JD Events' KioskCom Heads to Europe
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 5/15/2006
On the heels of a Las Vegas event that saw a 20-percent attendance increase, JD Events' KioskCom is heading to Europe.
Under a licensing agreement, IMP Events will stage KioskCom Europe Nov. 8–9 at London's Earls Court & Olympia. IMP had a previous licensing agreement with JD to launch a European version of ad:tech, the interactive advertising brand that JD sold to dmg world media in February 2005.
The London ad:tech launch drew 100 exhibitors and 3,000 audited attendees, twice what had been projected. Five months later, IMP sold the show to dmg.
"They're (IMP) very, very good at what they do and they're a similar group to ours," said JD Events CEO Joel Davis. "They put a huge emphasis on marketing and driving audience. We found them to be a great partner."
Davis expects the inaugural KioskCom Europe to attract 600 to 800 attendees and 50 exhibitors. Although the European kiosk market is smaller than its U.S. counterpart, its growth prospects are strong.
Meanwhile, the April 10–12 KioskCom at Mandalay Bay Convention Center drew 150 exhibitors and about 2,000 attendees, up 20 percent from the previous year. Davis said final attendance figures would have been much higher had JD not established a rigorous qualification process to screen out all but bona fide buyers of interactive kiosk technology.
"In the past, anybody and everybody could get in. There were complaints about too many sellers on the floor," Davis said. "We literally checked every Web site of every registrant, and we turned away a few hundred people."
The attendee qualification process was only one of many changes that JD Events has made since buying the 9-year-old KioskCom show from IQPC in September 2005.
JD revamped the floorplan, added a feature area for future applications, retooled the conference program, adopted a more aggressive marketing campaign and forged new alliances and strategic partnerships. The company also established the show's first space draw.
"There had never been a space assignment program, so we weren't quite sure how it would go. Attendance was so strong and exhibitors were so happy that over 70 percent signed up. Now we're at 80 percent rebooked," Davis said.
JD Events has used a similar strategy with other shows it has purchased. It recently renamed The Symposium on Healthcare Design, a 19-year-old conference acquired from IIR Exhibitions in February 2005. Now called the Healthcare Facilities Symposium, the event will be held Oct. 24–26 at Chicago's Navy Pier.
The company is also launching HD World alongside its 4-year-old SATCON to serve the growing market for high-definition television products and services.
Although JD tends to buy fixer-uppers and rejuvenate them for resale, Davis said KioskCom — a Tradeshow Week Fastest 50 winner in 2004 and 2005 — wasn't exactly a distressed property. "This was a very strong franchise built up over the past nine years," he said.
