Strategic dilemmas

Asia's maturing exhibition industry has developed to the extent now that the region's organisers are becoming increasingly discerning about the venue choices they make. No longer are many of Asia's major cities 'one venue towns' and as a result some trade fair managers are throwing out an early caution to venues to raise standards or risk being overlooked. Organisers and industry professionals CEI Asia Pacific spoke to for this story said the days of holding large-scale exhibitions in second- rate venues or 'carparks' were over and if cities want to keep and attract new events, then standards reached now in venue management not only have to be maintained but new innovations in pricing, maintenance and overall attractiveness must be found. But on the whole, the industry believes the region's venues are doing well. Some organisers are concerned over the number of new centres opening — especially in China. They are not concerned that there may not be enough trade fairs to keep the venues viable, but adequate management and staff to ensure they are run efficiently. Other organisers are concerned about some city's attitude towards the industry and others thought some governments could become more involved. Paul Woodward, principal of the Business Strategies Group consultancy says it would be difficult to talk about Asia has having one standard in service and organisers had broken down the merits of each destination and country. He says there are definitely differences between destinations in the region. "There are many different levels of service provision in Asia. The more mature and developed markets like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan have been concentrating for a number of years on providing better service quality to their clients," Woodward adds. "Other places like China, Thailand and India are still grappling with the challenges of fast growth. When an industry is growing quickly, simply managing the process of rapidly increasing exhibitor, visitor and organiser numbers becomes the highest priority. "As things settle down in these places, though, it will be service quality which distinguishes those events and venues which succeed from those which struggle." Bangkok-based CMP Media (Thailand) managing director M Gandhi is responsible for organising events in Thailand, India and Vietnam believes he has witnessed a quantifiable increase in venue quality and service, but believes some venues need to be a little clearer in 'development' policies. "I think organisers in Asia — who have been in the industry for some time — have had to deal with many different kinds of venues over the years, while some venues could probably do a little better, what we have now is a luxury and a long way from the times we had events in car parks," he says. "One of the fundamental areas I see where venues could be doing better is their internal policies for events and exhibition organisers. "For instance, most venues will know that many organisers of large shows will be bringing in their own contractors and should have policies that help facilitate access to the accredited contractors. "But another very important area, I believe, where venue policies need to be made very clear and very public is event and theme protection for organisers. "If we go in and do a large show, is it right for the venue to host a similar show with the same products and same theme two or three weeks later? As an organiser I don't think so. I think that we as organisers would appreciate venues having a clear and consistent policy in this area for the long-term development of the exhibition industry. "Organisers are not short-term planners. If we launch a show we want to build the brand and the theme for many years to come and venues should take this into account, especially when they want to host competing shows. Creating a long-term viable exhibition is great for any city." This is a theme Singapore-based Messe Düsseldorf Asia (organising trade fairs in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia) managing director Gernot Ringling believes some Asian cities, venues, trade fair associations or bureaus and government's could do well to explore. Long-term plans "Government agencies and departments in host countries and venues can adopt a more active role by having the country or perimeters of the venue or district involved or soaked in the atmosphere of the exhibition or its theme," Ringling adds. "Having displays, buntings and flags or other means of advertising leading to the exhibition venue can create value for the event. Take the German city of Düsseldorf as an example. During the printing exhibition — drupa — the entire city is renamed 'drupa city'and dressed in red to reflect the colour of the drupa logo. "This would be a plus point in Asia and will entice organisers to bring in more exhibitions to the country." CMP's Gandhi believes Thailand's standards have improved and says the exhibition industry there will only get stronger. Indeed CMPare bringing two of their regional shows to Bangkok for the first time and are looking to launch more — a vote of confidence indeed for the country. "On the whole I would say Thailand has excellent facilities that are well managed and maintained," Gandhi says. "Some venues are family owned and they really do treat them like the family home, so maintenance is always high. However, there is a