Croatia – The recession offers opportunities for progressive organisers able to exploit new technology and strong branding, an UFI think tank found on Thursday.
Eighteen industry leaders gathered on Friday at UFI’s yearly congress for the third UFI CEO Think Tank; a forum set up to establish what is being done in response to the economic challenges confronting the industry.
The think tank comprised show organisers and representatives from 14 organisations, collectively organising 1,500 exhibitions and representing an annual turnover of more than €4billion.
Think tank moderator and CEO of Germany consultancy JWC, Jochen Witt, said that the current economic squeeze has pushed organisers to “re-examine their business models, streamline their management structure and rationalise their event portfolios”. However, developing creative business models to meet the new demands of exhibitors and visitors also has the unexpected advantage of creating new levels of loyalty among these target audiences, he added.
While overall exhibition business profits decreased in 2009, cost-cutting measures allowed the industry to hold steady on most exhibitor costs. Global commercial director of Reed Exhibitions, Nick Forster, shared a view common among the think tank participants, that “recession gives you a chance to examine what’s sustainable.”
Geographically, the weakest industry results are currently being seen in Europe, North America, Japan, India, and Russia, while strong results were noted in China, Brazil and Turkey. However, in almost all cases organisers reported that their leading trade fairs were able to remain stable, or even exceed expectations, regardless of their geographical location.
Generally speaking, trade fair success mimicked overall industry patterns. So it stands to reason that negative results were noted in exhibitions in sectors including automobile manufacturing and real estate, while positive results were found in exhibitions in the gas and energy sectors.
To overcome adversity, think tank leaders highlighted targeted cost-cutting, headcount reductions and the negotiation of more flexible labour agreements. New build programmes have been put on hold, generally speaking, while the industry continues to invest in staff training and information technology. Data management systems aimed at improving customer relationship management and giving solid ROI feature heavily in most companies’ operational plans.
Executive chairman of Belgium’s Artexis Group, Eric Everard (pictured), said: “This is a time to reduce levels of risk and exposure. But it’s also a time to seek new business opportunities through joint ventures and new cooperative relationships.”
And although undecided on the timeframe for economic revival, the group agreed that while divesting loss leaders was imperative, interesting opportunities do exist for targeted acquisitions and new revenue streams.
Summarising the group’s findings, outgoing UFI president John Shaw said: “The economy may turn around in 2010, or perhaps in 2011. But in any case the exhibition industry is moving ahead in anticipation of the needs of our exhibitors and visitors.
“As a motor for commercial opportunities, the global exhibition industry will continue to play a key role in support of economic development in the future."
