in the industry. For the full package on industry change, see our Nov. 28 issue.