For example, Emerald announced in November that Surf Expo would be moving from the North/South Concourse to the West Concourse to gain extra space to ensure social distancing. The marketing messages focused heavily on health and safety measures. Turner said that half of its audience wanted the event in person and half didn’t. The final major challenge Emerald faced was marketing during COVID-19. Marketing an in-Person Event During COVID The vice president of Los Angeles–based apparel company Psycho Tuna said exhibiting at Surf Expo was worth the effort because the company gained new and repeat business. (Surf Expo will be held again at the OCCC, Sept. “They simply transferred their money to our September event,” Turner said. Ninety percent of the exhibitors that chose to cancel didn’t ask for refunds. With the COVID-19 crisis still fluid, there were a number of cancellations. “Retailers are telling me,” she said, “they are excited to touch and feel the merchandise.” “I had zero expectations coming to the show,” Thornton said, but the first day on the floor was “insanely busy,” and she got new and repeat business. One exhibitor, Los Angeles–based apparel company Psycho Tuna, found attending the show worth it, even though its vice president, Patricia Thornton, had to quarantine for 10 days upon return to California. We want to make a trip worthwhile for them.” “We’re telling the buyers and brands that before you get on a plane, I want you to make absolutely sure you know who’s coming in. “You’re excited about the show, but you’re still trying to present reality” to customers, Turner said. Striking a BalanceĪ third challenge was being fully transparent with customers. “We were selling booths up until two days before the show,” Emerald COO Brian Field said. There were also customers who canceled up until the very last moment - but other customers who were buying until the last possible moment. Roy Turner, Surf Expo show director, modified this year’s show floor plan, creating product groupings to better reflect the different mix of exhibitors this year. The second challenge was adapting to current market needs. Surf Expo was, however, able to attract some first-time exhibitors that were within driving distance of Orlando. Added to that were a range of travel bans and restrictions, which meant that some of Surf Expo’s largest brands could not participate in the event. A lot of those businesses have been shut down since last March. 1 challenge Surf Expo faced was that 95 percent of its surf business is based in Southern California. But if you multiply that out across all our events, you’re talking millions.”Įmerald chose to absorb those additional costs and not pass them on to exhibitors, chalking them up to what it takes to do business in the new normal. “The larger the show, the lower the per-person cost. “As we’ve been budgeting larger events, there are definitely scale efficiencies,” Doft said. Using IGES, a gift show Emerald produced in November in Tennessee, as an example, Emerald CFO David Doft said that the company spent about $20 per attendee on those health and safety initiatives. Hosting the event at the GBAC STAR-accredited OCCC ensured a clean, safe, and healthy environment, and Visit Orlando and OCCC worked with Surf Expo to produce a video (see below) so that participants would know what to expect at Surf Expo.īut there were still health and safety costs absorbed by the show producer, including hand sanitizer, masks, temperature checks, security, monitors, signage, extra cleaning, and staffing. Surf Expo producers absorbed some health and safety costs, including temperature checks at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Here are highlights of the SISO-UFI case study. A recent case study produced by SISO (Society of Independent Show Organizers) and UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, “Riding the Wave: Surf Expo Shifts to Serve Market Needs,” outlined the challenges faced by Emerald in producing the event as well as how the event was received by attendees and exhibitors. While that scale represented less than half of pre-COVID levels, Surf Expo’s show producer, Emerald, said it clearly demonstrated a market need in this sector. The show floor was 100,000 net square feet. in 2021 - opened at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in early January, it was more of a deep dive than a dip into in-person events during the pandemic. When Surf Expo - the first major B2B trade show in the U.S. SISO (Society of Independent Show Organizers) and UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, released a case study to share the challenges faced by Emerald in producing Surf Expo in early January in Orlando. E-Book: Future-Proofing for Business Events.Digital Event Strategist (DES) Certification.
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