Exhibitions in February (AIME) and then early May (RSVP Melbourne) may have resulted in lower than expected visitation to Sydney’s oldest exhibition for the business events industry. Nevertheless, it delivered the 154 participating exhibitors with 3503 buyers, including 50 hosted buyers sourced by the Sydney Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Organisers of the Australian Events Expo, ETF, provide some great stats on show visitors, numbers, demographics and a whole lot more. This year, through their research, they found that 65 per cent of visitors indicated an involvement in the purchasing decisions of their company. Further, 62 per cent of visitors were first timers.
The study also found:
• The value of business placed with exhibitors ranged from $250 to $500,000
• The average value of estimated business placed was $14,000
• Visitors indicated that the value of individual pieces of business they anticipate placing with exhibitors met at the show would range from $10 - $1.5 million
• 83 per cent of visitors indicated the Australian Events Expo was worthwhile attending
• 81 per cent of visitors said they had discovered new ideas at the expo
• 85.2 per cent of visitors found new products and services at AEE
• 88.7 per cent of visitors say they will attend AEE next year
As well as a large number of new visitors, there were also some new exhibiting companies, including for the first time a contingent from New Zealand.
Co-exhibiting under the 100% New Zealand umbrella was Lake Taupo, Rotorua and the Christchurch & Canterbury Convention Bureau.
The 100% Pure New Zealand stand reported two successful days with the consensus that it was a worthwhile trip across the Tasman.
Former Chirstchurch & Canterbury Convention Bureau manager and chair of NZCB Annette Pendergast (who left her post at the end of July), said the New Zealand influence at the show was a hit with visitors.
“The response from visitors to the show with interest in New Zealand was overwhelming with many of those being corporate meeting planners keen to learn about the experience options available; especially our ability to provide new and different venues for their events,” she said.
The hope for the NZCB was that the enthusiasm from visitors at AEE will carry through to influencing decisions as to where to stage conferences and events in the future. Ms Pendergast said the feedback was positive, with many visitors learning how easy it was to cross the Tasman and how cost-effective and dynamic New Zealand can be.
The 100% New Zealand stand was managed by Ms Pendergast who was joined by Melissa Gray from Rotorua and Di Christie from Lake Taupo, with support from Air New Zealand, Millennium Hotels & Resorts, Rotorua Events & Venues and Christchurch Convention Centre.
News is that the NZCB is looking forward to working with Conventions & Incentives New Zealand which has indicated it will coordinate the 100% Pure New Zealand stand at AEE 2009. This year’s New Zealand participants are hopeful that positive feedback from this show will see more NZ representatives taking part in 2009.
Comments from other exhibiting companies were also favourable. First-time exhibitor, Sonia McPhee of Sydney Princess Cruises, said she was extremely impressed with the quality of the corporate visitors.
“We will be back in 2009 for sure,” she said.
Megadeck Australia’s Adem Kennedy said as a first-timer they had received good quality leads from good quality visitors.
“[We] have also had the opportunity to show existing clients our full scope of products and we know we will book business,” he said.
The Sydney Convention & Visitors Bureau, with the help of Qantas, hosted 50 meeting and event planners for this year’s Australian Events Expo, giving participants the run of the show and a familiarisation around Sydney.
This was the largest hosted buyer program organised by the SCVB and held in conjunction with AEE, with qualified buyers coming from around Australia, China and the United States.
“This year we’re able to put a greater focus on developing close relationships with key players in our target markets, giving them a real appreciation of the talent and wow-factor they can find in Sydney,” Mr Hutchison said.
“Buyer interest was extremely high, so we’ve put a lot into identifying our strongest prospects and bringing real benefits to our members and exhibitors.”
Buyers included more than a dozen key travel agents from China, drawn from prime agencies in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
They joined five buyers from the United States, mainly president and director-level executives sourced from incentive houses and corporate travel agencies in five key states.
Locally, about 30 buyers were sourced from corporates, associations and professional conference organisers in Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.
As well as attending the Australian Events Expo and inspecting the city’s new and fashionable venues, hosted buyers were treated to a harbourside welcome event to showcase the best of Sydney’s style and creativity. Some enjoyed a succession of Sydney experiences - from BridgeClimb to Bondi - while others took off to regional New South Wales to explore the waterways and dolphin breeding grounds of Port Stephens.
Mr Hutchison said the development of a stronger and more effective hosted buyer program had been one of the SCVB’s key ambitions when it sold the Australian Events Expo to ETF after the inaugural show last year.
“Having made a success of Sydney on Sale and developed it into the Australian Events Expo, we are now free to concentrate on delivering business to our members and to Sydney through initiatives like the hosted buyer program,” he said.
In 2009 the Australian Events Expo and RSVP Sydney will be co-located at the Sydney Convention & Visitors Bureau. For details turn to page 66.
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