Event UK (Industry)
Event
UK made its debut at Birmingham’s NEC in September following the
rebranding of the National Venue Show. The exhibition attracted a shade
over 4,000 visitors according to unaudited figures released by
organiser CMPi. Abigail Parkin (7 Oct ’08)
While
Event UK’s visitor footfall fell short of last year’s National Venue
Show count and CMPi’s own projections, Event UK event director Duncan Reid (left) ebulliently stressed the potential of the show.
“I’m pleased to announce that we are actually 7% up on our ‘pure’
visitors to the show, however, the co-located show visitor numbers were
less then last year, which unfortunately we can not control,” said
Duncan Reid. “Let’s not forget International Confex's success didn't
happen overnight; it was built up over three years. We have made a
great start with Event UK and the plan is to continue to grow over the
next three years.”
Features at the show included “The Advice Centre” which provided
visitors with free and impartial advice about the live events industry
and talent show. Elsewhere, visitors witnessed talent show ‘The Next
Big Thing’ which was held in association with entertainment agent,
Sternberg Clarke and supported by Gallowglass and IML with a £1,000
prize for the winner.
“At
Event UK we aimed to create a positive environment in which exhibitors
and visitors could do business,” Reid explained. “To do this we gave
exhibitors the opportunity to be more interactive in their approach.
This strategy has proved a great success, reflected in the 21% rise in
exhibitor bookings we have seen for next year’s show and positive
comments from our exhibitors.”
What the exhibitors said:
Julie Minn – Sales Manager, Identilam
"We
exhibited at Event UK to increase awareness of Identilam and show that
we’re more than just a lanyard provider. We also provide software
solutions (for conference end event badging) and, importantly, delegate
tracking.
"Our
aims at Event UK were met reasonably well. Visitor levels weren't as
good as the Event Show or International Confex but the quality of
visitors was good. It'll take about six to eight weeks to determine
how many of the visitor leads will result in business.
"We were happy with The NEC which was well equipped and had all the facilities we expected. We always do the Event Show and Confex and, sometimes, RSVP. Overall we thought Event UK pulled off a good debut and the only change we would make in future would be to choose a better stand position which catches more vistors."
Nick Laing - Sales Manager, Holiday Inn Hull Marina
"Our
aim was to raise the profile of the city and the region which we
conveyed by being a combined force led by Hull & East Yorkshire
Conferences. Day one was quiet and traffic to the stand wasn’t great
but it improved by day two.
"We
had scanned in a footfall of seventy visitors over two days which
wasn’t particularly high. Our stand position was on 'Yorkshire Avenue'
where we gave out white roses and had beauty therapists give their
services free of charge to drum up attention.
"Business
leads are still being quantified with a view to determining which leads
convert to business. We did think that the NEC was a good venue and
Birmingham's a good central location."
Jayne Devlin - General Manager, Amadeus
“Event UK was useful as a window to the relaunch of our Amadeus
catering brand. We partnered with Coventry Transport Museum who
brought in a vintage Routemaster bus. This novelty brought a lot of
visitor attention as did the canapés that we served to visitors on the
stand in front of the bus.
"It was a successful event for us and
Coventry Transport Museum because of the high quality of visitors and
decision makers. As a result, we’re organising a follow-up event at the
Transport Museum at the end of November and we'll be inviting the
visitors that we met at Event UK.
"The exhibition's location at the NEC helped to make visitors aware of what we have to offer in the West Midlands.
"We were surprised to meet so many visitors from London
because Square Meal was exhibiting at the same time. Visitors to the
NEC see that the region has quality, expertise and value to offer. The
challenge for Event UK is to boost visitor numbers for next year
because day two of the event was slower."
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