Auditing exhibition statistics The CENTREX way Budva, November 7, 2008

A priori statement Auditing is a Tool for increasing Competitivity

What exhibitions are good for Making long term & short term business (sales) between exhibitors and visitors, exhibitors and exhibitors Promoting products/companies (marketing communication, PR) Self-education (professional development) Pleasant experience (feel the feeling)

Whom do we serve? Visitors / buyers (same interest as the exhibitors!)

Why do we need statistics? We need measurements / tools Base for measuring trends, changes, directions (external, internal management tools as well)

What do we measure? Exhibitors’ investment (size) Area of interest / motivatedness aroused (no. of exhibitors) Interest of / motivatedness of visitors (capacity of buying, origin etc.)

Do we have competitors? YES

What is the field of competition/fight? Fight for visitors’ attention – who can get it and get inside of vision & motivatedness Visitors budget (only partly) Fight for exhibitors budgets (and readiness to spend) and conscience WHY!!!

Who are the competitors? Other tools, like … Printed press, electronic media, shopping malls, DM, POS etc. Those who reach (or target) our target audience! (Remember: VISITORS) Only partly other exhibitions (consider overlapping of visitors and their actual interests)

Do they measure? The serious ones measure Readerships (at visitors) Advertising space sold cm² or minutes (exhibitors) Viewers, surfers (hits, etc) And trying to sound competitive – so they audit their figures

So do we need audit? We need to audit our trade fairs to show our competitivity, and our competitive edge So we have similarly concepted base for comparing features and building claims - arguments

So what do we measure? Visitors, their origin (and if the organisers are willing, other qualitative features) Rented/contracted exhibition space (net ²) Special show area – full impression for visitors) Number of exhibitors (willing to make business) and origin (international catchment) Number of represented companies (full business interest area)

Anglosaxon approach Visitors, visitors, visitors They know they are the ultimate buyers Visit to the fair, registration, check on visitor database, post-show check Clearly not a financial type of audit

Advantage for exhibition industry Not only marketing communication but and mostly, emphasizedly part of sales process It is possible, and recommended to measure the return on marketing investment (ROI) (exhibition participation) And is is not so with many other media and marketing tools

CENTREX – what we do Why are we a special case International across the border operation Internationally comparable, unified system Understanding similarities from recent past And we understand what the competition is about Not a fiscal, financial audit (more a consultation what are the possible sales and marketing arguments that can be established)

… and more We go beyond visitor audit (unlike Anglosaxons) – reason: we think we need to present our exhibitors also measurement tools about their competitors’ marketing efforts A financial audit is the interest of owners Our statistical audit is the interest of management – a measurement of performance and market competitivity

….. and more Beyond statistics: organise platforms, forums (CEEEF), surveys (e.g. first international visitor survey) banking on our similar challenges & interdependence 18 members in 6 countries – about 70 p.c. of the market We are a distinguised member of UFI personally – a member of UFI’s marketing committee, education committee and statistics & transparency committee

Thank you for kind attention CENTREX International Exhibition Statistics Union 1101 Budapest, Albertirsai út 10, Hungary Tel/Fax: +36-1-2636368 info@centrexstat.org www.centrexstat.org www.ceeef.org