At the SEMA Show 2003, Nov. 4-7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), cars, trucks and SUVs tricked out in the latest specialty equipment fashions will tool around a driving arena to flaunt just how fun it is to accessorize your vehicle.

“The Proving Ground” is the latest innovation intended to add value to an event that’s already one of the fastest-growing U.S. shows. Last year, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) split the exhibit floor into 10 segments, making it easier for buyers to find the products they want. The change helped steer 27 percent more attendees to the show, which grew 23 percent in net square feet and 17 percent in number of exhibitors.

“Since we sectionalized the show, that’s enabled us to identify corresponding markets and drill down to the buyer attendees represented by those sections,” says Peter MacGillivray, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for SEMA, Diamond Bar, CA. “It’s a targeted approach to our show, which has been a major contributor to growth.”

Granted, SEMA is riding a hot consumer trend. With $27 billion in annual sales, the specialty automotive industry drove 13 percent more members to the association last year. But at a time when it could coast, SEMA still puts the pedal to the metal. The Proving Ground may or may not make it to 2004, but, MacGillivray says, “if you’re not failing at a couple of things, you’re not trying hard enough. You’ve got to constantly be testing the marketplace, the industry and the opportunities.”

When we looked for other shows with rapid growth, we found the same commitment to constant change. Whether they’re trade or consumer, association or independent, the fastest-growing shows:
• Watch for and respond to industry trends,
• Target new market segments,
• Grow exhibitor and attendee base proportionally,
• Diversify their educational offerings, and
• Stage special events that make them the place to be in their industries.
Find out how five events are fueling growth in red-hot industries.

Segmentation at SEMA Show
The 37th Annual SEMA Show spread more than 1,500 exhibiting companies over 770,000 net square feet. With the opening of the new South Hall at LVCC, the association could finally accommodate its waiting list for space, and the show was 40 percent bigger than it had been four years earlier.

To make navigating the floor easier for the nearly 40,000 buyers who attended in 2002, SEMA divided the exhibits into 10 sections by product type, from high-performance tires to truck caps. The change had the added benefit of helping to target buyers in those categories.

“As people start to register, we pay close attention to who those people are, where they come from, and why they’re coming to the show,” MacGillivray says. “At the end of the day, it’s the buyer attendee we’re concerned about.”

SEMA targets its attendance promotion campaigns through partnerships with media that represent each section. An integrated marketing campaign with eight publishers launched early this year, and the pre-show edition of the show daily mailed in September. The newspaper has been revamped to cover each of 2003’s 12 exhibit sections, and each section is sponsored by a publisher who contributes content.
“When we partner with a trade publisher outside of our organization, we work with them to draw attention to the show, beyond advertising, where they identify a group of potential attendees and work with us to get them to the show,” MacGillivray says.

It helps that Las Vegas becomes a mecca for all things automotive during Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week, which runs the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo concurrently with the SEMA Show. Together the two trade shows attracted nearly 87,000 attendees from more than 100 countries.

Whether on site or off, SEMA actively promotes programs that foster networking and technology transfer among the car manufacturers and the specialty equipment buyers and sellers. Measuring sessions — introduced at the SEMA Show and now held regionally throughout the year — give engineers hands-on access to vehicles and CAD drawings, so they can customize new accessories. This year’s pilot test of the Proving Ground will let exhibitors demonstrate how these products perform.

Each new attraction gives buyers and sellers one more reason to attend. “All we want to do is get people in our industry to try the SEMA Show because we’re convinced that the value is there for them to return and to build their business,” MacGillivray says.

With an exhibitor retention rate of nearly 80 percent, and average annual growth of more than 20 percent in both attendees and exhibitors, the SEMA Show has apparently proved its value. At the 2003 space draw, held during the 2002 show, exhibitors reserved more space than they already occupied.

Rallies at Pennsylvania RV & Camping Show
“Don’t be afraid to change” is Rebecca Lennington’s mantra. As Executive Vice President of the Pennsylvania Recreation Vehicle & Camping Association (PRVCA), she’s daring to promote a new RV rally that could keep people away from the Pennsylvania RV & Camping Show, held Sept. 8–14 at the State Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg.

Open to the pubic from Sept. 10–14, the show draws both trade and consumer RV camping enthusiasts from all over the United States and Canada. The rally will take place next year, in response to requests for a place to camp, enjoy the area and come see the show.

“We’re organizing it through the manufacturers’ camping clubs,” Lennington says. “We’ll produce a core package for the clubs to purchase, and they can add their own items, such as yards sales, cookouts and other entertainment.” If they’re not having too much fun at the rally, campers will be able to catch a bus to the show.

RV owners love getting together. That’s one reason the $10 billion industry has grown nearly 8 percent in the past four years. Nearly one in 12 U.S. households that own a vehicle also own an RV, and Pennsylvania is the third largest RV producer.

