New model
industries. It employs 300 people in
Chicago.
CEO Mike Wood told a Washington
Exhibition and Convention Executives
(ECEF) audience recently that it took
a lot of persistence for him to get both
show organiser Mary Pat Heftman
and Association President and CEO
Dawn Sweeney to take the idea of a
link up seriously.
He said: “When I met with Dawn
I could see she was thinking ‘Who is
this guy and how did he get on my
calendar?’. I begged and pleaded
over a few years and eventually we
did have a meeting of minds. Our
aim was to take the leading industry
tradeshow and the leading media and
info company and put them together
and better serve the industry. We
had many conversations with Dawn
and the rest of the executive team to
understand their goals.”
Wood said that Winsight had
shown its ability to be flexible
and creative in understanding the
structuring options.
There were a number of key
components to the transaction, Wood
noted. “We wanted the association
to be a true partner so we agreed to
an equity partnership early on. The
association would continue to benefit
from the growth of the show but also
form the broader organisation.
“One key component was how
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
we could replace the revenue or
contribution that the show was
making to the association. We came
up with a mix of cash and a seller
note - a financing vehicle - so that
the association actually became a
lender to us to get the deal done.
They had confidence in the asset
and we assigned a value to note that
not only generated a return to them
that they were used to, but added
twice as much on an annual basis
that went back to the association.
The other important component to
the association was the branding
and relationship to the show, so
we created 45-year sponsorship
agreement so the look and feel of the
show did not change. Participants in
the show would not notice a radical
change.”
Mary Pat Heftman joined the
association 29 years ago. She is now
President of the Restaurant Show
Group at Winsight and also told the
ECEF audience in Washington that
when Mike Wood first mooted the
idea, “It wasn’t a No, it was a Hell No!”
“But,” she added, “to give Mike
his due, he was very additive and
accretive in his approach. He came
knocking, like every nine months so
we decided to listen. But we knew we
had to act more like a media company
than a trade association. I felt like
there were gaps in our information
and reach. We were not able to keep
up in terms of digital transformation.
The strategic partnership accelerates
our efforts to bring show attendees
and exhibitors better and deeper
programming and expedites the
digital transformation taking place
throughout the industry.”
Dawn Sweeney said during the
ECEF discussion: “This collaboration
will allow us to grow the impact
and reach of our show, while also
elevating the level of service we
provide to our members, including
enhanced member benefits,
advocacy, training and certification
and content. The new relationship
with Restaurant Business gives us
an additional avenue to expand and
amplify the stories important to the
industry and our members.
“We were quite capable of
continuing to grow the show by
ourselves, but with the data analytics,
the insight and the content creation
capability of Winsight there was quite
a bit that was different from anybody
else that we had talked to over the
years. It felt like it was a level up.
“Just having come off the show, our
100th and the very first one we have
done in this new partnership, I would
say it exceeded our expectations.”
“With the data analytics, the insight
and the content creation capability
of Winsight there was quite a bit that
was different from anybody else that
we had talked to over the years.”
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