This is a guest post from Alan Newton, Founder & COO of Eventopedia, the online marketplace for corporate meeting and event planners. You can follow him @eventopediauk.

Ahead of IMEX Frankfurt next month, we caught up with IMEX Group CEO, Carina Bauer, to discuss innovation, technology and education.

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, has a clear mission for her team, which is to create value-add exhibitions and winning business, educational and networking opportunities for the worldwide meetings, events and incentive travel industry”.

This mission, focussed on delivering tangible business results at IMEX shows, no doubt follows on from her Father, Ray Bloom, chairman and founder of the IMEX Group, who was responsible for successfully building up EIBTM (European Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition), which was sold to Reed Exhibitions in 1997, before he founded the IMEX Group in 2002, launching the first exhibition in Frankfurt in 2003.

Businesses that stand still are frequently overtaken. This is one critical factor that drives innovation and should create an improvement focus in any business. Always striving to do better, to be better, to flourish and survive.

To what extent was innovation built into the DNA of the IMEX Group?

“Innovation is absolutely at the heart of IMEX and is one of our company’s core values. Our team is very focused on implementing new initiatives, new technology and new ideas. Our aim is, of course, to improve the show experience and business effectiveness; but also to introduce new ideas to the industry to help it grow and develop.

 We have a whole department focused on what we call our Vision Initiatives. These include our show educational programmes, as well as initiatives such as the Future Leaders Forum, which has educated over 6,000 students around the world in the past 12 years; and the Politicians Forum, which is an advocacy platform for the industry.”

Return On Investment (ROI)

It’s always important to be able to demonstrate ROI to attendees and exhibitors alike, as they are final arbiter of value, voting with their feet and wallets if a show is not delivering the value that it promises. At IMEX, they are clearly getting things right judging by the numbers.

IMEX in Numbers:

IMEX boasts some impressive stats if you presume a positive correlation between returning customers and satisfaction.   The hosted buyer return rate of a third is strong in consideration of the stringent qualification process, industry churn, businesses substituting attendees from year to year, and hosts targeting different clients from one year to the next. Indeed, the total number of buyers has remained consistent over the last 3 years, showing a marginal increase.

Professionals vote with their feet when not seeing a return on time and money invested, as has been seen by other shows not demonstrating value, but do these statistics tell the whole story?

UFI, The Global Association for the Exhibition Industry, stated in a report in March 2014, “Comparing statistics from one event to another is a challenging task that may also potentially mislead the reader: many parameters impact the “quality” of an exhibition and the client’ expectations legitimately vary from one company to another, from one country to another, from one industry sector to another, etc.”

What do you believe are the key statistics determining ROI for exhibitors and hosted buyers at IMEX?

“It’s true that in any industry statistics can be misleading. They can also be very useful as well, if one is clear about their origin and how they have been calculated. For exhibitions there has always been a question as to whether visitor or buyer numbers should be calculated on a per day basis or on a unique person basis.

 For transparency, we choose to give both statistics and believe that the unique person statistics are particularly important where the hosted buyer programme is concerned.”

 Carina hits the nail on the head in terms of clarity of origin and methodology of stats, which – coupled with a transparent approach – helps provide the full picture and a basis for all stakeholders to choose their method of analysis.

This demonstrates a confidence by the IMEX team that they deliver value, no matter what metrics are utilised. Importantly, and this may be part of IMEX’s secret sauce, Carina recognises intangible measures bespoke to each individual.

“… ROI for an exhibitor and a buyer will never depend on our statistics alone. ROI is very personal to the company or the individual who is calculating it. For the buyer it may be about the number of RFPs they were able to discuss, the number of appointments they had, the number of new suppliers they were able to meet, the amount of new ideas they were able to bring back to the office.”

Whilst some may bemoan the stringent registration and qualification process of hosted buyers, the policy no doubt has a positive impact upon exhibitor value, which translates into both tangible and intangible measures.

Carina continues, “For the exhibitor, again, it will depend on their company’s objectives for exhibiting. For some companies they calculate the number of RFPs they gained as a result of the show, for others they look at number of appointments, others may look at their PR results or new contacts they made. Many will look at a combination of all of these.

 It should also be noted that many exhibitors are extremely sophisticated about calculating their ROI and are able, through their CRM systems, to now track show ROI over a number of years. After all, a contact made at an exhibition – particularly in the meetings industry – may lead to business being placed many years later.”

Carina touches on an important point highlighting the patience required to recognise value from attendance.

Whilst owners often demand instant results, mature operators understand it takes time to build relationships and that clients attend for a myriad of reasons, such as building key relationships and researching options for future events, which does not translate necessarily into immediate business.

Exclusively Corporate

 One undoubted barometer of quality for exhibitors and hosted buyers at IMEX shows has been the content delivered through educational sessions and guest speakers. Indeed, the day prior to the show, IMEX once again hosts Exclusively Corporate@IMEX, a 1-day event dedicated to education and networking specifically for corporate meeting and event planners.

