ORGANISER INTERVIEW
leaving it to chance that the buyer will find the right product .”
Shashoua is keen to stress that the Connect programme is not based on an app : “ The utilisation of these apps is around 6 %... 10 % if you ’ re lucky . This is just a push request to go meet you - that ’ s not the answer . For us , it ’ s about capturing the data and then being able to connect those people in advance . Then the algorithms kick in and they set up the meetings at a specific time at a specific place .”
Shashoua uses Hyve ’ s Las Vegas congress Shoptalk as an example : “ We have now opened it as a full meetup to connect all 10,000 people , giving them the ability to meet each other in a space that ’ s the size of five football pitches , at pre-agreed times during the day for what we call meetups . That ’ s going to transform that event experience .”
The Connect programme has already been rolled out at several Hyve events such as Shoptalk , Groceryshop , Bett and Fintech Meetup , and is set to be used for the first time at this year ’ s Autumn Fair . Shashoua says it will take two years to be properly embedded but will maximise time and efficiency and reinforce the ROI that a customer will get to come to an event .
“ It will only work if the show has real scale . You need the network effect ,” says Shashoua . He adds that it will drive retention rates , which he calls the “ number one issue for any organiser around the world .”
“ If you look at Explori and UFI , the average NPS score across the events industry on a global scale is -17 . That is a shocking statistic . That is the vast majority of exhibitors telling us that as a sector they don ’ t find value in the event . That is pretty bad , and no one seems to want to talk about it .”
Russian invasion While the whole events sector was shaken by last year ’ s Russian invasion of Ukraine , Hyve , which began running trade events as ITE in the new market economy of Russia in the 1990s , was particularly affected by the war . Last year the company exited Russia and sold its Ukrainian unit to a group led by Anatoly Sushon , the Ukrainian business ’ managing director .
On how he led the businesses through this period , Shashoua says : “ We talk a lot about our mindset within the organisation . It ’ s all about being aware and accepting of change . We ’ re living in a period when change is getting exponentially faster .
“ We try to create a culture that isn ’ t scared of change . If you think about the world of events , it hasn ’ t changed much for decades .
“ The key to any form of leadership in this day and age , whether it ’ s an events business or anything , is creating an environment where change is welcomed - where you embrace it , create the right culture within the organisation so that people can come up with ideas to challenge the status quo .”
He adds , “ The purpose of Hyve is not about making money , it ’ s about creating game-changing impact . That
Shoptalk connects 10,000 visitors during pre-arranged Meetups
sounds like a slogan , but if you are running the main event of its kind in a particular ecosystem , the amount of people that fundamentally rely on that event is staggering .”
Disruption Roger Shashoua , who died in 2021 , is known in the events industry as a pioneer of geo-cloning on a global scale . Mark Shashoua describes the heritage of Hyve as a disruption by pioneering into new geographies in the ‘ 90s and “ creating a conduit for international companies to enter into these countries .”
He says , “ In today ’ s world everybody talks about disruption through technology . In my father ’ s era and the start of my career , the disruption was geopolitical . He built up multiple businesses in different geographies , built them up and sold them .
“ When Russia was opening up from communism through Perestroika , we were the first real Westerners to go into those geographies . We grew very fast , largely through geo-cloning , when in those days , not many people were geo-cloning .”
Returning to private ownership Having first been listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1998 , Hyve announced in June that it had been acquired by funds , advised by Providence Equity Partners and Searchlight Capital Partners .
“ The markets are not great at the moment ,” says Shashoua . “ You want to be a public company when you ’ ve got access to capital . At the moment , the public markets are very difficult to access capital .
“ We have had a good track record of making acquisitions in key industry sectors , applying our best practice and digitalisation into key industry sectors like e-commerce , edtech and fintech , and we want to continue that M & A activity into other industry sectors .
“ The only way to do that is by having access to capital . The public markets are difficult for a company of our size . As well as being a good return for the shareholders , going private was a good time for the company itself to look for acquisitions in those sectors , which we are currently doing .”
24 — Autumn