David Thompson, event manager, FM Expo
How did you make the decision to co-locate FM Expo with Big 5?
One of the main reasons is that FM has become so popular recently and the importance of maintaining the value of your asset is key in this region. A number of developers are building assets but not selling them straight away and this is where FM and Big 5 cross over. What you are going to see is a lot of building contractors coming to FM Expo and that will provide an easy hand over for their client, who is the developer or owner.
There are questions asked during and at the end of every exhibition regarding visitor interests and it was flagged that a lot of Big 5 visitors are interested in FM, in fact more than 14,000. To put that in perspective, you have 4000 to 5000 visitors to FM Expo every year and you have 50,000 going to Big 5. So you have 14,000 in there interested in FM and that’s why we are confident to hit our target with around 7500 visitors.
How do you conduct your market research in order to put the show together?
We have a dedicated data team that is always researching the market and building our data and we spend a lot of time going to market to find out what’s going on. We always have questionnaires for our visitors and we speak to our exhibitors year round.
We have a conference producer active in the market and using a number of techniques to conduct research that is then used to formulate the show. It’s a year round process.
The point is that the FM industry is very much growing in this region, but the region it is going it because people are being educated as to what it is and so what we do as a show is to bring together business opportunity and educate the region.
What are the main industry trends influencing the FM Expo agenda in 2012?
The leading thing is education and to try and spread the word but outside of that you are looking at energy management, which is of major importance for reasons of CSR and the savings to be made on utility bills.
Energy management is something that we are promoting quite heavily at the show and Taipei 101 will talk about how they achieved the world record of being the tallest LEED certified building in the world.
There is also an issue with educating the market about multiple service providers. The whole point is to drive people into the show with an interest in single services, but to introduce them to the whole-service FM concept and within that we have the innovation area.
The show has showed significant growth over the last year, why is this?
Not only do we have more exhibitors this year but potentially more visitors too. According to our pre-registration numbers we are higher than we have ever finished off before and there is still time to go.
FM Expo has always been relatively decent show, but it hasn’t been an exceptional show. Then again I don’t think the market has ever offered anything exceptional if I’m honest. What we are trying to do is increase the visitor numbers, and quality visitor numbers as well, to really offer a considerable amount of business leads and opportunities.
Of all the show elements, which are the most relevant to somebody who wants to learn about FM, from the basics onwards?
They should definitely meet with as many exhibitors as possible. Many exhibitors say to me that when they first arrive in the region the best thing is networking, especially with those who are established in the region and in terms of finding out what their competitors are doing.
The other features, such as the FM Congress are vital in order to relate to the international case studies and then learn from the local ones also, and there are also a number of free to attend seminars too.
Nathan Waugh, event manager, Middle East Concrete (MEC).
Nathan Waugh, event manager, Middle East Concrete (MEC)
Compared to the inaugural show in 2011 MEC has grown by 50%. How was this achieved?
A large part of the growth has come from Big 5, but a lot of it has been a natural progression.
The companies that were traditionally located across Big 5 and been part of that have seen what we have done in terms or focussing the concrete industry and want to be a part of it. This in turn has helped Big 5 because they can then fill the space previously taken by concrete exhibitors with companies in sectors that are really growing at Big 5, like heating and ventilation, or flooring, for example. So it’s really helped both shows.
In addition, sectors that do not associate with the fit out end of the market, now have a show that is specific to their industry and is more representative of them, for example we have around 12 formwork exhibitors this time and there has been growth in other sectors too.
We want Big 5 to be seen as a product segmented show, rather than country, but an extension of that is to pull the concrete sector out entirely and brand it as its own event and industry. Concrete is at the heart of every big construction project and that really needs its own event.
What are the primary products and trends that drive the show’s agenda?
There is general growth across the whole region, but particularly in regards to MEC we are looking at the infrastructure projects like the GCC railway in the longer term and other projects across the region in the shorter term.
Saudi Arabia is a big market, as is Qatar and we do get significant visitors from both to the show. But I have found from speaking to several key clients that the UAE has bounced back stronger than they were expecting and they are now doing more business than they were doing at the start of the year. That’s what underpinning the growth of the whole show and it’s what is underpinning the international interest in the whole show.
We are fortunate that we have a very strong network of agents from across the globe and they recognise that not only is the Middle East a great region to sell products into now, but Dubai is the perfect hub to do that from and from that context, MEC provides the ideal base to do that.
Which elements are you most looking forward to hearing industry reaction from?
Being a bit of a concrete geek, I really like the concrete repair workshop. It’s something that has gone really well, it’s an important issue and it’s something that was very well attended in Saudi and Dubai last year and it’s something that we are looking forward to.
How did the industry react to the introduction of MEC last year?
Industry reaction to it was really positive among visitors and exhibitors. From a visitor perspective it was great because if they are buying they know they are going to go to Middle East Concrete rather than different country pavilions that may not be related to their sectors.
From an exhibitor perspective, they really liked the opportunity to be round other exhibitors from the same sector, such a admixtures to formwork to concrete block making machines and everything in between.
From their perspective it was great because they saw it was attracting their entire core audience in one location.