LAS VEGAS — Around the world, events professionals are preparing to convene at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center for IMEX America, which will be held Oct. 8-10.
Trade Show Executive spoke with Carina Bauer, CEO of IMEX Group, about the show’s anticipated growth and exciting new features and partnerships, including enhanced offerings for first-time attendees.
Supercharged Growth
Bauer shared that IMEX America plans to feature more new exhibitors than ever before and grow in net square footage this year. At the time of her interview with TSE, all key metrics for buyers were tracking up on the same period last year.
“As every trade show organizer knows, it’s not how many buyers register but how many come through the door, and I’m confident in our projected numbers and excited for the doors to open,” Bauer said.
Furthermore, IMEX America is seeing increased demand in North and South America, the Middle East, the Caribbean and China.
“What’s important here is what this demand represents — and that’s a market which is robust and has a strong new business pipeline,” Bauer explained. “In some cases, such as China, we’re still seeing the impact of the pandemic being flushed through. Although that feels a long way off to many of us now, China was the last country to open and attendance at international events was minimal last year. The bounce back from the pandemic years has continued to be strong despite inflationary pressures and geopolitical instability. Key trends — such as the need to meet face-to-face, increased use of technology driving a desire to build trust in-person and, of course, the trend towards remote working — have all conflated to drive that robust industry growth.”
To help attract new buyers, IMEX America created a new Brand Experience Summit in partnership with Invision and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority that has a dedicated program for senior Corporate Marketing Officers and will be held at Allegiant Stadium.
Focusing on Impact
Every year, IMEX selects a Talking Point to be an overall theme for its events. This year’s Talking Point is “Impact.”
The topic is designed to anchor IMEX America’s pre-show communications and on-site content and inspire exhibitor activity.
“The business events industry has the potential to create a positive impact on the world and we’re encouraging attendees to look at different ways that they — and their events — can make a difference to the planet and to people,” Bauer said. “Impact also chimes nicely with our company mission: to bring the global events community together to do business, learn and drive positive change.”
Partnering for Success
In partnership with IMEX and Meeting Professionals International, Unique Speaker Bureau International (USBI) will host a new USBI Global World Series Speaker Showcase that will bring more than 15 prestigious speakers to IMEX America’s Smart Monday, a day of learning and networking the Monday before the main trade show begins. Attendees will be able to see speaker overviews during the program and source keynote speakers for their events.
Also, renowned speaker Holly Ransom is working with IMEX America in a new Emergent Leadership Day, where CEOs from numerous companies and associations will convene to discuss leadership strategies.
“I know first-hand that this is set to be a great program — I saw Holly in action when she interviewed the Clintons at PCMA Convening Leaders earlier this year,” Bauer shared.
The Google Experience Institute is bringing its CoLaboratory back to IMEX America this year as well, which is a series of content sessions, workshops and open mics.
The 2024 CoLaboratory will launch a Belonging Playbook created by the innovation design startup Storycraft Lab with contributions from the research company Valuegraphics and provide instruction to help organizers incorporate its design tools in their events.
Personalized Experiences
IMEX America is working with Storycraft Lab to further enhance its first-timers webinar and show tour.
Professionals will be able to take an Experience Profile quiz to discover their optimal ways to learn and engage, and Storycraft Lab will use their profiles to help them meet other attendees and navigate the show.
“We launched the first-timers webinar and show tour last year and received a great response. Some attendees on the pre-show webinar even created their own LinkedIn group and arranged to meet up at the show, for example,” Bauer said. “We hope this makes it even easier for people to find their micro-community at the show … We want the next generation to know they have a place at our show; that we’ve listened to their needs and designed an experience just for them.”
Bauer emphasized that IMEX America is committed to setting up young events professionals for success.
“A report by Cushman and Wakefield suggests: ‘The retirement of 693 million Baby Boomers and the debut of 1.3 billion Generation Z workers entering the labor force over the next ten years has major implications (for society).’ So, along with the need for young talent acquisition and retention, we also need to stay alert to some powerful changes coming into the workplace,” Bauer explained.
Are you attending IMEX America and feel unsure about where to start? Bauer had this to say:
“Our three-day show may sound large, but it’s made up of hundreds of micro moments and experiences — from Corporate Focus on Smart Monday to the first-timers tour — all designed to help attendees have an experience that’s truly personal to them. We help our attendees find the people and companies they need to meet as well as ensuring they can navigate the show in a way that works for them. And to do that we’ve heavily invested in technology to improve the customer journey and our show app to aid the pre-show and live customer experience.
“And, to those who say ‘I’ve already been to IMEX America before,’ be reassured that our team is always innovating, responding to market needs and transforming the way we deliver business, networking and education to ensure that each show is bang-on relevant to the times we’re living and working in. Business events can no longer exist in a bubble — they have to address the needs of the whole human being to make them worthwhile. We’re enormously proud of our efforts to respond to people’s needs in this way.”
Learn more about IMEX America by clicking here.
Photo Credit: IMEX
