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Data story But , possibly more interesting than the digital events discussion where a broad consensus seems to be emerging , is the data story . Easyfairs has been investing significantly in this area for some years and has a specific vision of what the business opportunity might be . “ Undoubtedly , the ability to put learning machines on a data lake having a mass of data that you can collect is a nice potential for every show organiser ,” Everard says . For this to become a reality , he notes , you need two things . Firstly , a data lake . “ That means that you need a lot of data on what I want , what you want , why are you visiting the show , and on what are you really looking for ”. Overall , as an industry , he is not convinced we are ready to take this step . “ Which data do we have as organisers today ? Not a lot ,” he says .
So , how do we improve that situation and capitalise on it ? Firstly , Everard says , it is by generating a community platform where the visitor interacts constantly all the year and that that brings information “ that makes us as organisers more intelligent ”. Secondly , there is a need to apply artificial intelligence to that data to help make sense of it . This requires data engineers , he says , who
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are still not commonly employed in our business .
Everard sees a need to be able to generate a lot of data and hire the right people to do something smart with those data . “ And when I say something smart ,” he warns , “ don ’ t forget why we exist . We exist because we serve visitors and we serve exhibitors .”
So , the goal is not to sell quickly on that visitor data , as perhaps was done in the past . “ No , it is to improve the visitor experience , the return on time for the visitors , the return on investment for the exhibitor and do that respecting the GDPR rules , etc . It ’ s a big challenge for the industry ,” Everard says . And that is for an industry that he acknowledges is already “ quite stretched ”.
Pressure on margins Turning back to the traditional face-to-face business , we discussed the increased pressure on margins . Everard , however , is relatively unperturbed by this in the longer term . “ We might ,” he says , “ in the very short term enter in a period where there is some pressure on margin . You cannot increase your prices when you deliver 50 % fewer visitors than the previous event , or even minus 10 %”.
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“ We could
have
sold the
company .
We haven ’ t
done it and
we will
continue to
grow the
company
in the near
future .”
Below : Easyfairs ’ Made in Asia show
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“ So ,” he continues , “ you have to be patient and say OK , but after that , we are an industry that has a certain pricing power , due to the fact that no industry likes to exhibit twice a year .” This , he says , “ gives us de facto an exclusivity on a sector for a region . This exclusivity , also as a consequence , generates a certain pricing power ”. So , before too long , he believes that margins can return to pre-pandemic levels .
Everard ’ s ambitions for his business are still strong . Before Covid , he says , “ we were in a year where we would have done € 200m revenue and roughly 200 events . In five years ’ time , my dream would be to be to have double this ”.
Attractive proposition That ’ s a bright vision and makes Easyfairs a very attractive company for a cash-rich buyer . Before the pandemic struck , the market was full of rumours that the next big deal would be a sale of this business . Everard is well of this . “ Easyfairs is ranked 18th in the top 20 ”, he says . “ But it is the biggest strictly privately owned [ business ] not listed in the stock market , owned by private equity , or a German city . So , yes , there was a lot of appetite from private equity . Yes , we received a lot of phone calls . Yes , it was difficult to say no to certain nice propositions .” But , he adds , “ I think we love our company in this industry so much that that we are in for the coming years . There is no debate . We could have sold the company . We haven ’ t done it and we will continue to grow the company in the near future .”
With Everard ’ s infectious enthusiasm , there is no doubt that the business will continue to grow , despite the bumpy roads of the coming months . There is also no doubt that it will continue to attract attention from the rest of industry as well as the financiers who will certainly continue to see it as one of the big prizes .
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