Why Not China?

Guangzhou, China—In its second year, the China Expo Forum for Intl. Cooperation improved in many ways, participants said, but still failed to attract significant representation by U.S. tradeshow organizers.

About 550 delegates, including 100 members of the press, attended the Jan. 11–13 gathering at the Dong Fang hotel in Guangdong province's capital city. That number compares with about 600 at the inaugural conference last year in Beijing.

Of those attending this year, about 150 came from 21 foreign countries and regions (including Hong Kong and Macau). Organizers hope to eventually increase foreign attendance to about 50 percent of the total, said Wang Jinzhen, assistant chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of Intl. Trade, co-producer of the event.

American participation was particularly weak, with only about 20 U.S. delegates in Guangzhou, Wang said — a bit fewer than last year. This happened despite his trip to Atlanta last December to promote CEFCO to the more than 2,000 attendees at the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management's annual meeting, and despite joint support of the meeting by IAEM and the Society of Independent Show Organizers.

Wang said he believes many Americans are so preoccupied with their own large domestic market that they don't see a need to expand into China. But, he added, they're missing a valuable opportunity.

"There was about $210 billion in trade between the U.S. and China in 2005," Wang said. "The U.S. is our second-biggest trade partner after the European Union, which is made up of many countries."

However, the U.S.-China convention and exhibition business is disproportionately small by comparison.

Sandy Angus, current chairman of IAEM, agrees with Wang that U.S. organizers are missing the boat.

"The Chinese are desperate to get Americans to come, because they're aware of the imbalance of trade," said Angus, who is also chairman of U.K.-based Montgomery Exhibitions.

He, too, was disappointed by the low American turnout, noting, "The opportunity they can get by being here is not just one for launching shows, but for increasing the business done at their shows in the U.S. as well."

With the tradeshow market saturated in China's two major international cities, Beijing and Shanghai, and European players (particularly the German messes) dominating the foreign presence here, Americans might not realize that there are millions of square feet of exhibit space available in second-tier Chinese cities, or a robust network of industry associations and government agencies they could tap into for a new base of buyers and distributors, said CEFCO attendees.

Steve Sind, now an international consultant who headed Reed Exhibitions' Asian operations in the 1980s and '90s, believes the abundance of exhibition space in China — a popular topic of conversation at CEFCO — will be filled over the coming decade, as the government modernizes cities in the western part of the country. Americans could still get in on the ground floor of development in China, he said, by focusing on these second-tier markets.

Cliff Wallace, managing director of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, feels that many industries still lack an Asian tradeshow to serve them, despite conventional wisdom to the contrary.

But, these local experts noted, any move into China requires a long-term investment. While it's not difficult to make money here, it requires a well-conceived plan and competent representatives who can keep an eye on the business.

Cary Sun, director of InfoEX World Services in Hong Kong, pointed out that, just because there was low American turnout at CEFCO doesn't mean Americans aren't active in China. Sun, a former Reed Exhibitions and IDG World Expo show manager, has many U.S. ties in China, as evidenced by his recent deals to license and manage Natl. Trade Productions and dmg world media shows there.

SISO Chairman Galen Poss, president and CEO of Hanley Wood Exhibitions, has a somewhat different take. He believes American tradeshow producers will look to China only when — and if — they need to.

"It's an individual decision," said Poss. "But if somebody feels this market has promise, they should be at this event (CEFCO). It's a great place to network."

Poss likened the West's present enthusiasm for China to the California Gold Rush. "Everyone's trying to find the mother lode, but those who made the most money were the ones selling the pick axes and shovels."

That might explain why the bulk of the Americans at CEFCO were suppliers (pick axe sellers), rather than show organizers (prospectors). Representatives of American Exhibition Services, Conferon Global Services, Expo CAD, Freeman, Global Spectrum and other suppliers reported having fruitful experiences in Guangzhou.

Info Salons, Australia's largest registration provider, was a major sponsor of the meeting this year, and recently opened a China division headquartered in Beijing.

In any case, CEFCO organizers will make an even bigger push to grow international attendance in 2006, Wang said. The CCPIT will do more to promote the conference through its U.S. partners, and IAEM might even bring an official delegation.