US - IMEX, the Messe Frankfurt-based exhibition for incentive travel, meetings and events, is going head-to-head with Reed’s AIBTM in the US in 2011.
IMEX America, a strategic partnership with Meeting Professionals International (MPI), will take place at the Sands Expo Convention Centre at the Venetian/Palazzo in Las Vegas on 11–13 October 2011.
The event will be run as part of the IMEX group of exhibitions and will focus on business, international hosted buyer programs and industry-wide collaboration.
The US launch pits IMEX in direct competition with Reed’s Americas Incentive Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (AIBTM), which launches four months earlier, on 21-23 June 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Speaking at a press conference at the Venetian/Palazzo Meetings Hotel, IMEX group chairman Ray Bloom (pictured), claimed his event will deliver the “largest-scale hosted buyer program in North America”. Bloom forecasts 1,500 hosted buyers for the 2011 event, of which 80 per cent will originate from within North America.
IMEX America will be supported by incentive travel and motivational event association Site, which will hold its 2011 annual conference immediately after the first show, while ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), DMAI (Destination Marketing Association International), AIPC (International Association of Congress Centres) and ECM (European Cities Marketing) will add their support through a number of marketing and educational initiatives. The ASAE (American Society of Association Executives) will organise dedicated association-led education on the day before the show.
Reed’s postponed AIBTM joins EIBTM in Barcelona, GIBTM in Abu Dhabi and CIBTM in Beijing. Chair of Reed Travel Exhibitions Meetings and Incentive Events, Vanessa Cotton, said that due to the economic downturn, 2011 is the appropriate time to launch the US event.
“When the global economic downturn hit the industry, and we had to postpone the event, it was always our intention to consider 2011 as our goal for launch,” she commented.