Now in its 35th year and covering more than 765,000 net square feet, the PRVCA show has grown steadily since 1980, when it moved its dates from February to September. That change enabled manufacturers to show off their products, and the dealers to make sales, before “snowbirds” went South for the winter.

Last year attendance grew nearly 12 percent, when 29,200 consumers and 1,300 retailers came to see more than 1,000 RVs — about 26 football fields worth. This year Lennington restructured the show’s layout to fit space that became available when the complex opened a new 175,000 square foot exhibit hall. After a three-year freeze on space sales, the expansion released pent-up demand, and the show grew more than 34 percent.

“Space sales are phenomenal,” she says. “We’re finding every nook and cranny where we can put displays.”

To grow attendance proportionately, Lennington added 30 percent to her marketing budget, extended her advertising reach to Baltimore and Washington, DC, and more than doubled the educational programming.

Educational sessions now run every hour throughout the show. On trade-only days, they’re designed to appeal to every segment of PRVCA’s membership, including dealers, manufacturers and suppliers. On public days, they include perennial favorites such as the “RV Doctor.” PRVCA has also partnered with the local community college to offer a four-day program called “Life on Wheels” before the show.

By adding programs like the RV rally and educational sessions both on and off site, Lennington expects to continue to grow attendance from an ever-widening region. With 88 percent of the association’s income derived from the show, she has a keen interest in keeping up with the RV camping trend.

Spas spin off IBS New York
When the International Beauty Show (IBS) New York lost some of its luster, the aging rock star of the $5 billion beauty industry got a facelift, shed a few pounds and took on a companion. The makeover worked miracles. This year the 87-year-old event sold 42 percent more space, not alone but in conjunction with a spanking new event, American Spa Expo, held March 9–11 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.

“IBS New York is a very sex-and-sizzle, loud, rock-and-roll show,” says Dana Lupton, Group Show Director for Advanstar’s International Beauty Group in Milford, CT. “It’s all about glitz and glam. The spa market is about quiet meditation. The ambience is entirely different.”

Spinning off the spa market exhibitors into a separate, co-located event made perfect sense. Advanstar has two industry-leading magazines, American Salon and American Spa, each with its own devoted readers and advertisers. Lupton proposed dividing IBS New York into two separate if not equal parts, and promoting the events through the magazines. It was a daring move, and not immediately popular.

“Everyone said, ‘Don’t do it,’” she recalls. “Beauty exhibitors are territorial about their location, especially when you have a show of this size and for this long.”

Lupton overcame their objections by moving the show from the basement of Javits to the third level, by all accounts a more beautiful space that would let the exhibitors shine. The move not only placated returning exhibitors but also enticed a few bellwethers who had stayed away in recent years. It also made available another 105,000 gross square feet.

American Spa Expo got its own exhibit hall with a serene décor and new age music. IBS New York got more sizzle and rock and roll. Attendees could cross over at will.
To fill the space, Lupton pumped up her marketing budget by 20 percent and created a four-tier marketing program for each show, including direct mail, advertising, Web and e-mail promotion, and public relations. Each show got its own promotional brochure with a message targeted to the market. Mailings went out to separate segments of the old IBS New York database, as well as the magazine lists. Both promoted the idea that the co-located events added value for participants. A dedicated sales representative sold the spa market exhibitors.

The strategy differentiated the two shows in an overcrowded beauty market. Lupton increased total exhibitor participation by 21 percent. IBS New York sold 141,360 net square feet of space to 363 exhibitors (down from 447 in 2002). American Spa Expo sold 32,450 net square feet of space to 178 exhibitors. What IBS New York lost in attendance, down 1,000 from 48,000 in 2002, it gained in crossover from the spa expo, which attracted 3,000 visitors.

Lupton expects both events to grow another 10–12 percent in 2004, outpacing the beauty industry’s 5 percent average annual growth rate.

“I was venue-bound downstairs,” she says. “It was a dream of ours to move upstairs. But we had to sell Javits on the idea that the show would be beautiful.” And it was.

Competitors partner at EHX
Say “electronics” in the trade show business, and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) automatically comes to mind. It’s big, and it’s powerful. If you’re a relative newcomer with a new electronics show, how could you compete?

The Electronic House Expo (EHX) didn’t try. It partnered with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and plugged in to the CES marketing and public relations machine.
“CES probably has the biggest turnout of consumer and trade journalists of any trade show in the country, so being able to tap that resource for our event is a real plus,” says John Galante, Vice President and General Manager for EH, the Wayland, MA-based publisher of CEPro Magazine.

Launched in Spring 2000, EHX showcases products for home networking, automation, entertainment, security, energy management and broadband/Internet. CEA is a joint venture partner, and the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) has a revenue-sharing agreement.

