European Scene: Organizers Eye Growing Market

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 8/8/2005

Attendees at the American Society of Assn. Executives and Center for Assn. Leadership Annual Meeting & Exposition in Nashville this week might not realize how lucky they are compared to their European counterparts.

So far, the continent has nothing to compare to ASAE's yearly tradeshow. But some in the business would like to see that change — and they're doing something about it.

There are several organizations related to Europe's association market. Meeting Professionals Intl. drew 515 attendees from 30 countries to its Professional Education Conference — Europe in Monaco this past April, but MPI includes corporate, as well as association, meeting planners.

The European Society of Assn. Executives is for nonprofits only, but it's considerably smaller than ASAE, according to Carole McKellar, managing director of Resources for Assns., an association management firm in the United Kingdom.

The Intl. Congress & Convention Assn. is a much larger organization, with 700 members from 80 countries. Although the ICCA has an extensive body of research on European and international associations, its members are mainly suppliers, who see association meeting planners as clients.

Then there's the Intl. Assn. of Professional Congress Organizers with its 80 members in 29 countries. For the most part, they are independent firms that manage conventions for others — including associations.

Reed Travel Exhibitions produces EIBTM, an annual gathering for the meetings, incentives, conventions and events (or MICE) business, each winter in Barcelona, Spain. The show is going strong, with a reported 6,102 visitors in 2004, a 47-percent increase over 2003, according to Reed. Yet only 1.8 percent of those surveyed said they were from an association.

Former EIBTM organizer Ray Bloom now produces IMEX, another trade fair for the MICE industry, each spring in Frankfurt, Germany. Bloom said a study of IMEX exhibitors indicated there was a category that exists mainly to attract association business.

"There's a more limited number of them than the corporate sector suppliers; however, the size of their meetings is vastly bigger than corporate meetings," he said. "To attract their association customers to IMEX, we had to give them a reason to attend."

That reason became Association Day, held for the second time this year on April 19, a day before the IMEX exhibition's opening. There, 250 association buyers gathered at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers to share their experiences and talk about common issues.

Cathy Breden, COO of the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management, took a group of six IAEM members to IMEX as hosted buyers, although none of them was from an association.

Breden, an IMEX Association Day presenter, said the experience gave her the opportunity to meet new peers and gather information she can use at IAEM.

"You're with association executives from all over the world," she said. "I don't get that at ASAE or any other type of meeting I attend."

Susan Sarfati, Center for Assn. Leadership president and CEO, was also among the speakers. Bloom said he is hoping to increase her involvement in the event.

"There's nothing in Europe like ASAE," Bloom said. "To a small extent, we take on that role. We met Susan in Washington a couple weeks ago, and we're looking to work much more closely together in the future."