Champion Exposition Services: The Experiential Edge

Champion Releases Exhibitor Trends Survey

2010-08-18T05:01:00Z

Champion Exposition Services today announced the findings of its survey on the impact of the economy on trade show exhibitors including reduced participation in number of shows and related regrets, along with an outlook for the future. As trade show activity rebounds in the coming year, exhibiting companies are looking to maximize their participation and increase en gagement with attendees before, during and after the show.

Show organizers and exhibitors can use the Exhibitor Trends Survey for future planning. The Survey can enable exhibitors to understand the practices of their peers and anticipate the trends that are evolving. Data can also be used by who by show organizers to understand the goals for exhibiting organizations for participating in trade shows as well as the impact the recession has had on exhibitors, and to anticipate how exhibitors will allocate budget as the recession ends.

Read key findings report: ExhibitorSurvey_report_final2.pdf

Read press release: ExhibitorSurvey_release_final.pdf

Champion Partners with Projection Presentation Technology

2010-08-02T16:06:17Z

Champion Exposition Services and Projection Presentation Technology announced today a partnership to provide comprehensive general event management services that include audio-visual services to show organizers. The collaboration offers an integrated solution for pre-event planning, the use of an integrated web-based workflow management tool with Champion's Client Command Center (C3) technology and a single integrated invoice.

Read PPT_newsrelease_FINAL.pdf.

Champion Adds New Business, Renews Current Customers

2010-07-23T17:49:11Z

Champion Exposition Services is pleased to welcome the Autodesk One Team Conference 2011 to our customer community. In addition, Champion has recently renewed collaborations with the following organizations and events:

· American College of Medical Genetics Annual Meeting

· College Art Association Annual Conference

· COLLABORATE 11

· Exhibitor Show (Exhibitor Magazine)

· Institute for Healthcare Improvement

· Mobile Air Conditioning Society Worldwide Convention and Trade Show

New to the Champion Account Management Team

2010-07-16T22:33:41Z

Champion Exposition Services is pleased to announce two new additions of Cristy Dauphin and David Kendrick to the Account Management team.

Dauphin joins as an Account Executive based in Chicago and brings 10 years experience, most recently with GES in Chicago. She was part of the Account Management team on several major pieces of business such as IMTS (Manufacturing Technology), International Sanitary Supply and Pack Expo. Prior to GES she was with The Expo Group and Smith Bucklin Corporation.

Kendrick (pictured left) joins as a Senior Account Executive and will be based in Austin Texas. David has spent the last 16 years with GES and has managed such accounts as Medtrade (Nielsen), Orgill, Inc., and National Wood Flooring.

Pre-Show Research Provides PCBC Pulse

2010-06-21T23:30:11Z

According to a recent survey of home builders, the recession has had a negative impact on almost all West Coast builders, but many are now starting to see their businesses improve. The Recession Impact and Adaptation Study was conducted by Immersa Marketing, the strategic marketing arm of Champion Exposition Services, on behalf of PCBC, a major building industry trade show and conference. PCBC The Show is held each summer in San Francisco's Moscone Center and features hundreds of exhibiting companies displaying the latest product and service innovations and three days of executive conferences, forums, workshops, and speakers. The PCBC Successful Exhibitor Program included pre-show research designed to provide exhibiting partners with insights about the quality of the audience, attendee purchasing plans, data on how attendees have maintained their business during the recession, and how attendees are experiencing or anticipating the economic recovery. Read news release.

