At the close of the fourth annual Americas Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (AIBTM) show this past June, organizers announced a re-imagined format. Beginning in 2015, IBTM America, as it's now called, will eschew the traditional trade-show floor to focus more exclusively on the one-on-one meetings of the show's hosted-buyer program. A one-to-one ratio of exhibitors to buyers will be established, with only 250 of each invited. Meetings will occur in pods rather than booths, each featuring corporate branding but in a standard size and shape. Exhibitors will pay a set, all-inclusive package price to participate.
IBTM America's focus, in other words, will be on the meetings, not the display logistics and branding of big-booth shows.
In early September, Reed Travel Exhibitions, parent of IBTM America among a portfolio of seven shows worldwide, announced a similar change for its Gulf exhibition, GIBTM. The newly named IBTM Arabia, to be held February in Abu Dhabi, will likewise transition to a one-to-one hosted-buyer event, with up to 200 exhibitors. The same number of buyers will be invited and will represent a 50/50 mix of regional and international planners.
The changes, says IBTM Global Events Portfolio director Sallie Coventry, were based largely on feedback from suppliers and buyers in their respective markets. "At the end of the day, the show is a service for a particular industry, and we have to listen to what that industry says they need from us as trade-show organizers," she notes. "We adapt who we are to their requirements."
Customers in the U.S. and the Gulf are looking for "that high-quality interaction between buyers and suppliers that really facilitates doing business and building out their networks," Coventry says. One common frustration expressed, she notes, was that exhibitors were being distracted from their primary objectives. "In some cases, people were using the show floor as an opportunity to sell, when our exhibitors are looking to make sales themselves. So we wanted to kind of close the doors for the Arabian and American markets, eliminate some of those distractions." With the new focused format, she adds, "it's more like a conference than a trade show."
Of the seven events in IBTM's portfolio, four now take that approach: IBTM India and IBTM Africa are tabletop events but are driven by the same one-on-one philosophy behind their American and Arabian counterparts. The trade-show exhibit hall remains a significant part of EIBTM (in Barcelona, Spain), CIBTM (in Beijing) and the Asia-Pacific Incentive and Meetings Expo (AIME) in Melbourne, Australia.
No changes are on the horizon at this point for EIBTM, AIME or CIBTM, says Coventry. "I think there is still an absolute, essential place in the market for that sort of brand awareness," she says, in which exhibitors are free to make a splash on the show floor. "But do people want to do it time and time again, across multiple shows and multiple different geographies? Possibly not. We've listened to our customers and we see that they value that, but they don't necessarily need it across every show."
A Proven Model
The IBTM events are deeply entrenched in the history of the hosted-buyer approach. In fact, EIBTM founder Ray Bloom developed the format for his show in the late 1980s. Ten years later he sold the show to Reed before going on to found IMEX, another event that has helped to define hosted-buyer programs. To provide exhibiting companies with the best leads, the thinking went, why not find the most qualified buyers and bring them there, covering their travel expenses?
Today, the format appears to be more popular than ever before; in addition to the flagship IMEX (in Frankfurt), IMEX America and EIBTM events, planners have a plethora of other hosted-buyer opportunities from which to choose. Show organizers, in turn, have brought the hosted-buyer format -- previously unique to the travel and meetings industry -- into a variety of other business sectors.
"The model lends itself very well to bringing buyers and suppliers together in a very efficient manner," according to Michael Lyons, a Philadelphia-based consultant and speaker who previously was the show director for AIBTM. "As we all know, the traditional trade-show model, where people just walk up and down the aisle, is almost like a carnival barker trying to pull you in, saying, 'Look at our stuff!' That's inefficient. Within two minutes of conversation, it often becomes clear that the buyer isn't really a qualified customer."
With the hosted-buyer model, on the other hand, show organizers typically match up buyers and suppliers in advance for one-on-one meetings. In exchange for being hosted, a buyer agrees to a predetermined number of meetings with suppliers with whom, based on expressed interests and needs, they're more likely to do business. Buyers and exhibitors both know ahead of time that whatever other possibilities they find at the trade show, whatever other leads drop by the booth, these meetings that are lined up in advance have a good chance of leading to business deals. It relieves the pressure to be productive on the trade-show floor, reducing the carnival-barker scenario.
