Middle East exhibitor at this year’s show. The volume and scope of the education opportunities at IMEX America will be mammoth equating to 12 full days, with sessions taking place before, during and after the show. Meetme asks IMEX Group CEO Carina Bauer to explain why IMEX
America is a must-attend event for meetings professionals from across the globe – including the Middle East.
Why was it the time right to launch IMEX America? In the process of building our Frankfurt show, we had developed many strong business alliances with partners from all over the world, particularly with our strategic partner and premier educational provider, MPI, which knows the US market inside out. It became clear in conversations with MPI over several years that there was strong demand and a gap in the US market for a new tradeshow such us IMEX. Our model of tradeshow is unique for that market – it has a large-
scale Hosted Buyer programme at its core, which brings together buyers from every sector of the industry – association, corporate and agency. In addition, the one-to-one appointments Hosted Buyers make with exhibi- tors prior to the show makes the event extremely business-oriented and absolutely focussed.
What are the key aims of the inaugural show? Our absolute aim is to provide outstanding business opportunities to our exhibitors and buyers. We have to ensure that both will have the opportunity to do excellent volumes and quality of business. IMEX America is different from any other
tradeshow – it will combine the largest Hosted Buyer programme in the US with a unique online appointment system; an extensive, free educa- tional programme with more than 50 sessions and an unprecedented number and level of association partnerships together with 14 co-located events.
We’ll therefore be concentrating on delivering ‘much more than a trade show’. At the same time, fitting in with our organisational values, we will be carefully measuring our waste, energy and other environmental outputs in order to set baselines for future improvements as part of a sustain- ability policy and to make the show as green as possible. In the same vein, we have linked up with several local
charities to build educational and CSR programmes into the show. All of these are important aims for us and for the market we serve.
How many exhibitors and visitors are you anticipating in the show’s first year and what potential is there to grow this over the next five to 10 years? We will have around 1,500 exhibiting companies represent- ing nearly 100 destinations at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas and they will be meeting with 2,000 Hosted Buyers. We also expect to welcome thousands more non-hosted buyer and planner attendees. All the major hotel groups are also acting as intermediaries by inviting their top US and international clients as a part of the Hosted Buyer programme, which will be the largest ever to be delivered in North America. Importantly, almost 50 hotel groups are already con-
firmed as exhibitors. In addition, many of our major exhibi- tors at IMEX in Frankfurt will be there in force including Dubai, South Africa and European exhibitors such as Ger- many, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia, France, Ireland and more. Representation from Asia and Latin America is also set to be very strong. There is clearly room for the show to grow in what
Carina Bauer The Venetian/Palazzo
is the largest worldwide market for the industry; but for now our focus is firmly fixed on making the first show a success for our exhibitors and buyers.
IMEX AMERICA FAST FACTS
What? IMEX America - the new trade show for the worldwide meetings, events and incentive travel industry When? October 11-13, 2011 Where? The Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Las Vegas
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