“We have a unique situation in that our partners also produce shows in the same market space,” Galante says. “But we work together to serve the audience in different places, at different times and in different ways.”

Offered in the Spring on the East coast and in the Fall on the West coast, EHX has grown in both attendance and exhibitor participation with every edition, nearly doubling in size within four years. EHX Spring 2003, held Feb. 26–March 1 at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL, attracted 4,096 attendees (up 48 percent from 2002) and 201 exhibiting companies, (up 58 percent from 2002), to fill 39,800 net square feet.

By Spring 2004, March 10–13 in Orlando, Galante expects to grow the show floor another 38 percent. Even if that rate slows a bit, both editions should hit at least 100,000 net square feet within the next five years.

This growth will be made possible, in large part, by the strategic partnerships with CEA and CEDIA, and a booming market. After 30–40 percent growth in the late ’90s, the $15 billion connected home industry continues to grow about 10–15 percent per year. Nearly 20 percent of the companies in the business are new to the field and need training.

CEDIA provides that training in three conference tracks, including an installer certification program. Conference programming also aligns with new market segments EHX want to crack. Last year it was distributed audio, which got its own “boot camp” and seminar track. This year it’s IP (Internet Protocol), with a dedicated pavilion and keynote address.

Both association partners promote EHX to their members and co-locate meetings for special sections, such as CEA’s Technology & Standards Forum. Next year, the Electrical Contractors Association will join in, bringing with it attendees involved in traditional power distribution and cabling.

“Every time an attendee comes back, he ought to see a bigger show. And every time an exhibitor renews [70 percent do], he ought to see a bigger audience,” Galante says. “But it’s not only about quantity. It’s about quality.” Working with the industry powerhouse, he plans to continue to electrify the industry.

New audience at AD:TECH
Some success stories are about perseverance in the face of adversity. Such is the story of AD:TECH, the twice-yearly, bi-coastal event for interactive marketing. AD:TECH is growing — with 67 percent more floor space in 2003 than in 2002. But at 10,000 net square feet, the show is now back to where it started in 1999.

Launched in 1996 by iMark Communications, AD:TECH has ridden the new economy roller coaster, from it’s rise to 20,000 net square feet in 2000, to it’s fall to 5,000 net square feet in 2002.

“AD:TECH’s growth, most of its business and all of its revenues, came from Internet companies,” says Joel Davis, President and CEO of Fairfield, CT-based JD Events, which purchased AD:TECH in 2003 after producing the show for four years. “The attendees were Internet companies, and they had plenty of money to spend. Exhibitors were Internet solution providers flush with venture capital and tons of dollars to spend on exhibits and sponsorships.”

When the Internet bubble burst, the companies and their money disappeared. AD:TECH struggled. Still, Davis was optimistic. His solution: Forget the Internet companies and go after brand-name advertisers.

“We changed course and focused on a completely different audience,” he says. “The big brands had yet to embrace interactive marketing as a place to spend their money, but we knew they were going to embrace it and use it as it became more proven.”

To attract his new audience, Davis started by recruiting speakers from superbrands like Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Dell and Disney. Calling attention to the brand-name panelists in more than 150,000 direct mail pieces, 100,000 e-mail blasts, and print and online advertising in Forbes, Advertising Age and other media sponsors raised awareness that AD:TECH was the event for marketing and advertising executives. With each show cycle, the strategy increased brand participation by rougly 25 percent.

Working with media partners Forbes.com and AdAge.com, Davis bolstered the conference offerings to stay abreast of the rapidly changing technologies and trends. The industry’s constant evolution works to his advantage, making it almost mandatory to participate in two shows a year.

As more traditional marketers began to spend money on Interactive marketing, Internet solution providers had money to spend again. AD:TECH rebounded.

AD:TECH San Francisco 2003, held June 16–18 at the Palace Hotel, attracted 2,919 attendees and 85 exhibiting companies, overflowing into a second exhibit hall. Estimates for AD:TECH San Francisco 2004 push attendance to 3,500 and the number of exhibitors to 100. At 12,000 net square feet, it would be the biggest yet. But outgrowing the hotel venue isn’t in Davis’ plans.

“We’ve made a commitment to keep the show in hotels, even as we grow,” he says. “We’ll find new ways to absorb the growth, by finding creative ways to work with exhibitors on sponsorship opportunities, events and functions.”

Industry buzz has made AD:TECH the place to be, and participants like to party. Davis promotes the idea of scheduling meetings, receptions, special events and seminars before, during and after the show. Every event becomes a sponsorship sale, adding up to about 20 percent of AD:TECH’s revenue.

With interactive marketing heating up again, AD:TECH is poised to grow at least 20 percent per year for the next couple of years. For interactive movers and shakers, that means a lot more hot parties.

Cathy Chatfield-Taylor is a freelance writer/editor. E-mailcathy@cc-tunlimited.com.