Successful sign from the South
02 February 2009
After a few months of relative calm the exhibition season is getting underway again. Around the globe, events are trying their best to succeed against the backdrop of financial uncertainty. Some will manage: others will not.
I didn’t manage to make the trip to Tokyo last week for Internepcon Japan and have not heard any reports back as to whether it went well or not, but I am guessing that this is an unfortunate time to be hosting an event on the grounds that people are going to continue holding off on investment while doubt about the future remains. On the other hand one of the first major events of the season will take place later this month in Delhi with the combined COMPONEX and Nepcon India event promising to reflect the energy of India’s still growing electronics market.
These two shows, I am guessing, will demonstrate the fundamental and obvious difference between markets that are mature and those that are still growing. A growing market is relatively easy to cater for –more suppliers bring more products and the thirst for knowledge can be satisfied in this way. With more mature markets it is not so straightforward to keep everyone happy. People have seen it all before, heard it all before and even, in terms of the curled up sandwiches that make an unwelcome appearance too soon before lunch, tasted it all before.
There needs to be a difference to make events viable and one that constantly surprises me is Southern Manufacturing. The majority of readers are not in the UK, where this show takes place, and will therefore regard this as a self-indulgence – if you will forgive me for this; there is a slightly broader point as well. This exhibition has now established itself over the past half dozen years or so as a strong regional show for the South of the UK. From humble beginnings it has grown year on year to a show with in the region of 450 exhibitors and over 500 visitors. Not Productronica, admittedly, but more successful than many national events with a far higher profile.
I suspect part of the reason for this success, at least on the part of the exhibitors, is that stands are small and inexpensive. It has more the feeling of a market than an exhibition. There is also a series of seminars that add educational content. But I suspect the difference is that Southern Electronics is part of a bigger event, Southern Manufacturing, and runs alongside a sister event, Auto Aero 2009, that is the true reason for its success. Big manufacturers wanting to see every type of reflow oven or placement machine will not be interested in Southern Electronics, but then those sort of people are few and far between in the UK. A more typical UK company is a manufacturer of niche products who do a bit of design, a bit of electronics, and a bit of mechanical engineering and so on. The broad based approach of Southern Electronics provides access to many disparate suppliers who may be relevant to one visitor.
This is not a model that would suit every country or region, but it works well in Southern Britain. I don’t think there is a single solution to make every exhibition successful for both exhibitor and visitor in every geography, but the trick is to find the right balance, the right content and format, to suit a particular region. And it seems to me that Southern Electronics has achieved this.
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