Roundtable
lot of feedback from both our
exhibitors and our visitors.
After the show I do a survey
to our database. For me,
driving content comes from
studying that data and seeing
exactly what our exhibitors
want at the show, and then
researching how we can
implement and facilitate it
within budget requirements.
It’s about getting the balance
between pleasing exhibitors
and visitors and making it
functional for us as well.”
Chris Preston, MD,
Freeman believes it’s all
about the experience:
“It’s all about the brand
experience, the contact
with the audiences and we
believe exhibitions will
always have a key part to
play in that, and it’s part
of a much broader set of
choices that both individual
and corporates have in
which to communicate their
brands. Our approach is not
to throw the baby out with
the bathwater, because we
absolutely believe that the
exhibition show floor, the
exhibition or event, will
remain for the foreseeable
future the majority of
the platform, and all the
different choice that people
have will actually build out
from that...It’s an evolving
picture that’s becoming more
encompassing.”
Laura Tavernor, Head of
Marketing, DMG Events
says there will always be
a home for tech at events:
“There definitely is a place
for technology, and we see
it on some of our exhibitor’s
stands from VR to AR. We
ourselves only look at a few
things like golf simulators
that would attract visitors,
and that’s what, realistically,
we can afford to do, but for
our exhibitors that have
bigger budgets there’s
definitely a place for more
advanced tech. I think as
organisers, we owe it to
our customers to share any
technology with them to help
them improve how they sell
products. If we can do that,
it will have an effect on the
overall visitor experience.”
Dan Sewell, event director
at Upper Street Events, who
oversees Country Living
Magazine Fairs says he has
catching up to do. He said:
“We are miles behind. We
haven’t invested in anything
as we haven’t felt the need
from our consumers to do
anything like this. Quite
a lot of our events are
retail shows where you see
something, buy it, and take
it away. Where I’m coming
at it, from an organiser
point of view, is that I’m
for those experiences that
create a ‘wow’ factor. If I
invest in technology, I want
to get something out of it,
whether that’s data, research
on site etc. We want people
to go away with a positive
feeling, but it needs to serve
a purpose as well.”
Angela Smith, head of
customer experience,
Freeman, says consumer
behaviour is changing: “I
think you only have to walk
across a show floor and see
that nobody is looking up,
we’re telling them where to
go on banners and no-one’s
looking at them. I think
we just have to embrace
it because it’s not going
to change. You know, you
look at children in schools
now, it’s fully interactive,
it’s sensory overload every
minute of every day for
them, and that’s the future
for events, exhibitors,
organisers, service partners,
so we need to play our part
in making sure the industry
is ready for that, and to drive
it forward.”
Kate Simmons, operations,
Reed Exhibitions adds:
“There’s too much noise
at the moment, no matter
what generation you are, it’s
information overload, so
you need to be able to pull
out key information you
can remember, and at the
moment there’s too much
noise around so people
aren’t able to pull out those
key experiences, and that’s
how people consume it
differently.”
Sewell technology has to fit
your audience: “I guess our
portfolio at Upper Street is
quite diverse. The average
age for the events I organise
is 54 so we’re going way
back, mobile phones were
starting to be used on our
show floor five years ago, so
they’re quite late adaptors.
On the flipside we have
MoveIt where the average
age is 12-13 years, so that’s
massively content driven.
We have massive screens
that complement the whole
staging, experience and
technology, we have a tunnel
when you walk in, so it’s
really quite visual. But we
don’t have an app. We don’t
spend enough as a company,
we don’t invest in it.”
April — 51