Sallie Coventry, portfolio director at Reed Travel Exhibitions, says the decision to change the title of its US event from AIBTM to IBTM America, is to bring the exhibition in line with the rest of its stablemates.
But the changes to this show, its largest outside of Europe, run significantly deeper than bearing a new moniker. It is just one of several IBTM shows to be repurposed and restructured for business travel professionals.
“Having undertaken some comprehensive qualitative research in the US market, we’ve transformed this trade show format into a new concept that we believe is both simple yet dynamic, and most importantly meets the demands of our US audience,” she says, adding that the change of name builds a stronger association with the global IBTM portfolio.
The new format means IBTM America will now take the format of an all-inclusive solution, where a new ‘pod’ layout will give privacy to meetings between buyers and suppliers. Exhibitors pay one price and their pod will be ready on arrival to begin their meetings. Those of you familiar with easyFairs may see the resemblance.
It means 250 suppliers will meet 250 planners, doing business both inbound and outbound from the US. Planners will be from the corporate, association, governmental and agency sectors, while exhibitors will be from all sectors of the MICE market, split 60 per cent US and 40 per cent international.
According to Coventry, the 8ft-by-8ft all-inclusive meetings pod will be ready upon the arrival of each exhibitor and there will be no more additional costs associated with set up or break down, no freight or drayage, contributing to a hassle-free exhibiting experience. Each hosted buyer will have 30 pre-scheduled appointments. Building further connections, the community of IBTM America will join together for bespoke networking events and the IBTM professional Knowledge Forum.
Changing the face of IBTM
This format may now be rolled out across all of Reed’s events that share their profile with AIBTM.
“Reed Travel Exhibitions has several similar style events, as has Reed Exhibitions globally,” says Coventry. “So we can use these experiences to build on the success of our new events, which also include IBTM Africa and IBTM India.
Coventry has previously talked about the need to evolve events into bespoke niche offerings that provide a specific industry solution, so could a new match-making format event not exist as a spin-off, complementary product, while AIBTM continues in its current form? Perhaps an invitational hosted buyers day plus open exhibition, for example; global village style.
“We discussed all sorts of concepts for the new look and feel, and the one that delivered what the market wanted is the format we have now launched,” Coventry explains. “A global village is really an area of an exhibition that is the same as the show floor but with specific exhibitors from a region or part of the industry, they too have their own stands, shape and sizes.
The concept of IBTM America is that every exhibitor in the hall is the same – each with an equal amount of space and their meeting pod is the same design. “There will not be any exhibiting partners which of course there were at AIBTM,” she says. “Each exhibitor will have their own exhibit space, though the booths can be grouped together to accommodate a brand, a city, a region or a country that wants to be together in the same zone.”
As for the 60/40 split between domestic and international attendees, can this be seen as a redirection towards dominating the domestic US market, or is this split consistent with past AIBTM editions? Coventry says the US domestic market was always a focus for AIBTM and will continue to be so for IBTM America. The IBTM America hosted buyer mix will consist of 80 per cent US meeting planners who have expressed an interest in placing international business. A fifth of the IBTM America hosted buyer mix will be international planners interested in conducting meetings in the US.
But in developing the product in its new format as a “niche” event, where previously it was a contender for IMEX’s mainstream US event, how does Reed convince the MICE and business travel market it is not simply making the best of the need to cede ground to its more popular competitor, IMEX America?
“First of all, we concede that IBTM America may not be for everyone,” says Coventry. “However, we do know that the concept is what the market wants and that is why we have responded with a solution that we know works. They told us that they value the quality of hosted buyer appointments more than the volume of trade visitors.”
The compelling case would have to be that IBTM America changes the US meetings event’s space and will improve the experience for everyone involved, she comments. “This is an exclusive event designed for meeting professionals, where guests and suppliers are carefully selected – a quality over quantity approach with a one-to-one exhibitor/buyer match. Exhibitors will be totally relevant to who the hosted buyers want to meet with.
“There are more touch points than any other trade show as everyone is together at all times. They will be able to focus 100 per cent of their time preparing for buyer appointments, not on set-up, teardown, shipping of the booth, and other related logistics. Exhibitors can now control their own destiny and experience. IBTM America is a US specialist event, not a global event. It is designed for US buyers of US and international products, and international buyers of US products.”
With this in mind, does Coventry believe this new matchmaking format is an element missing from existing US events?
“By setting a target of 250 buyers to ensure the one-to-one ratio means the whole event is dedicated to quality rather than quantity, which is the key objective for IBTM America 2015,” she explains.
For now, Reed Travel Exhibitions is busy preparing for IBTM India, followed by CIBTM and then EIBTM. Time will tell if IBTM America, and the adoption of a format for its MICE and business travel events, are embraced by the market it hopes to attract.
This article was first published in issue 4/4 of EW. Any comments? Email Antony Reeve-Crook
