ORGANISER INTERVIEW |
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emerging market .”
All of Hyve ’ s 33 shows are nearly double the size of what its 289-strong portfolio used to be . It has also gone from 95 % emerging markets to less than 5 %, while its revenue per show has gone from £ 500,000 to over £ 5m .
“ This has been incredibly difficult over the last few years and is thanks to our unbelievable team . Even
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throughout Covid , we were continuously evolving the strategy and the execution .”
Digitisation Digitisation can be an overused term when it comes to events , but what does Shashoua believe is the next frontier for the industry ? He describes the industry as “ old-fashioned ” which relies on serendipity and says
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“ We want to engineer serendipity ”
Hyve aims to engineer this serendipity over the next few years . He aims to streamline the “ holy grail ” of every organiser - the registration process .
“ No exhibitor in the world has access to the knowledge of who is coming to the show in advance . We spend all year getting the right ecosystem of a particular sector to come to an event once a year - and for all intents and purposes , we wish them luck . That ’ s our business model , I ’ m sorry but it ’ s the reality .
“ Everybody talks about serendipity and how it ’ s the most important thing . Of course , it ’ s important that you
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walk onto a stand and you see something you ’ ve never seen before , but that shouldn ’ t be the main reason . Serendipity should be the icing on the cake . The world is changing . “ We believe the events sector is about to enter into what happened to music 20 years ago when it got digitised .”
Through its Connect programme , Shashoua says Hyve ’ s first stage of digitisation is to connect visitors in advance through pre-agreed double opt-in meetings , where they are connected during the show itself .
“ If you ’ re a buyer who is going to a show , the amount of information that you have to sift through to try and find what is the right company that sells you the right type of product is unbelievably difficult . You ’ re effectively
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22 — Autumn |