Is the trade show industry merely engaging in pseudo-digitalization?

There are several digital initiatives that have been making headlines in the trade show industry lately: IT departments are expanding almost everywhere, budgets are increasing, and job titles that are relatively new to the trade show business are emerging. A “Chief Digital Officer” and a team with a startup mindset seem to be a must-have. And it’s also a must to discuss all these efforts, especially with the executive board.

PRESENTATION ON DIGITAL DISRUPTION AT THE UFI GLOBAL CONGRESS IN JOHANNESBURG

At the UFI Global Congress in November 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Gunnar Heinrich (CEO of adventics & Scan2Lead), together with his colleagues from the Digital Innovation Committee – Stephan Forseilles (easyfairs) and Matthias Tesi Baur (MBB-Media) – gave a presentation on “Digital Disruption.” During the presentation, the audience was introduced to various controversial and thought-provoking topics, which sparked a lively debate on the pros and cons of each issue.

THE PUBLIC’S PERSPECTIVE ON THE ISSUE

During the presentation in Johannesburg, several arguments were raised in support of the claim that this poses a real threat to the trade show industry:

1. Many event organizers (and especially those owned by the government) are too slow to bring truly innovative solutions to market.
2. We need a different corporate culture. We’re not used to making mistakes. Agility is something else entirely. We need the right organizational structure with the right mindset from top management.
3. They bring in modern technologies but forget to develop the appropriate business model.
4. Simply buying a new CRM system and then taking five years to complete the basic implementation isn’t really what digital transformation is all about.
5. We can’t work with big data because we don’t even understand our “small data” yet.
6. Many approaches are quite outdated and have nothing to do with Industry 4.0 or modern digital business.

Interestingly, the entire audience shared this view. The vast majority (about 95%) stated that they agreed or strongly agreed that the trade show industry is currently engaged in a form of pseudo-digitalization. Nevertheless, it was also noted that there are a few promising exceptions on the market that are truly leading the industry in terms of how it approaches modern technologies and business models.

STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE UFI DIGITAL INNOVATION COMMITTEE

Join our LinkedIn group (“UFI Digital Innovation Group” or http://www.ufidigital.com) or follow us on Twitter (@UFIDigital). Join your fellow experts in the events industry, become part of the community, and help shape the future of events together.

Be sure to join us at the next Focus Meeting hosted by the Digital Innovation Group: Once a year, we invite CIOs, marketing managers, IT specialists, and anyone interested in the digital transformation of our events industry to a Focus Meeting. In addition to interesting talks and presentations, the three finalists for the UFI Digital Innovation Award will also present their solutions at the Focus Meeting. Join us and vote for the winner.

Munich, July 11, 2018, © adventics GmbH