Connection Café @ Sweets and Snacks Expo

2010-06-07T23:49:07Z

Social networking tools have gained traction among conference attendees providing innovative ways to expand an event's reach from attendees and exhibitors, to also include industry news bloggers and potential customers. This year the National Confectioners Association (NCA) changed the name of their show from the All Candy Expo to the Sweets and Snacks Expo to convey the event's expanded reach and scope. As the largest confectionary, cookie and snack trade show in North America--over 450 exhibitors and 14,000 attendees from 69 countries--NCA wanted to promote the new name and new programs to serve a $300 billion industry worldwide. Champion Exposition Services called on its sister company Immersa Marketing to develop a Connection Café located in the center of the trade show floor. A month prior to the show, Immersa provide training to NCA and its stakeholders on how to utilize the micro-blog service to engage attendees. NCA reached out to industry influencers and coordinated messages with its show daily about new features of the renamed show. NCA built buzz by asking attendees what they were most looking forward to see at the show, promoting keynote sessions and engaging attendees in new programs. The Connection Café offered a sleek comfortable space for attendees to email, blog and tweet about what they were seeing and tasting, as well as connect with each other. Internet access was sponsored by Mars Chocolate with signage including the Green M&Ms character inviting attendees to "Tweet Me" to learn about new product promotions. Two large plasma screens featured live Tweeter feed including the trade show daily highlighting such new programs as Gourmet Marketplace, Merchandising Solutions and New Product Showcase. Laptop computers were available for attendees to update their Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn profiles will news from trade show floor to drive social networking onsite, and amplify awareness and excitement outward. How Sweet!

Air Your Thoughts: Utilizing Flip Video Technology

2010-05-25T00:19:21Z

With more than 20,000 attendees and 1300 exhibitors, the WINDPOWER 2010 Conference nd Exposition is one of the largest and most anticipated programs for wind energy. Show organizers American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) wanted to leverage event attendance to build momentum for their new advocacy campaign. Champion Exposition Services collaborated with its strategic marketing arm Immersa Marketing to develop a community engagement program to amplify the message onsite--and beyond. One initiative utilized flip video technology and roving reporters who conducted attendee interviews explaining why "Wind Works for Me." The sound bites were edited into daily video feeds titled "Air Your Thoughts" and posted on the conference website, allowing AWEA supporters to put a face--and a voice--on the burgeoning clean energy movement. Watch Air Your Thoughts videos.

Champion Partners with PCMA

2010-05-17T19:42:49Z

Champion Exposition Services is pleased to collaborate with the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) as a Premier Partner. The collaboration will create new learning opportunities and resources for PCMA members in the area of exhibition management. Specifically, Champion will collaborate with PCMA and its Exhibitor Task Force to be held at both PCMA's 2011 Annual Meeting and the 2011 Education Conference. Champion will assist with session development around these topics as well as community engagement at these events and provide speakers based on topic expertise. Read more: PCMA_CES Premier Partnership.pdf

Oracle's Green Team Set New Standards

2010-05-01T00:13:39Z

With more than 40,000 attendees and 400 exhibitors, Oracle's green team ensures its OpenWorld conference make less of an impact--on the environment, that is. Champion is proud to be the part of the team to produce one of the greenest shows in the business. Champion's EcoSign™ solutions helped Oracle OpenWorld reduce waste by having 62% of signage utilize recyclable or renewable materials. To take such a large-scale event and turn it into something where sustainability is the core part of standard operating practice is amazing. Sustainability is measured in nine categories: destination, venue, accommodations, food and beverage, transportation, A/V, exhibit production, marketing communications, and onsite office/practices. Read the Successful Meetings article.

New to the Champion Team

2010-04-27T16:01:24Z

Champion Exposition Services is pleased to announce three new members of our Account Management team: Malia Okita, Joanna DeKlavon and Chantae Miranda.

Okita and DeKlavon join as Account Executives working out of the San Francisco office. Okita was most recently an Account Executive with Freeman and earlier in her career has worked for Hotel Montgomery. DeKlavon comes to Champion from GES, bringing 7 years of industry related experience. Miranda joins as an Account Executive working out of Dallas. Miranda brings more than 15 years of professional experience. Her most recent position was with The Expo Group and earlier in her career, DeKlavon worked for Hyatt Hotels.

