Give us a bit of a background on the Rand Show ?
The important thing to bear in mind is the Rand Show is part of South African heritage and began at the Old Wanderers cricket ground in November 1894 . The exhibition is one of the largest consumer shows outside of the United States and last year attracted over 200 000 feet across medium and upper LSM ’ s . The expo has gone through various ownership changes as well as a variety of shifts in operations and structure .
It is again being overhauled , why ?
We all know that everything is changing at a rate of knots and every company providing a customer experience will have to evolve and provide uniqueness . There are however very few smaller specialised exhibitions that are completely family friendly , which the Rand Show has always been . Now we are overhauling the variety of exhibitors by providing new initiatives to give the premium players a comfortable environment to engage with all our footfall .
You have a strong focus on design , why ?
We are looking at all the various categories and continually improving these but have had many requests from visitors for more of a focus on design and this year hall 6 is what we have named the Design Pavilion . There are a lot of décor and design expos out there but many have had a reduction in footfall over recent years . These events are not always enticing for the man of the house or the entire family to attend . This is where the Rand Show is very different and why it has received the tag line “ Johannesburg ’ s biggest day out ” and provides unique experience for everyone of every age .
If there are that many feet coming through the gates sales for vendors must be fantastic ?
If the vendors have good business disciplines the sales and leads can keep a company busy for a year . It is all based on scale and we find many exhibitors taking far bigger exhibition stands to what they would take at other expos . Times are tough for everyone and many expos do not allow exhibitors to sell directly off their stands . The Rand Show is different and even vendors in the Design Pavilion will be able to sell off their stands . This is a great platform to both launch new products , take orders and move stock from December .
What is Johannesburg Design Week , which is launching at the Rand Show ?
This is a first for Johannesburg and what we believe to be a much needed initiative that we want to see grow to such an extent that it becomes a destination for international visitors as well . The event is initially aimed as a platform to share information on design to a variety of different sectors . We plan to have events for the trade and industry including design students and professional designers and architects . Other programs will be held by tertiary institutions to educate school leavers on the possibilities of design . We believe that design in SA has become very elitist and we plan to have a host of programs to educate and empower the general public . The Maker Movement will also be strongly represented and we aim to get the youth heavily involved with this worldwide phenomenon .
Rand Show office : Tel : ( 011 ) 494 – 3280 / 494 – 2894 Fax : ( 011 ) 494 – 0863 info @ randshow . co . za www . randshow . co . za @ Rand _ Show www . facebook . com / randshow