In-House Expertise
Implementing a hosted-buyer element is like any other aspect of trade-show management, notes Megan Tanel, vice president of exhibitions for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. You have to know your market and your customers.
AEM's VIP and first-timer hosted-buyer launch in March 2014 was not the organization's first attempt at such an initiative. "We did try a similar program with one of our other shows, where we outsourced it to a third party," says Tanel. "Because this third party didn't necessarily have a relationship with the contacts, the success was abysmal. It just didn't work."
It's crucial, notes Tanel, that the program be run by those who understand the customer needs and buying cycles. "When we brought it in-house, and we were able to say who we were and explain that we have people here who understand a little bit more of the industry that we've got shows in, we found the response to be 100 times better than what it could have been by outsourcing it to a third party."
Hosted-Buyer Made to Order
Adding hosted-buyer elements has become a significant trend and a much-discussed topic, confirms David Dubois, president and CEO of the Dallas-based International Association of Exhibitions and Events. "Over the past year, I've attended more than a dozen sessions on this, either as a panelist or in the audience," he says. "And there are mixed reactions, both positive and neutral." Many planners are eager to implement the model, he notes, while even the neutral ones appear to be considering trying it out in some fashion as a two- or three-year experiment.
"It's a fascinating time," Dubois adds, "and I applaud the efforts of our industry trade shows for their recognition of and need to increase and grow their hosted-buyer programs. Meeting planners just don't have a lot of time -- let alone the budgets -- to go to a lot of these things."
Reed's IBTM changes represent an interesting solution to Dubois: "A lot of us are intrigued by that. My guess is they've decided that there is so much competition in the space -- and there is -- they chose to roll the dice and go to a 100 percent hosted-buyer program: 250 exhibitors, 250 hosted buyers, $9,500 per booth, and they're going to have a wonderful quality experience for the suppliers and the buyers. If you do the math, that's a nice revenue stream, and they make it more affordable for the exhibitors, who don't have to ship those big 30 x 30 booths. If they pull it off, it's going to be awesome. I applaud them for their creativity."
That said, Dubois emphasizes that the hosted-buyer model isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. "For our own Expo! Expo!, we've talked about whether we should go to a hosted-buyer format. Our current version of hosted buyer is that if a show organizer has never attended an Expo! Expo!, we provide them with a comp badge to go to the trade show. That's our hybrid version; they have to pay their own airfare and for their hotel rooms."
With respect to eliminating the booths, there are potential downsides to forgoing a bigger trade-show experience, Dubois points out. "How many times has a meeting planner walked by and noticed a brand-new resort he or she knew nothing about? Maybe it's an independent hotel. Without the exhibits, I don't get a chance to walk a trade-show floor and run into a new exhibitor who's got a new product or service that makes me go 'wow, I didn't know anything about you.'"
Coming to America
The proliferation of hosted-buyer programs in the U.S. is due in large part to the European pioneers bringing their successful shows stateside. "We came into the market in 2009," says IMEX Group CEO Carina Bauer, "and we did the first IMEX America two years later. There weren't so many hosted-buyer programs then. But, of course, 'hosted-buyer programs' can mean so many different things. Different programs will be created and crafted to appeal to a certain audience."
For IMEX America, the focus is still very much on a trade show that is built around a large hosted-buyer program. The 2013 show attracted nearly 2,700 exhibitors and an equivalent number of hosted buyers, and preliminary reports from last month's show indicate increases on both sides. "It's very important that we have the right number of buyers, to keep up with the demand from the exhibitors," she explains.
In a sense, the IMEX shows and EIBTM are hybrid models: The events attract more attendees on top of the hosted-buyer totals -- those who either weren't invited or who preferred to pay their own way rather than commit to a schedule. Much of the hosted-buyer proliferation happening stateside, Bauer notes, is different; either there's less of a focus on the trade show, or the hosted-buyer portion is not as central to the success of the exhibition. In the latter case, a good deal of experimentation is occurring. Trade shows are using the approach to draw additional attendees, or to provide special treatment to valued buyers.
