This Week in Trade Shows: Oct. 15-22

Filtering all of the trade show news stories from last week down to my top 5.

5. Launch news: Two global show producers will geoclone their brands into new countries.?

Clarion Events will spin off its European event, UCX Europe, in the USA in 2023.?UCX Europe — a unified communications & collaboration event that has been running since 2011?—?typically attracts 8,000+ visitors and 100+ exhibitors. Collocated with DTX — the Digitial Transformation Expo— UCX Europe Expo, was held Oct. 12-13 at Excel London . UCX USA will be held Sept. 13-14, 2023 at the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Austin in Texas.?“Our ongoing conversations with end-users, analysts, consultants, vendors and partners confirmed there is a gap in the US market to serve unified communications and collaboration industry professionals,” said Angela Harar ?? MAU Vegas this May , portfolio director, Clarion Events.?Read more.

Koelnmesse GmbH is partnering with?trade publisher Japan Food Journal, which organizes the FABEX food fair in Tokyo, to geoclone its #ISM show in Japan.?ISM, a trade fair sweets and snacks held annually in Cologne, draws 1,600 exhibitors from 76 countries and around 38,000 visitors. The company says: “ISM Japan is the first dedicated showcase for the sweets and snacks industry in East Asia, and?Japan is the sixth largest confectionery market in the world and is considered a fast-growing trendsetter.” The show will be held for the first time April 12-14, 2023 at Tokyo’s Big Sight. The launch was planned for 2021 but was postponed due to Covid.??

4. Trade show venue/destination news: The 25-story?Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City?officially opened its doors on?On Monday, Oct. 17, debuting as the first 凯悦酒店 hotel in Utah and the only hotel adjoining the Salt Palace Convention Center .?The hotel offers 700 guestrooms and suites?and 60,000 square feet of event space. The ballroom — the largest indoor hotel ballroom in Salt Lake City — can host up to 2,875 people, the hotel also offers the the largest outdoor rooftop space in the city with its Sundance Terrace. There are four restaurants on site.?Read the full release.

3. Return to IRL: NAB Show NY.?Early numbers are in: "Total preliminary registered attendance reached 9,576 for the 2022?NAB?New York, held Oct. 19-20 at the Javits Center . The show floor featured 245 exhibitors showcasing the latest technology in media and entertainment."?Read the full story. Context: How does that compare to the previous?NAB Show?NY? In 2019,?NAB reported the show drew 13,888 media and entertainment professionals and 298 exhibiting companies.

2. Financial update: Delta Airlines reported Q3 earnings?with business bookings improving post Labor Day. Corporate sales are at the strongest recovery rates since the start of the pandemic, exiting the quarter at 80% of 2019 levels.?Recovery in the least restored sectors accelerated, and recent corporate survey results show positive expectations for business travel, with nearly 90 percent of accounts indicating their travel will stay the same or increase in the December quarter compared to the September quarter.? Delta Air Lines CEO Delta? Ed Bastian said the company delivered a strong September with record quarterly revenues and a double-digit operating margin.?The travel recovery continues as consumer spend shifts to experiences and demand improves in corporate and international.?In this environment, we expect December quarter revenue growth to accelerate vs. 2019 with an operating margin of approximately 10%."

1.????Sustainability moves front and center in the #exhibition industry: IMEX America certified as sustainable event; UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry webinar analyzes new research on sustainability

IMEX America 2021?officially?achieved platinum-level certification by the?Events Industry Council?Sustainable Event Standards, according to?story by Northstar Meetings Group. During a press conference at the show, IMEX America said they have committed to a net zero carbon event by 2030. 400+ exhibition organizations have signed the Net Zero Carbon Events pledge.?Sign the NZCE pledge?and?commit to reducing carbon by 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.?

60th?UFI Connects webinar focused on moving towards?a more sustainable trade show industry: findings from the North American study, example from Europe & next steps.

Full disclosure: I moderated this?session that featured speakers from Fiera Milano SpA , Freeman Company , Informa , JMIC Joint Meetings Industry Council , 励展博览集团 .?The session was packed with information and intelligence. When I ask the panel about costs, investment and opportunities, here are three quotes that stand out:

Jason Megson : “The cost question is starting to denigrate and minimize over time. As long as companies like Freeman and some of our peers continue to be focused on innovation rather than just a race to the bottom in terms of lowest cost that we can offer. Because then we do get into some of the challenges around using products and materials that just aren't sustainable or aren't helping us move forward.”

“Being smarter about how you move things around, it has a positive financial benefit. It's true of any good logistics company, and we operate as a logistics company in some instances.”?

Helen Sheppard : “We have to innovate, and there has to be an investment in that innovation. We need to find ways to support our show teams to make these kind of brave and bold decisions when it comes to sustainability. Things that in the short term might be challenging, such as eliminating carpet or not printing show catalogs. Decisions that might have a small impact on the overall footprint of an event, but they're very visible —and they might initially be painful.”

Ben Wielgus : “I'm bullish on this. The first step of sustainability is waste less time, waste less energy, waste less fuel. It's going to save you money. You can take that money and reinvest it into the quick, easy wins in sustainability. When Informa moved to 96% renewable electricity, it costs us 0.5% on our energy bills. These days it's about 1.5%, but there's no excuse for not moving to renewable power now. No excuse. It's so easy to get. It's so cheap. If every venue and every GSC and every organizer moved over to that tomorrow, we would see an enormous drop in footprint in our industry and our customers love it. Every one of our events has got renewable energy logos on them now where we can.”

Want to know more? SISO - Society of Independent Show Organisers takes a deeper dive into the North American data in a webinar at 11:00 a.m. on Wed.,?Oct. 26. The webinar is free, but registration is required.

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Thank you and have a great week!