IAEE, TS2: Two is Better Than One

The Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events hasn't had a midyear meeting since 2003, but in 2009, association members won't need to wait until December to meet with their industry peers.

IAEE and Natl. Trade Productions, which owns TS ², announced during Expo! Expo! IAEE's Annual Meeting & Exhibition, held Dec. 9-11 at the Miami Beach (Fla.) Convention Center, that they were collaborating to have an IAEE presence at TS², scheduled July 20-23 at Chicago's McCormick Place.

“This agreement with IAEE represents a bridge to the entire exhibitor world,” said Robert Harar, chairman of NTP. “There are 1,500 exhibitor members in IAEE.”

IAEE President Steven Hacker said as part of the 10-year partnership, IAEE will bring a portion of its show management education track to TS², and some exhibitors who would normally exhibit at Expo! Expo! will exhibit at TS².

Hacker said this isn't the first time IAEE has had a meeting in the middle of the year for its membership.

“We used to have a fine midyear meeting, but in the late '90s, attendance started to decline, and in 2003, it was canceled,” he added.

But between then and now, IAEE's membership has grown from about 3,000 members to nearly 9,000.

“We got caught between a boat and a dock to serve these members,” Hacker said.

He added that Harar and he started discussing the partnership 18 months ago.

NTP bought TS² from the Trade Show Exhibitors Assn. five years ago, Harar said, and TSEA, which started the show more than 30 years ago, remains the major sponsor of the event.

Margit Weisgal, president and CEO of TSEA, said the association is committed to sponsoring the show through 2014.

Also, with the announcement of IAEE's midyear presence, NTP and IAEE officials said they are creating the Intl. Center for Exhibitor and Event Marketing, which will be an organization representing exhibitor and event marketing professionals and be partially funded through TS².

Weisgal was critical of the move to establish the center, and said she thinks exhibitors need to have an autonomous voice from the show organizers.

“I think a lot of people would feel that what they are doing is a repetition of what we and other organizations do,” she added.

The Center, as it will be known, will provide education, networking, data and research. It will be a subsidiary organization of IAEE.

“The exhibitors need to be separate from the organizers, otherwise there's no one to temper what we do,” Weisgal said.

She added that IAEE is crossing into TSEA's territory “a bit.”

IAEE did approach TSEA to see if it was interested in collaborating with The Center, but Weisgal said, “We have declined.”

As part of the NTP and IAEE collaboration, Harar said this year's Expo! Expo! will have an event marketer and exhibitor education track, and exhibitors who would typically exhibit at TS² will exhibit at IAEE's show.

“We would kiss and hug any exhibitor who is relevant to the industry,” Hacker said.

The most recent Expo! Expo! had 1,986 attendees – which Hacker said was down from last year's 2,300 attendees – 290 exhibitors and a 41,300 net square foot showfloor. This year's event is scheduled Dec. 8-10 at Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center. TS² had about 3,000 attendees at its most recent show in Philadelphia.

“We recognize the need to keep the focus of the two events on who they serve,” Harar said. “We will have tracks geared to both of them.”

He added there will be financial incentives for exhibitors who exhibit at both events.