New exhibitors, education and events
The power of face to face
RTE Meetings Global Meetings Portfolio update
AIBTM 2011 – U2 “performs”
The 22nd EIBTM opened its doors today(30 November) in Barcelona, welcoming thousands of meetings industry professionals who are expected to undertake over 57,300 pre-scheduled appointments during the 3 days of the show.
Commenting at the opening day’s press conference, Graeme Barnett, Event Director said; “In what has clearly been a turbulent year for many, the signs from the exhibition floor are highly optimistic. From the increase in new exhibitors, and highest pre-registration figures, to the most education sessions on record, we have focused on not only delivering a return on investment for all our stakeholders but at the same time, we have been innovative in delivering new ways to do business, so that we help make 2011 a year of success for all our clients”.
EIBTM Vital Statistics
The event has attracted over 3,100 exhibitors from over 90 countries, and 38 new exhibitors including Japan National Tourist Organisation, Marriott Global, Indonesia, Seychelles Tourism Board and Uganda Tourism Board.
48 exhibitors have increased their stand size to accommodate more partners and a wider range of companies and products. These include Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, VisitScotland, Allied Europe and Oman Ministry of Tourism. In addition, 8 companies that did not exhibit in 2009 have returned this year.
Over 4,000 Hosted Buyers have been accepted on to this year’s Hosted Buyer Programme and are set to undertake a record breaking 57,303 pre-scheduled appointments – a 6% increase on 2009.
Graeme Barnett, EIBTM Event Director, comments: “We’ve calculated that the meeting minutes for these appointments are in excess of an incredible 1.2 million. Additionally, EIBTM is the only meetings industry tradeshow in Europe to host Association Buyers who purely do international business.”
EIBTM Education Programme Highlights
This year’s Education Programme, targeted at corporates, associations, agencies and suppliers, is delivering a record number of sessions – over 59 in total – which also include 8 Spanish sessions – the most to date. The comprehensive and diverse series of seminars, underscores the event’s commitment to raising industry standards and encouraging learning and development.
One of the education programme highlights is today’s launch of the EIBTM 2010 Industry & Market Share Report by Rob Davidson, which will be repeated on the final day of the show. The report, available on www.eibtm.com identifies the key trends for the meetings, events and incentive markets over the past 12 months and provides an outlook for 2011.
A new Lecture Theatre on the show floor has Daily Technology Hours enabling visitors to keep up-to-date with the latest technological advances in the industry. Topics include crisis management and managing event interruptions, plus effective use of mobile technology for meetings.
Another new feature is The Green Room, a seminar area dedicated to sustainability, featuring ‘bite-sized’ panel discussions, workshops and case studies. The sessions highlight up to date issues affecting sustainability in the meetings industry.
This year sees the launch of EIBTM TV providing a snapshot of each day plus live news on screens positioned around the show floor.
Summarising the importance of EIBTM to the global meetings industry Graeme Barnett, EIBTM Event Director, commented: “With over 100 events taking place this week, including officially scheduled EIBTM events and others organised by EIBTM partners and associations, EIBTM 2010 really aims to deliver value to all our stakeholders and help drive business throughout the industry.
“Our role is to act as a business, education and networking catalyst. We aim to provide a platform that connects people from all over the world in order that they can come away with new business, new relationships and lead generation, plus obtain valuable insights from the educational sessions and show initiatives to help develop and grow their businesses in the future.”
Reed Travel Exhibitions Portfolio News – think global, act local
Craig Moyes, Group Exhibition Director for Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) Meetings and Events Portfolio today announced some important strategic changes to the delivery of the IBTM events which include AIBTM, Baltimore, USA (launching 2011); AIME in Melbourne, Australia; CIBTM in Beijing, China; GIBTM in Abu Dhabi, UAE; and EIBTM.
A number of new initiatives including local teams in each region, a new portfolio website that brings all shows together under one umbrella brand, the development of its social media and online communities, plus a global education strategy and international industry research are all in development or planned for the future.
Moyes confirmed that the team will be increasing presence online including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and announcing similar initiatives globally to Connect@EIBTM, the new online community launched ahead of EIBTM 2010 to enable connections between all pre-registered visitors before the event will be rolled out wherever possible at IBTM events.
Next year will also see the refinement of the global education strategy. Moyes said: “Where an event has a successful feature or education component, we will see how it can work within a different culture, and region of the world, to ensure it also adds value to an event. We won’t just be replicating an initiative for the sake of it. As with all our initiatives, it will have to add real ROI.”
Similarly, CSR initiatives will also begin to impact its global events, as the organisation is well placed to turn its current BS8901 accreditation into the global ISO standard when it becomes globally accepted.
Countdown to AIBTM 2011
The first meetings industry event of its kind in the Americas, AIBTM, will take place in Baltimore from 21-23 June 2011. Two thirds of available space on the floor plan is now contracted, with a growing list of international exhibitors, including Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Ireland Tourist Board, Fairmont Raffles Swisshotel and Hong Kong Tourism Board.
Designed to provide meeting and event professionals in all sectors – association, corporate, government and third party with quality interaction with both domestic and international exhibitors, AIBTM is expecting to deliver over 21,000 pre-scheduled appointments through its Hosted Buyer programme which is set to bring 2000 qualified industry professionals.
As part of America Meetings Week, AIBTM will also include a high quality education programme supported by a wide range of industry associations, the annual PCMA conference co-located with the event, the world´s first MPI Value of Meetings global research launch and the launch of a US centric CEO Summit.
Tom Noonan CEO Visit Baltimore added “AIBTM provides Baltimore with the opportunity to highlight our visitor centric walkable waterfront convention community. As we are within close proximity to 1/3rd of the nation´s population and just 40 minutes from Washington DC, we know that Baltimore is an easy city to get to and from”.
Finally, both Tom Noonan and Craig Moyes announced that rock legends U2 will be playing at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore during AIBTM as a stop on their 360° Tour and as a special feature of the inaugural of the exhibition, there will be more than 1000 tickets made available to both exhibitors and Hosted Buyers through a number of special promotions pre-show.
