July/August 2005
Best Practices: Biennial bombshell

Exhibitor advisory board prompts ISH North America to change show rotation cycle
By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor

The rumbling began before the first annual ISH North America (www.ish-na.com), held in Toronto in 2002, when the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute issued a statement accusing organizers of “trade show proliferation.” Show evaluation surveys elicited similar sentiments: There were too many shows and not enough product innovations.

When organizers of the International Trade Show for Kitchen & Bath, Plumbing, PVF (Pipes, Valves & Fittings), Heating and Air Conditioning convened an exhibitor advisory board to discuss the survey results, the message was clear. Exhibitors wanted a biennial event.

“As a consequence of feedback from exhibitors, we cancelled a profitable, flourishing event every second year,” says Roland Bleinroth, President of Atlanta-based Messe Frankfurt, which organizes ISH-NA in partnership with four associations — the American Supply Association, the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating, the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors National Association, and the Radiant Panel Association. “It was a bitter pill to swallow for the partners. The show income was a significant portion of their budgets.”

It’s an extreme example of how listening to customers has an impact. But had organizers chosen to disregard the discontent, the show might not be on the growth trajectory it is today. ISH-NA, last held Oct. 14–16, 2004, at the Boston Convention Center, attracted 13,456 attendees from 32 countries and 537 exhibitors from 17 countries. After three years of growing attendance but flat exhibitor participation, the first biennial show in 2006 is expected to be bigger, with rebookings and new sales well ahead of projections and past years, according to Bleinroth. Meanwhile, the partner associations will generate revenue with a combined industry conference in 2005.

The decision to cancel the 2005 trade show came after a year of evaluation and discussion. Messe Frankfort deployed the usual pre-show, on-site and post-show evaluations, with mixed response. Less than 20 percent of attendees completed surveys, but about 90 percent of exhibitors responded, thanks to persistent survey distribution and collection on the show floor.

After analyzing answers to questions about date patterns, time of year, location and venue, seminar topics and speakers, organizers deemed the survey format didn’t allow for debate or in-depth conversation about the issues. They invited 10 exhibitors representing large and small companies from a sampling of product groups to meet with the associations’ leaders, who represented attendees’ interests.

“We sat down with our partners and compiled a list of who would be a good contributor to a roundtable discussion,” Bleinroth says. “The advisory committee can only be effective if you think through the objective and who are the participants that will make a productive contribution. It’s not effective if it becomes a platform for people to vent their frustration.”

The advisory board first met in centrally located Las Vegas for a day-long discussion in late 2002. Shunning a formal agenda, the organizers began with a presentation of the survey results, then opened the floor to unmoderated discussion.

“That’s where we came up with significant changes to the show format — changes that we might not have made on our own — including the show rotation pattern,” Bleinroth says. The rational for the change to a biennial cycle was “not surprising,” he says. Board members said it was too expensive to come every year, with few new products and too many other shows to do.

To validate the board’s radical recommendation, organizers e-mailed another questionnaire to attendees and exhibitors, giving them a final chance to speak up if they thought it was a bad idea. They didn’t.

ISH-NA continues to use the exhibitor advisory board as an incubator for new ideas. Members typically attend two meetings at their own expense — no travel is reimbursed — then rotate off the board. The last meeting generated a new floor plan, with a central plaza, café, presentation stage and benches. The idea will debut at McCormick Place in Chicago, Sept. 28–30, 2006.