lot of competition amongst venues in Thailand so they need to be doing something different and better to attract business." But Gandhi's Hong Kong-based counterpart CMPAsia senior vice-president Michael Duck, who oversees the organisation of events in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Italy, the USA and France, believes that the perimeters between sub-standard, standard and above-standard are quite wide. "They vary greatly according to the owning structure and management company and the country," Duck says. "Its value for money Professional service…raising competitiveness when everything works well and we feel that our money is well spent. Sometimes, in full venues, they get lackadaisical and sloppy. This is a bad way to go as people will leave them faster when market conditions change — and they always change." Messe Düsseldorf's Ringling agrees that on the whole venues around the region 'do the job', but as in any facet of business as a customer he is always searching for more. "In comparison to other parts of the world, the venues in the region provide acceptable standards in facilities — some more updated and equipped whereas some 'older' venues need to re-look at their existing facilities. "To quantify whether the venues provide 'value for money'is very subjective. However, elements such as quality of staff and joint promotions with the venue owners do provide the extra 'value' that most exhibition organisers such as us look for in a venue amongst other factors of consideration. Some of the venues need to upgrade their facilities if they want to attract more world-class exhibitions. Upgrading facilities should not be confined to just within the exhibition halls." Extra value CMPAsia's Duck agrees with Ringling that while venues now are 'doing the job' there will be future demand from organisers for higher standards. "Exhibition centres in Asia do cater to the basic needs of the organisers in terms of functionality and services," he says. "But the quality is debatable as we are in the 'attendee building business' now and if the correct visitors are there the exhibitors are happy, even if the show is in a shed. However over time the shows demand improvements in the quality of the venue." Marcel Ewals, managing director of Bangkok-based AsiaCongress and organiser of events around the region including Thailand, Malaysia and India, is in agreement with his industry peers that there are venues that work and venues that don't but as an organiser he has to adapt. "Within one city there can be both good and bad — and very often we (as organisers) take a decision to accept the limitations and work accordingly," he says. Ewals adds to Gandhi's point about some cities or venues hosting two similar shows from separate trade fair organisers but with similar themes, but this could be the result of organisers' demands for more venues. Organisers want a larger selection of venues, but venue management has to keep those venues viable and will take the business. "As organisers, we like more choice (of venues), the more the better for us. It will balance the price and improve service and infrastructure. On the negative side, it can allow other organisers to organise similar events in your time slot in the same city but a different venue, which is less appealing," Ewals says. But as each country around the region investigates opportunities to open more, larger and better exhibition centres (especially in China), one constant theme among organisers is the fear of poor-quality staff and management to run the new venues. The pace of development and construction of new centres is a point confirmed by Business Strategies Group's Woodward. "We have certainly seen a huge increase in the supply of exhibition space in the region over the past two to three years, particularly in China," he says. "In some cities, the additional space has come on quicker than the market can fill it but, in other places, such as Shanghai, the organisers say they can fill the new halls as quickly as the developers can build them." CMP Asia's Duck, with a high level of experience in China, says it is vital the huge new trade fair centres in China — and notably Shanghai — get this right. "It is critical to never skimp on first-class staff in a venue, from sales to marketing to maintenance to catering. Any little bad experience is multiplied many times over and word of mouth is very effective in dissuading people to go to a sloppy or careless venue," he says. "But with so many (new venues coming on line) the main problem looking ahead is in having adequate professional venue managers around to fill the space." However, Messe Düsseldorf Asia's Ringling says his organisation has been happy with the level of staff competence in the cities he runs his fairs in. "Overall, the quality of staff in the countries that we have events in has been good," he says. "They seem to know what is required and execute an acceptable level of professionalism. Some countries such as Thailand are more flexible and adaptable and do go that extra mile to assist us in times of need." So in all a fairly reasonable scorecard from the region's major organisers for Asian venues, and undoubtedly some valuable feedback from them on the areas organisers are looking at for future venue selection for their trade fairs. And it looks as though they will be keeping a special watch on development in China.