The 2011 SAE International World Congress saw an increase in attendance and exhibiting companies despite the new standards for its “Innovators Only” exhibition, which was implemented last year. Exhibitors are denied the ability to exhibit at the show if a panel deems they lack cutting edge services.
 
The customers of SAE International, which sponsors the show, is a global association of more than 128,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries. The show took place April 12-14 at Detroit’s Cobo Center and was focused on automotive innovations.
 
Exhibitors had to apply to have a booth at the show and could be rejected. A three-page application process had companies submit a written profile that described the innovative product, process or solution addressing the automotive industry that they would show and the significance and importance of the innovation to customers and the end users of the vehicle.
 
Once an exhibitor applied, a panel of automotive technology engineers and experts from BMW of North America, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan, the National Automotive Center and Automotive Engineering International decided whether or not a company was eligible to exhibit.
 
This application process began in 2010 and has since been successful, according to Patti Kreh, SAE International business unit leader for engineering events.
 
“All of the feed back that came from focus groups told us one thing: for our customers, who are automotive engineers—professionals in the mobility industry—they want to see innovations, they want to see technology solutions. Our exhibition, quite honestly, was set up to have a variety of companies so it’s not just innovators, not just technology solutions but also development organizations, facility organizations, service providers and the whole chain of various other providers,” she says.
 
Once the panel gets an application the criteria they are judged on include the solution provided; the product/service differentiator; significance of the product/service to their company, customers, industry, environment and end consumer; and the collaborative efforts, if any, impacting the development of the innovative product or service, according to participation guidelines.
 
“They have to demonstrate that this is something new and of value to the automotive industry and if they pass that criteria then they’re invited to join our exhibit,” Kreh says.
 
At least 15 to 20 companies were rejected this year though they do have the ability to apply to the next congress. There were 148 exhibiting companies at the SAE 2011 International World Congress, up from 103 the previous year.
 
In the face of rejection companies can still see benefits, Kreh says. “Whether the company that applies gets in to the exhibit or not they get direct access to those experts, meaning that those people see what they have to offer. They really like that idea because many companies have expressed that it’s hard to get to the decision maker or the decision makers.”
 
There are other restrictions that are designed to increase competition at the show. Booth space used to be sold on a per square foot basis but now there are only four sizes offered to exhibitors---poster size, 10’ by 10’ space, a 10’ by 20’ space and a 20’ by 20’ space.
 
“What we found is in order to have companies in new technologies, to have a level playing field for them we needed to limit the size,” Kreh says. “We didn’t want to have companies that have large marketing budgets have a huge presence that overshadows a new venture that has some really high potential because they’re so small and their marketing dollars are small so they cant compete visually. We’ve made it so it’s a much more level playing field between the different companies.”
 
Last year there were 10,169 attendees from 48 countries, the 2011 show saw an increase of 51 individuals, putting the total number of attendees at 10,220. About 87 percent of attendees were from North America with significant representation from Korea, Germany, Japan, China, the United Kingdom and Italy.
 
Exhibitors were also told not to bring their sales people with them. In surveys done by the world congress most original engineering manufacturer and tier one suppliers, who are the main customers said the number one reason they attend a show is for technical information, while the exhibitor’s number one response was for networking opportunities.
 
Attendance of engineers went from 56 to 59 percent.
 
“The comments we heard was ‘When we go to the exhibit now we can actually talk to other engineer, that’s what we want.' So, we told our exhibitors, ‘Make sure you bring your engineers with you.’ Feed back has been great from the attendees saying, ‘I got to talk to right people.’ On the flip-side, the exhibitors said, ‘Man. We had a lot of good discussions with people.’ They had good discussions because they had the right people in the booth,” she says.

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