The global exhibition industry is dynamic and fast moving, with both venues and clients always on the lookout for ways to stand out. According to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s (the Centre) General Manager, Alan Pryor, many of the leading exhibition trends of 2019 will continue to predominate in 2020, especially digitalisation and festivalisation.
“The digitalisation of exhibitions will involve greater integration of different technological tools and solutions, such as smart device connectivity, AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality), making exhibition floors more participatory and multi-sensory experiences,” says Pryor.
The other trend highlighted by Pryor is the growing popularity for the festivalisation of exhibitions, which involves more multi-disciplinary programming, immersive environments and seamless experiences. Exhibitions will get a new lease of life through festivalisation, Pryor believes, as it is not merely about standard stands – it encourages exhibitors to be creative around their presence to add modern, meaningful and interactive experiences.
Perfect partner
Pryor adds that the Centre’s dedicated Exhibition team is “always keeping a close eye on the ever-changing market expectations and conditions to help organisers navigate trends to get more value from their event budgets and provide better participant experiences through innovative value-add solutions personalised to suit any event format”.
Malaysia’s developed supply chain, combined with the Centre’s attention to detail, fast and responsive service and highly knowledgeable team, make it a perfect partner.
Enhancing exhibition value
“With exhibitions, move-in and move-out are major factors in the overall cost of an event. We benefit from being a purpose-built venue, which provides us with many in-built advantages, such as a full truss system, providing tremendous flexibility and hassle-free event build-up/tear-down,” Pryor notes, adding: “We also have underground floor pits and trenches for utility services, ensuring a better and overall safer ambiance. These features help clients to focus on creating interactive content to provide unique experiences.”
The Centre also recently successfully rolled out its ESC (Exhibition Service Centre) online portal, which allows event organisers and their exhibitors to easily access and order a variety of add-on services for their events – 24/7.
Eat, sleep and play in this ‘city within a city’
Overlooking the iconic Petronas Twin Towers and KLCC Park, the Centre is strategically located in the heart of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre precinct, a 100-acre ‘city within a city’ development that was designed as a must-visit destination and packaged as Malaysia’s Iconic Experience in Kuala Lumpur (MIEKL), a one-stop hub to work, play, shop, visit and live.
“With exciting entertainment options, trendy restaurants, popular retailers and relaxing public spaces, combined with a huge variety of accommodation choices (budget and boutique to five-star properties) with thousands of hotel rooms – offering great value, remarkably high levels of comfort, sophisticated facilities and unparalleled service – the KLCC precinct and the Centre is a dream destination for visitors, exhibition participants and organisers,” Pryor adds.
