The US Exhibition market is fragmented, with approximately 65% of all exhibitions owned by associations/not-for-profits, and 35% from for-profit organisers. Stephanie Selesnick finds out about a new Clarion collaboration with the association side:
Liz Irving (pictured), president, Clarion Events North America has said that in the course of visiting many association-owned expos and conferences, she has noticed that there were “gaps in delegate experiences and missed revenue opportunities”.
When she shared those views with Greg Topalian, CEO of Clarion Events North America, Irving said: “We saw an opportunity to use our event know-how and resources to partner with associations to grow their shows, lessen their expo knowledge gap, and forge a new way to move the exhibition industry forward.”
To that end, Topalian suggested bringing in Chris Brown, former EVP of the National Association of Broadcasters who recently opened a consultancy, Level Up Event Strategies, who has broad knowledge of association-owned shows and their unique challenges.
The Clarion Events Collaboration was born. Clarion acquires partial ownership of association-owned events, partnering with them to accelerate said events with a focus on benefiting the communities served.
Brown said: “Associations are challenged with balancing priorities, budgets, and resources while serving members, producing education, and trying to stay up to date with new technology. Association staff are hard-pressed to keep their events innovative and vibrant amid all their other jobs.”
Profit show organisers, on the other hand, live and breathe events and exhibitions day in and day out.
Irving continued: “There are some good association events serving strong industries, but they can’t invest on the level that’s needed to grow those events. Clarion has capital to invest along with a whole acquisitions department, so our goal is to partner with associations to accelerate growth, try new things, and drive value for everyone involved.
“Capturing the heart of the customer is our objective!”
What drew Brown to the project was that, “Liz and Greg care. They place people first and have a real appreciation of what a true partnership means.”
Irving pointed out that the Collaboration is an acquisition strategy, not a marketing one. Associations will still be partial owners, and the exact amount of percentages retained will depend on each deal. They want the associations to ‘have skin in the game’ and remain a partner in the deal. This way, both Clarion and the associations will have an ownership perspective and stay vested in the success of the shows.
Brown added: “This type of collaboration takes work! It’s not as clean or easy as buying 100% of a show.”
“Associations bring a living and breathing community to their events. We want our partners to tell us what they need to accelerate their shows. We want to share ideas and bring what’s worked within the 12 sectors Clarion serves to their events,” Irving said.
The Collaboration is looking for different sized events, those that are disrupting markets, or have great potential for expansion and growth. Since the announcement, they’ve been approached by some tech providers to see how they can help, which may grow into using a tech suite as part of the collaboration.
Irving continued: “The customer is at the heart of this, great things can be done.”
One of the challenges with associations is staffs’ resistance to change. Brown addressed this issue head-on, saying: “We want to put tools and information into people’s hands. We want to work with association teams to help build skill sets and give them access to the expertise that Clarion’s team can provide. People have to feel trusted to successfully build a culture of trust and partnership.”
For more information please visit: https://us.clarionevents.com/clarion-collaborative .
