Trade Show Executive is forecasting a 4% rise in attendance this year.
The trade publication also sees similar growth in net square feet leased, a 5% increase in the number of exhibitors and a 6% increase in revenue. That’s a welcome turn from a recent downturn that stemmed from a lackluster economy, the SARS outbreak and, of course, the 2001 terrorist attacks.
To see how growth is playing out in Orange County, the Business Journal’s Sandi Cain asked executives from local exhibit companies and meeting planners to talk about their outlook for 2005.
Lucy Roberts
Sales executive
Champion Exposition Services
Santa Fe Springs
In booth design, we’re seeing lighter weight booths to reduce shipping and material handling costs. This is achieved with using fabric walls with aluminum frames that can be printed or have images projected onto them.
In general, companies are reducing booth space, which reduces the number of personnel needed to man the booth. Shows in general are getting smaller, but certain industries,like healthcare,continue to grow.
Kim Franclossi
Chief executive officer
Exhibitgroup/Giltspur
Cypress
What’s really happened during the downturn of past several years is that companies have been using existing exhibits and refreshing them instead of building new ones. On average, companies now build a new booth every five years instead of three, which used to be the average.
That means some booths are getting a bit tired and there’s a need to spend money on them. We’re hopeful that will start in 2005. Corporate profits were up in the past year and we’re hopeful that will translate into marketing dollars.
The overall trends we see include customers asking us to provide more services,particularly if they’ve had layoffs and need to outsource some work.
Shipping is a big factor for exhibitors. Clients want to spend their budgets on customer-facing products and services. When logistical costs go up, that results in fewer dollars to spend on the booth, show or entertainment. And it’s difficult to get extra dollars in the budget for shipping because shipping doesn’t help you sell.
Healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are very strong due to new products. Now we’re starting to see spending in electronics and telecomm again, which was noticeable at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Marty Cymbal
Regional vice president,
general manager
Susan Bendily
Corporate design director
Freeman Cos.
Anaheim/Dallas
Cymbal: We’re seeing an overall recovery, not just here in OC and Southern California, but throughout the country. Large, private corporate events to showcase products are increasing from what was taking place a couple of years ago, as budgets are back to 2000 levels.
There are some variances, depending on the industry. The medical industry didn’t have much negative effect after 9/11, whereas dot-coms and others suffered more. Everybody suffered budget cutbacks, both in the trade show industry and outside it.
Because of previous budget cutbacks, people have been very selective when they’re refurbishing exhibits. They’re going with lighter-weight exhibits and using a combination of custom and rental components.
Bendily: In design, fabric still is really big. It started as a cost-saving tool to save on shipping, but also it’s really flexible. You can overlay graphics, organic shapes and other things on it for different looks.
We’re seeing a lot more hybrid exhibits that are part rental, part custom-built. But some elaborate displays are picking back up. There’s more demand for plasma and LCD screens, flat screen monitors and interactive displays. But the size hasn’t increased. Booths are either the same size or smaller. Clients are trying to get more bang for their buck.
Julia Smith
Vice president of sales
GES Exposition Services
There haven’t been significant changes in the past year; most changes have occurred after 2001. Consumer shows as a whole have been very healthy. Home shows in particular get very good attendance,maybe as part of that nesting mode people got into after 2001.
Our clients have leaner staffs and are looking for value-added services. In general, there’s a desire for more sophistication. The days of simple graphics are gone. Now we have dramatic entranceways, aisle signs and so on. Everyone wants a “wow” factor.
Exhibitors are looking for ways to get the maximum bang for the buck. That may not mean lighter weight or smaller booths, but more efficiently designed ones that better suit their needs.
In OC, there’s a very cooperative environment and skilled workforce, so most exhibitors who come here end up pleased with the labor they work with.
Herb Hite
President
MICE DisplayWorks
Irvine
Last year was better than 2003 and this year is starting out even better. We’re very optimistic.
A lot of clients are looking at how to keep costs down. That includes weight of the exhibits, transportation and ease of setup to save on labor. And we’re getting more requests for rentals to avoid storage costs.
One sector that’s heated up is mortgage companies. Their goals are to market themselves and they attend a great number of shows just to get their names out. Brand consistency is very important to them in all their booths, whether they are mobile, custom or facility upgrades.
Denise Dres
Nimlok Orange County
Lake Forest
We’re hearing good things from clients about trade show activity picking up. That’s a really good sign. We’re seeing a trend where people are trying to have a powerful image on the show floor but want to save money without sacrificing image.
All of our elements for design are very lightweight to save money on shipping and drayage. Recently, drayage has been more costly than the freight.
We do get some unusual requests. For one client, we did a custom hybrid exhibit that had to pack into cases that could be carried in an elevator. They get a lot of attention from other exhibitors when they use that exhibit.
Pete Gallagher
General manager
Pinnacle Exhibits
We’re predominantly involved in large exhibits though another arm of our company does modular (smaller) booths.
Business is picking up. Generally,at least here,people are spending money on marketing.
