The first thing that struck me about the Mexican exhibition industry when I attended the recent Amprofec conference is its openness to new ideas and eagerness to learn from more developed markets.
The annual event, held this year in Riviera Nayarit, is the get together for the Association Mexicana de Professionales De Ferias, Exposiciones y Convenciones, a five-day event emphasising networking and education.
The first day of the conference was entirely dedicated to education, with delegates attending classroom sessions working towards Conference and Event Management (CEM) qualifications. Even the most senior level participants attended these sessions and to-date 74 CEMs have qualified, with 28 more expected to qualify this year. The other sessions in the conference were also educational in their nature, ranging from how to set-up an international sales force, how to use technology in event organising through to personal development topics such as how to be more efficient and building supplier relations. It was evident from the amount of note-taking that the attendees were soaking up new information.
The president of Amprofec, Rafael Hernandez Gomez, explained: “one of my aims since becoming president of the Association earlier this year has been to strengthen the Mexican exhibition industry’s connections with the global industry – this is the first time we have invited international speakers to participate in our event.
“In past meetings, we had international speakers and international delegates, but this year was the most qualified and with more focus to the show managers’ educational programme.” This was also the year new countries including the UK, Colombia and Puerto Rico, took part.
“Not only is Amprofec ready for the international market, but Mexico is ready and has the convention centres, suppliers and everything you might need for any kind of tradeshow or event. That's why Amprofec is making efforts to speak and promote Mexico for international events.”
Once I had come to terms with the Mexican’s enthusiasm for knowledge, I then had to come to terms with their laid back approach to scheduling and how well equipped their sociable nature (aided by a margarita or two) lends them to networking. The formal two-day conference programme was punctuated by regular ‘cocktail’ sessions which fitted loosely around meal times. Very little other information was given so we’d find ourselves leaving the conference theatre to jump on a bus, join a walking convoy or even board a boat not knowing where we were going or for how long. It wasn’t the slightest bit disorganised – just very relaxed – and gave ample opportunities to meet people and share ideas.
The Mexicans are very proud of their country and want to do everything possible to show it off and promote it as a destination for international business events; each of our excursions was sponsored by a hotel or tourism region and the standard of hospitality was exceptional.
Exhibitions in Mexico are still predominantly domestic. There are lots of small independent organisers and shows are spread throughout the country sometimes as a series of regional events, and sometimes as national shows that are held in the area where that particular industry is based.
We attended to speak about M&A activity as we know there is a lot of international interest in acquiring shows in Latin America. This was a very new concept for Mexico as to-date only one domestic organiser has sold its business to an international company.
Overall, many of the organisers we met were very interested in the concept of working with an international partner.
