Tech
A
successful hosted buyer
programme for an
international exhibition is
no small undertaking for an
organiser. It’s the result of a
year-round effort by teams
often based not only in the
host country, but in offices
at any one of the event’s
primary or evolving source
markets.
It must be flexible, as these
programmes are targeted
at VIPs on whose presence
the attendance of some
exhibitors will be based. A
cookie-cutter approach will
not work, knowledge of each
buyer is the only way to make
sure they are given attention
specific to their needs.
And these needs can
vary greatly. Hosted buyers
often have their own VIP
lounges with complimentary
lunch and refreshments,
and transfers between the
venue and their hotels. They
may be provided with their
own networking events.
They often have their own
education programmes,
defined by whether they are
an association, agency or
corporate. For organisers
with several geo-clones
of a single event, each
42 — June
with its own hosted buyer
programme, each programme
must also be specific to
regional or international,
inbound or outbound
business. It is a rewarding
practice and as is clear here;
highly labour-intensive. Too
much of an undertaking
for all but the largest
international organisers.
Or is it?
The application of
technology can make this
process much easier to
manage. For example, the act
of finding the right hosted
buyer can be simplified by
creating a system alongside
the personal invitation route,
in which prospective hosted
buyers can apply online
through an event’s website for
automated pre-qualification
based on a set of rules.
The core value of the
hosted buyer programme
comes down to more
predictability and to the
de-risking of the event
experience for exhibitors.
This is often done by
requiring hosted buyers
to arrange and/or attend a
certain number of meetings
during the event. Whether
the meetings are pre-
Bringing hosted
buyers the right way
Mykyta Fastovets, CTO at Expoplatform, asks, is
technology is bringing hosted buyer programmes
within the reach of smaller organisers?
arranged by the organiser
or arranged directly by the
buyers and exhibitors, it is
the organiser’s responsibility
to ensure that as many
relevant meetings as possible
take place. This is one
of the key areas where a
technology solution can
help by suggesting the most
relevant connections based
on the profiles of buyers
and exhibitors. This not
only drastically decreases
the required effort for the
organiser, but also often
provides better matches.
Technology avoids the
pitfalls that accompany
the creation of a hosted
buyer programme. In many
instances, an organiser will
require the services of a
third-party agency to bring
in the right buyers. In some
cases, these will work with a
local partner with knowledge
of the industry. Technology
can alleviate such concerns
through transparency
and avoid such abuse of
the system. It enables an
organiser to define which
buyers are truly valuable to
their exhibitors, through the
creation of profiles and by
measuring behaviour.
During the event, this
technology can also be
applied to influence and
track buyer habits, such
as scheduling the buyer’s
attendance at pre-approved
meetings and understanding
how useful the meeting
was. The administrative
burdens of managing buyers,
required documents, issuing
refunds etc. is also very
time-intensive, and can also
be streamlined to reduce the
administrative burden – and
therefore the cost of running
hosted buyer events.
Last but not least, the
journey of the buyers
and exhibitors must be
seamless, from registration
and approval, to document
management, to meetings
and matchmaking, to
organiser’s post-event
reporting. Perhaps the idea
of a hosted buyer programme
for your event is not so
unfeasible as it seems.