Painting the Event and Town Green

2010-04-15T18:35:27Z

The Greenbuild International Conference and Exposition is one of the greenest meetings in the country. Association Meetings recently talked with Kimberly Lewis, Vice President of Conventions and Events for US Green Building Council, about their green event and how they work with the cities, venues, exhibitors and Champion Exposition Services to lead the way for green meetings. This article explores how USGBC insists upon recycling programs at convention centers and locally grown food, among other things, and is holding their exhibitors to the rigorous BS 8901 standards. Read how they're paving the way by "Painting the Town Green". AssociationMeetings_Feb10_USGB_ePrint.pdf

Building Active, Engaged Event Communities

2010-04-09T23:47:37Z

Successful communities now exist year-round with community members intersecting and engaging at live events and online via social networking sites, virtual events, support forums, and more. As a result, event communities are changing. Immersa Marketing, Champion's strategic marketing arm, has put together a whitepaper on building active and engaged communities. This whitepaper includes the perspectives of some well known corporate event marketers who have built strong event communities, and provides best practices for fueling adoption in your community and ways to achieve 365 degree integration. You can read it now here ImmersaMarketingCommunityWhitePaper.pdf

Helping exhibitors bring their brand to your stage

2010-03-24T20:49:00Z

When it comes to exhibiting, companies need assurance that their booth will stand out and draw traffic. The exhibits team at Champion is experienced in helping exhibitors get the right booth for their needs. Our team consults with your exhibitors, delving into their overall objectives for their exhibit and their branding requirements. Whether demo stations, meeting rooms, AV or other elements need to be considered in the booth design, Champion can help exhibitors put forth their brand in the best light. Here are some examples of the booths that Champion Exhibits has created.

Survey: Who's Using Digital Tools for Events - And How?

2010-02-25T17:31:14Z

Social media, virtual events, mobile applications, video streaming technology, digital event platforms, audience acquisition tools. Thanks to the burgeoning availability of technologies for enriching community engagement, show organizers now have an incredible opportunity for extending their events beyond the face-to-face experience. And, according to a recent survey by Champion's of the association market, many are making significant inroads into integrating a variety of technologies and social media into their event strategies: 83% of respondents currently using one or more digital tools, and 91% planning on using them in the next year.

In fact, the pace of adoption is only going to increase, as the survey reveals that two-thirds of respondents are planning on incorporating more digital tools into future events and none planned on using fewer tools in future event cycles. A variety of factors are driving this rapid adoption, but the primary motivation appears to be attendee demand. Sixty-nine percent stated that shifting attendee behavior was the driving force behind incorporating digital tools into their events.

"We'll be using more digital tools in the next year," concurred Frank Gainer, Conference & Conclave Program Director of the American Occupational Therapy Association. "If you want to survive and thrive, you better. Social media is a must to get to the younger audience."

Signaling the growing importance of digital tools is the rise of a new position in the association market: One in five (18%) surveyed revealed that they had hired a digital direct/manager to lead their social media/digital solutions efforts. Associations are also seeing an impact on their bottomline as a result of leveraging digital tools. Eighteen percent are seeing cost-savings from usingsocial networks like Facebook and Twitter to replace traditional marketing efforts and communication with attendees. Thirty-three percent have been able to reduce their use of direct mail thanks to including social media in their marketing mix.

Want to learn more about how others are using digital tools and how you leverage them for your events? Read on - download the white paper.

Reinventing Medical Meetings in the Face of PhRMA

2010-02-18T16:57:14Z

Regulations from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) were put in place in 2009 to promote transparency in the healthcare industry, highlighting relationships between healthcare professionals in order to build and maintain patient trust. The codes place new restrictions on medical giveaways and sponsorships at healthcare events, and while compliance is voluntary, most companies are complying--and exceeding the guidelines to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

While no one can argue with the intent behind PhRMA and AdvaMed, there's no question that the changes in sponsorship and exhibitor rules are viewed as a threat by medical and healthcare associations as sponsorship and exhibitor dollar is a substantial source of revenue. Add in the economic downturn, and you have a very difficult landscape for medical meeting planners.

That's why Immersa Marketing, Champion Exposition's strategic marketing arm, has put together a whitepaper outlining how medical meeting planners can make the PhRMA guidelines work to their advantage. The current climate is actually an opportunity for show organizers to transform their exhibit hall and provide attendees and exhibitors a richer, more satisfying experience. For detailed information on how to create this enriched experience, along with opportunities for new revenue streams through PhRMA-acceptable sponsorships, download "Reinventing Your Medical Conference: Increasing Attendee Relevance and Exhibitor Success".