PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
• To act as a bridge between trade show organizers, companies and local community groups associated with local trade show events • To Educate international exhibitors on the security markets in which they are exhibiting • To Educate international exhibitors on how to interface with local security show attendees • To Increase international exhibitor retention year-on-year • To increase show revenues
THE CHALLENGE
One of the biggest challenges for international exhibitors in attending a foreign tradeshow is to fully understand the market dynamics of that event BEFORE they exhibit. For those exhibitors who have a poor first experience at such an event the chances of that trade show retaining them for a second year are considerably lower.
The focus for most trade show organizers of all size is to sell booth space and market their events in such a way as to attract the right quantity and quality of attendees and exhibitors. While customer service is of paramount importance it is often a re-active process rather than pro-active one.
International exhibitors of all sizes must navigate far more logistical and economic issues than domestic exhibitors and therefore have a proportionally higher level of investment in exhibiting. Both the real and perceived value for this investment is the measurement used by these international exhibitors in determining if they will make a second investment in returning to a trade show.
In many cases international exhibitors are subject to being bundled together in pavilions, housed in separate exhibition halls or relegated to the outer fringes of a show floor. Add to this the hurdle of language and cultural issues associated with international exhibiting and the value proposition of the investment required to exhibit at a foreign show erodes even further. THE IES “VALUE-ADD” SOLUTION To address the challenges associated with attracting and retaining international exhibitors, the Global Security Industry Alliance (GSIA) developed the International Exhibitor Support (IES) Program™ for trade show organizers who hold security trade shows around the world.
Strategically, we understand that a key component of most trade show organizers business models is local community understanding: seeking to know who the influencers are in the community, having relationships with those key influencers, creating relevant databases, understanding key themes affecting those communities, their information needs and how they operate.
It is through this understanding that most trade show organizers are best able to service its exhibiting clients and attendees. GSIA with its history of trade show experience and broad and deep security trade association membership in 25 different countries around the world fully understands the importance of such community understanding and relationships.
We understand that trade show organizers’ customers want to be able to more fully measure the impact of their marketing investments as well as have access to quality data that supports these activities.
Most trade show organizers understand the intrinsic value of relationship marketing and how crucial face-to-face interactions are in the B2B and B2C industries. By fully working to integrate best practices across events sectors, trade show organizers are able to capitalize on successful programs and initiatives from one sector to another, which has the long term effect of increasing exhibitor retention as well as helping to stabilize / grow exhibition’s revenues.
The GSIA IES Program™ offers a unique opportunity to be a value-add service to a trade show organizer’s current emerging market and community outreach strategies as well as to help realize its revenue goals in the sales and retention process of international exhibitors. We believe that the security exhibition market is still prime for international exhibitor growth across the globe and that we are uniquely positioned to successfully help continue and maintain that growth.
INCREASE AND REINFORCE YOUR BRAND WITH IES PROGRAM™ SERVICES These extra tools will help to further move a trade show organizer away from passive community outreach programs to more active ones that engage local influencers, sell new booth space, work to retain and up-sell existing exhibitors, and create new data benchmarks from which to develop new strategic business growth plans.
We believe that by adopting this proposed customer service strategy, trade show organizers will:
• Increase / Reinforce brand awareness to ensure customer longevity and loyalty • Increase International exhibitor sales • Increase International exhibitor retention • Secure new business data to help grow international sales for trade events • Support programs at trade show organizer shows that promote customer and exhibitor networking • Benefit the growth of a global security community. For more information on this program, to schedule a meeting to review your needs or request a IES Program™ proposal, please email your request to the GSIA International Exhibitor Support (IES) Program™ Department at: IES@GSIAlliance.com