EXPO: How’s your company expanding its global presence?
Paredes: Deutsche Messe currently has a strong global presence, but we must continue to look for new opportunities. We’ve been very aware of expanding and emerging markets. For example, several years ago Deutsche Messe joined with two other German organizers to build a convention center in Shanghai, China. Recently we’ve signed an agreement with the Indian Machine Tool Association to manage its new exhibition in Bangalore, India. We’re organizing CeBIT in Australia and Turkey, expanding our list of events in the Middle East and Gulf Region, and looking to expand into Russia in 2008.
 
EXPO: As your company works with American exhibitors planning to go to your events overseas, what issues do they need the most assistance to overcome? What issues cause the greatest culture shock?
Paredes: One of the biggest challenges is to ensure that our exhibitors understand the market they’re interested in and that they’re really prepared. They must understand the regional culture — how does business get done in a specific part of the world, and is their product truly viable and sellable for the regional market. We strongly encourage our exhibitors to do their due diligence before participating in a show overseas. If they don’t have a strong business plan and haven’t evaluated the market demand, we’ll encourage them to do so. If our customers are not properly prepared, they’ll most likely not achieve a positive return on investment or experience and, ultimately, will not return to our event. We spend a lot of time working with various government agencies to help exhibitors make the right contacts before they go to one of our shows abroad.
 
EXPO: Earlier this year, CeBIT got some negative press because some well-known companies didn’t take large booths. Does that concern you?
Paredes: No. Actually those press reports were frustrating because they were somewhat misleading. Yes, several well-known companies, like Nokia, didn’t exhibit with large corporate booths as they had in previous years, but they were still present at the show. Several of these larger companies simply came with a different strategy for their presence. Instead of taking out one mega booth, they partnered with other companies or suppliers and took out space in several locations throughout the show. The press saw that they hadn’t bought the usual big booth and interpreted it as they’d dropped the show. That’s not true at all.

EXPO: But CeBIT will be undergoing some changes next year. What will be changing and why?
Paredes: CeBIT is still the world’s largest event. We increased attendance this year, and the show is doing very well. But, we’re always striving to make it better. We conduct extensive research with our exhibitors and attendees to assess their needs. What they’ve told us is they want a more vertically focused event instead of a horizontal event. We’ve reorganized the show to create a more vertical show experience with three shows under one roof. There will be a digital lifestyles section, an enterprise solutions section and a public sector section (for government and academia).