Why did you feel there was a need to focus on the corporate buyer and host a dedicated corporate day?

 “We received feedback from corporate buyers that they would benefit from a dedicated platform to learn and network. The popularity of Exclusively Corporate@IMEX shows that this type of event has been well received – corporate executives from across the world can expand their knowledge of organising business meetings and events, as well as meet industry experts and their peers in an exclusive and private setting.”

“Technology is King. Stay ahead of the Curve”

Technology looms quite large within the agenda for the corporate day and was certainly a feature of importance in the IMEX Power of 10 Study released in 2012, which reported that 49% of those surveyed “believed that we will start to experience the impact of improvements in the quality and cost of technology over the next decade.”

To what extent have you – as an organiser – invested in the implementation of Technology in your exhibitions since this report?

“Technology, and investing in the latest technology, has always been a very important element of the show for IMEX. When we launched the show back in 2003 we did so with a commitment to use the latest technology to make the process of exhibiting easier and more efficient; as well as to aid the business effectiveness of the show.

 As a result, we built our own bespoke technology systems including our appointment system, which gives power to buyers, allowing them to make individual appointments with exhibitors of their choice. We continually update and refine our systems to take into account the latest technology and the best possible user-experience.”

Carina continues to talk about how – through the years – IMEX has invested in technology around the show, and – it could be said – have shown leadership and innovation ahead of their time.

“We actually launched a mobile phone app – ‘IMEX on Your Phone’ – before Smart Phones were even invented – it relied on WAP technology! Now, we have an App which is extremely sophisticated, offering a different user experience depending on your status at the exhibition and with a live API to the IMEX website enabling buyers to make and change appointments through their mobile device.”

The innovations and focus on continuous improvement does not stop at diary management, as IMEX embraced the digital age and the interesting juxtaposition between online and offline.

“In 2013, we also launched IMEXlive – a virtual ‘window onto the show’ that allows us to give the online audience a real taste of the buzz that can be felt on the show floor. IMEXlive combines cutting-edge technology with creative human interaction to create a socially-driven platform that shows the online world what IMEX is all about.

 We also continue to invest in the technology area of the show, which has expanded tremendously over the past few years. For the first time at IMEX America 2014 we launched an Event Tech Start-Up competition in partnership with the Event Manager Blog and will be hosting the same event at IMEX in Frankfurt this year. The winner of each of these competitions receives a free exhibition space at the following year’s show.”

 What feedback have you had from hosted buyers in terms of #EventTech and a desire to understand how it can add value to an event?

“I think that there is a continual desire from buyers to learn and become familiar with the latest in #EventTech. All buyers are looking to drive more innovation and value into their events and often this can be achieved by using the latest technology in an effective way. Because, technology continues to change so rapidly there is a continual appetite for education around this theme.”

Industry Champions

When we blogged about IMEX America following the show in October 2014 (“IMEX America in Bloom”), we referred to the importance of attracting high-profile voices championing the value of meetings & events, highlighting the coup of Bill McDermott, Global CEO of SAP, who had joined IMEX America 2014 via satellite link to outline his passion for meetings & events and how our industry can drive economic growth. For the upcoming Frankfurt show, IMEX has gone one better, with Bill delivering the keynote speech during the opening of IMEX 2015.

How critical did you feel it was to build on Bill’s sound bites in Las Vegas and continue the momentum through his advocacy for the Events industry?

“When we, and the industry, heard Bill speak at IMEX America it was an absolute revelation! To hear someone of his position fundamentally understand the value of meetings and events to his own corporate bottom-line, and to hear him articulate this so passionately was truly fantastic. I can tell you that the atmosphere in that press conference room – with many of the industry’s most senior executives – was just electric!”

Carina continues, “During that press conference, Bill offered to become the industry’s spokesperson in the larger corporate world and we felt that it was really important for us and the industry to capitalise on this offer. Having Bill come to IMEX in Frankfurt is a very clear indication on his true support for the industry and we hope that it will help to continue the momentum that this support brings us. We are truly honoured that he has agreed to attend.”

 When interacting with IMEX, you get the feel of a family company, a togetherness and determination among the team, a maturity and confidence in what is being delivered. This can only come from strong leadership and a clear vision, which is evident from Carina’s responses.

Statistics can sometimes be misleading, but strong figures posted by IMEX are transparent and provide context when viewing the broader activities, initiatives and innovations. Research by marketingdonut.co.uk outlines “exhibitions deliver excellent sales leads and yet 75% of leads don’t get followed up – by the average sales team”.

 IMEX provides a platform for exhibitors to maximise value, the remainder is up to them – employing sales teams that are effective, are adequately trained, and have the right tools to do the job. IMEX opens doors to opportunities, whether you take them is down to you.

IMEX Frankfurt takes places between 19 – 21 May 2015 at the Messe Frankfurt, Germany www.imex-frankfurt.com