What makes an exhibition truly international? It’s a topic of some consternation and one that has been subject of much debate on the forums this month.
As we all know, the word ‘international’ slips into exhibition titles more often than it should. It’s a word that needs to be used carefully so as not to mislead the people paying to attend. If an exhibitor sets up their stand expecting to find buyers or prospective partners from a variety of countries, only to be confronted by one buyer after another from only the local market, they will feel rightly dismayed.
How would visitors feel if they bought tickets to the World Cup, only to find it contested by teams from only the host country?
But we’ve all seen it done; an exhibition titled international in the hope that by doing so it’ll somehow become one. If an exhibition serves simply as a showcase for local industry, where the exhibitors are mostly producers or service providers from the country hosting the event, then the exhibition is really more of a window to a market, regardless of the variety of airlines used to bring the buyers in.
To qualify as an international UFI approved event, an exhibition must comprise at least 10 per cent international exhibitors and five per cent international visitors. The ratio is key; a show is more appropriately defined as international if the exhibitors travelled long haul, rather than the buyers. Ultimately it’s the exhibitors that define the show.
There’s a parallel in the news publishing business. The word ‘exclusive’ loses its meaning with each instance it is unduly rolled out. And unduly rolled out it is, believe me. Of course, calling a story exclusive may, at first, help to push the paper from the stand, but once the readership cottons on to the fact they can read the same story in another paper, they’ll quickly lose interest and seek out the newspapers with the genuinely exclusive material.
Calling a show international when you know the stands are packed with companies from the host country might entice some first timers, but once the deception is exposed, they won’t be back. A loyal client base can’t be built this way.
The right to truly be called international is obtained through hosted buyer programmes, overseas marketing and a great deal of hard work, and in turn these events should be benchmarked accordingly. Auditing and post-show reporting is the only way to see an exhibition’s true colours.
Perhaps it’s a fair assessment to say that if an event is held in a ‘hub’ location based on its convenience and attractiveness to the international crowd, rather than the business it will bring to the local companies in the host country, then it is more likely to be international?
Too many of the events I’ve been to put ‘international’ in the title and not in the stands, which regardless of aspiration does not make it truly global. We should retain this word for the shows that truly deserve it.
Any comments? Email arc@mashmedia.net
