Trade fairs are markets
Not only trade fair organizers, but also exhibitors are responsible for the success of their trade fair presence. The topic is topical.
Do trade fair organizers embellish their visitor figures? To keep declining trade fairs alive? On 3 May, an editorial in the Bernese newspaper "Bund" insinuated that the BEA public fair in Bern was embellishing its visitor figures, that of the 290,000 officially published by the organizer, at most half made their way to Bernexpo. A long-standing exhibitor caused a stir by questioning the visitor figures, first on the Internet and then in the press.
The task of a trade fair organizer is to create a marketplace for an industry community (trade fairs). And it has the responsibility to provide its exhibitors with the right visitor customers (trade fairs and consumer shows). Matchmaking must be the core business of a trade fair organizer. It goes without saying that this process is not a finite one.
All visitors to the BEA are registered electronically at the entrance control. Unlike at other trade fairs, where visitors are registered several times from hall to hall and thus recorded several times, visitors who enter the grounds once are only counted once.
According to BEA Exhibition Director Adrian Affolter, the visitor numbers are therefore accurate. After 6 p.m. with free admission to the evening entertainment, visitors are counted by Securitas using hand clippers. Exhibition Director Adrian Affolter says of the exhibitor's statements: "This is simply fundamentally wrong and never, ever corresponds to the facts. It is even damaging to our reputation and has no basis whatsoever.
Ultimately, however, the sheer number of trade fair visitors is not the decisive criterion. Ultimately, it is the success of the exhibitors. In the official press release, some of those who were very successful at the BEA have their say.
The exhibitor's responsibility
It is the exhibitor's responsibility to "pick up" the trade fair visitors in their own way. Of course, this process begins even before the trade fair. We hear a lot about digitalization in connection with trade fairs. In fact, social networks, for example, are there to prepare visitors for a trade fair appearance, especially for public trade fairs.
But most exhibitors at trade fairs are too obsessed with hardware. They usually focus too much on their stand and too little on how they can attract more visitors to the trade fair and, above all, the right visitors.
Elke Clausen, the author of "Digital Transformation. How to revolutionize your lead generation" says "Gigantism in relation to the trade fair stand has obviously lost none of its importance. The design award for the best, most beautiful trade fair stand is often more important than professional team preparation.
According to our estimates, 80 to 90 percent of exhibitors are unaware of the digital tools that trade fair organizers make available to them for their trade fair preparation and follow-up and focus too much on their trade fair stand and too little on their trade fair communication. Read our article in the "Jahrbuch Messe + Event 2019" from December 2018 "Technology: Trade fairs make markets".
A question of communication
There have always been and will always be dissatisfied exhibitors. The exhibitor in question spoke of a "huge downward spiral" of trade fairs. That is not true. But trade fairs, just like retail, just like most industries, are in the midst of digital transformation.
The real problem for many exhibitors is the unresolved issue of transforming their industry. Nothing would be more wrong than for exhibitors to expect an organizer to solve their sales problems at a public trade fair. The organizer cannot do this for them. But it is part of the job of trade fair organizers to communicate this fact to their exhibitor customers, time and time again.