Easing Into It
A major obstacle to a more full-fledged implementation by trade shows, not surprisingly, is cost. "Ultimately, with any true hosted-buyer program, the exhibitors end up footing the bill for these people to come in at the show organizer's expense," says Craig Hoffend, vice president of business development for Global Experience Specialists in Hodgkins, Ill. "So before a show organizer just announces it and jumps into it, they have to ask: Is this really a necessity at this stage? Is it something my exhibitor base is truly looking for?"
To be sure a hosted-buyer approach is a good fit for a show, says Hoffend, it's best implemented over the course of three to five years. "Maybe year one starts out with your anchor exhibitors participating in a VIP program. This way the show organizer doesn't have to figure out how to host 500 or 700 or 1,000 buyers all at once."
Hoffend suggests starting up a program that's sponsored by five anchor exhibitors, for instance, along with 30 or 40 VIP buyers, all of whom have access to, say, a special pre-show event as well as a VIP lounge. "The idea is to create a demand," he says, "so that the other exhibitors see it and say, 'Hey, I want to be a part of this.' And you can tell them that in year two you're going to open it up to x more companies."
The sponsoring exhibitors help to bring the key buyers to the attention of show organizers. "If interest continues to grow after year two or year three, then you pretty much have proven to yourself that you've got an opportunity to create a full-fledged hosted-buyer program," says Hoffend. "If you get to year two or three and you're not getting other exhibitors who are interested in participating, then you know it's not a right fit for your event."Manufacturing Success
For the mammoth ConExpo/ConAg manufacturing show, organizers saw success from this type of experiment, with one major difference -- they didn't ask their exhibitors to foot the bill. "We put the hosted-buyer cost in the show budget, because our goal was to increase the satisfaction levels of our exhibitors, as well as increase the buying potential that was on the show floor and help build our retention," says Megan Tanel, vice president of exhibitions for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers in Milwaukee.
For the March 2014 ConExpo/ConAg exhibition, Tanel and her team launched a two-track hosted-buyer program, for both VIP buyers and first-time prospects. The goal was to find 200 to 250 hosted buyers in total -- and because their search was so fruitful, they found 500. While that might not seem like starting small, it's just a fraction of the show's overall attendance of 130,000. (The event takes place once every three years and draws 2,400 exhibitors that cover more than 2.4 million net square feet.) The program didn't include flight costs, and lodging was covered for just a select portion of VIPs, so the experiment didn't break the bank. And show organizers met their objectives: They ensured exhibitors that the VIPs would be there and expanded their attendee base by mining data to find new buyers. That's a crucial point for an association that represents the exhibitors; it's incumbent upon them to provide more leads.
AEM will introduce a hosted-buyer program into many of its shows in the coming years, says Tanel. "Now that we've got one show under our belt with this approach, we've got some metrics and results related to it," she notes. "Before, we didn't want to be charging our exhibitors money for something when we weren't sure what the result was going to be. Now we have the option to add in some sort of sponsorship program."
Luring Attendees
Another interesting facet of the ConExpo/ConAg hosted-buyer experiment is that exhibitor-attendee meetings aren't part of the deal. "Adding meetings when the show is so big was thought to be too overwhelming," says Tanel, "especially to the first-timers. So maybe that's the next step." Having the hosted buyers wear special badges and providing a VIP lounge, she notes, still encouraged additional interaction with the exhibitors.
While the hosted-buyer philosophy is driven to a great extent by the need to provide solid leads -- and better ROI -- for the exhibitors, buyers are likewise faced with unprecedented pressure to demonstrate a return on their investments. The purest hosted-buyer programs aim to remove as much of that investment as possible, but there's still the question of time.
"I think hosted-buyer invitations used to be a status symbol for some," notes Tanel. "Now, there are so many high-level executives who don't necessarily need it. They tell us, 'I don't have a lot of time. I just want to get in, get this done and get out.' So it's not so much what the giveaways are as what the value is that they're going to get out of it. And a lot of it relates to time. It's the value of what they can get done in face-to-face interactions, minus time away from family, or time away from extracurricular activities, or whatever it is they're missing."