The difference is that people are spending their money more carefully. They’re looking at how they’ve done things over the last few years and maybe going with hybrids, a few new pieces added to the booth or rentals.
Clients are moving toward experiential lighting, audio-visual props, moving graphics and using all kinds of fabrics and lightweight materials.
We set up about six exhibits for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. One client is Sony PlayStation (see image, page 1). They have a three-story exhibit with a 30-foot inflated sphere that has another sphere inside.
John Funk
Owner
Skyline Displays
Anaheim
In the last six months, there have been signs of the industry picking up, but there still are a lot of shows feeling the effects of the economic slowdown and 2001 terrorist attacks.
In 2004, we had our first year of reasonable growth since 2001. Our total sales still are less than 2001, but there’s definite improvement. Companies are starting to replenish their marketing activities,there’s only so long you can go without that.
One thing I’ve noticed about our clients is a lot more strategic thinking about trade shows. They’re more interested in return on investment and accountability for results than before.
(Exhibitors) are taking a hard look at things like the cost of shipping. They don’t want to give up the impact they can make at shows, but they want more bang for their buck.
That’s beneficial to us. We use our technology to make lighter-weight exhibits, which reduces those costs.
Candace Bisconte
President
Access California
Irvine
I think business is picking up but we’re noticing some changes in what clients are looking for.
The emphasis before was on creativity and uniqueness. Now we see a need to illustrate ways we can support business objectives as well as being creative. This may have happened because procurement departments are becoming more involved in the meetings process and see us as more of a vendor.
The good part of that trend is that it may strengthen our professionalism and support the importance of the work that destination management companies do in research, recommending activities or sites and in building a partnership.
We also see a tendency for clients to be more willing to be creative with budgets (save money on one aspect in order to enhance another aspect of the event, for example). As for group size, it’s all over the board.
Tim Brown
Managing partner
Meeting Sites Resource
Newport Beach
We’re seeing a trend toward increased attendance in corporate, association and incentive events. It’s one of the encouraging trends, though the economy is still slow.
We expect it to continue until demand catches up to supply. Maybe it won’t be the high-rolling 1990s, but we expect it will be close (to that) in a couple of years.
As for session trends, everyone’s trying to make the program content more dynamic, especially on the association and nonprofit side where attendees have to be lured (to the convention). You have to offer more value if people are paying their own way to get there. It has to be hard-hitting, have better networking, better theme parties and team-building. People judge future participation on that event.
We still have a lot of customers who love teambuilding. It used to be more athletic-driven. Now, teambuilding doesn’t have to be super-competitive.
Bret Jarvis
Partner
International Site Alliance
Laguna Beach
For 2005, we’re seeing higher prices (at venues) and more meetings scheduled. Hotels are reinvesting in their properties more, which is nice.
Clients are still booking very short-term though.
Kathryn Jurgensen
Premier Meetings
People are looking to get their time’s worth when they attend meetings. Some clients don’t care about the frills; they want education. They don’t want to waste time.
That means for content, you’d better have experts that provide useful information to the attendees.
Rosa McArthur
President
Meeting Planners Plus
Costa Mesa
We do small- to medium-sized meetings, and we see them increasing in size a little bit. Because we do a lot of corporate work, we tend to have a lot of last-minute meetings that we call “pop-ups.” They’re workshops or leadership meetings and are booked very short-term (less than 90 days ahead).
On the corporate side, we haven’t had problems with budgets. Some clients share the cost of a meeting with several departments within the company to get maximum benefit.
Clients are asking for more (education and training) sessions and more interactive sessions. Teambuilding is very big for my clients; I’ve started to use more external resources to bring in people to address the group dynamics for whatever difficulty the client’s company may be having.
Barbara Sloate
Whirl Around Tours
Budgets still are a major issue with the corporate market and the lead time for booking still is short. Everyone is very budget-conscious and the decision-making timelines seem longer.
Things are picking up. We’re ahead of where we were last year, but it’s not a gravy train by any means. It (reminds me of) the early 1990s after the recession. People didn’t return to the wild spending of the 1980s even when the economy picked up.
The other thing that has an effect on business is that a lot of companies have merged and a few are having financial problems.
We’ve heard that 2005 is going to be a great year in (convention business) in Anaheim, but it always depends on regional competition, too. There’s still a lot of regional business being done.
Robb Thornsberry
President
Infinity Events
We’ve seen a trend that some clients are now more willing to let go of things that they previously did in-house. They may have a bigger workload themselves, so they’re doing more delegating and outsourcing.
Budgets are starting to increase across the board, both in the corporate market and for associations. We have a lot of repeat clients, so that’s easy to monitor. We see about a 5% uptick year-over-year so far.
We expect a slight increase in business in 2005. People have a little more confidence in the economy and clients are beginning to see events as a marketing tool.
As for what they’re looking for, the days of heavy props and theme parties are gone. People now are looking for a more elegant, functional look.
Technology is in the forefront. It used to be a bonus if T-1 lines were included; now that’s the standard and wireless is the way to go.
