Another huge trade show moves from Hong Kong

This edition looks at how another major trade show has relocated from Hong Kong amid the city’s tough travel restrictions. We also place a focus on a piece which investigates DEI policies in our industry, while also featuring a first acquisition for Raccoon Events. Here are the five stories we highlight:

• Asia’s largest jewellery show moves from Hong Kong
• Industry’s role in diversity and inclusion
• Raccoon events makes first acquisition
• Las Vegas secures more new shows
• Six CX pitfalls to avoid

Asia’s largest jewellery show moves from Hong Kong

Asia’s largest B2B jewellery show has become another major event to be moved from Hong Kong amid the city’s tight lockdown restrictions.

Informa Markets has announced that Jewellery & Gem WORLD (JGW) will have a “special edition” in Singapore this year, with relaxed borders cited as one of the reasons for the decision.

Hong Kong currently has some of the toughest coronavirus measures in the world which has raised concerns about how the events industry can sustain its competitiveness in the city.

David Bondi, senior vice-president of Informa Markets in Asia, said: “The last two years have been extremely challenging for everybody, and we, as an industry, have been doing our utmost to not only keep businesses running, but moving forward.

Jewellery & Gem World (#JGW) is temporarily relocating from Hong Kong to #Singapore this September to stage Asia’s biggest and most significant #B2B sourcing fair… https://t.co/RXcdniQ5SP#JNA #JNAmagazine #informamarkets #jewelryexpo #tradeshow #exhibition #jewelry #hongkong

— Informa Markets Jewellery (@Informa_MJ) March 11, 2022

“Industry stakeholders overwhelmingly told us they wanted safe and secure physical fairs that they could participate in and Informa Markets delivered by successfully hosting enhanced large-scale in-person events in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia in the last several months, with many more firmly scheduled for 2022 and beyond.” 

Direct entry to Hong Kong from all places other than mainland China, Macao and Taiwan is only possible for fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents who will need to undergo 14 days quarantine at a designated quarantine hotel.

Informa Markets and BolognaFiere Group previously announced Cosmoprof Asia will be held in Singapore instead of Hong Kong, as it would make the experience “more convenient” for exhibitors and visitors who want to attend in November.

JGW is due to be held at Singapore EXPO at the end of September.

Industry’s role in diversity and inclusion

EventMB has shone a light on how eventprofs are responding to their duty to uphold diversity and equity policies in the public sphere.

The piece places a focus on SXSW in Texas and how companies are responding to the state’s recent directive, which demands that gender-affirming treatments for trans children be investigated as child abuse.

Clubhouse claimed its decision to pull out of the event was to protect staff from potential discrimination, while also as a matter of maintaining its DEI policies on the broader public stage.

In a statement it said: “This was a decision we came to relatively quickly as a team when we realized we wouldn’t feel comfortable asking LGBTQ+ voices from the Clubhouse community to come to Texas. and if we feel that way, we shouldn’t be there at all as a brand.”

It also highlights a recent study by Destinations International which looked at the issue of DEI in one subsection of our industry: destination marketing organisations.

This year’s edition was the first to include the following prompt: “Our destination organisation’s external messaging demonstrates and reflects the diversity of the community we represent.”

A majority of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that their external messaging reflected the diversity of their communities, however more than 18% neither agreed nor disagreed and almost 8% disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Raccoon Events makes first acquisition

Raccoon Events has made its first acquisition after announcing a new partnership.

The National Running Show owners have taken on the Snowbound festivals from Snowsports Industries America (SIA), a not-for-profit member-owned association for the USA winter outdoor industry.

It was also announced that the organiser and SIA would be entering into  a long-term partnership in conjunction with the B2C event.

Raccoon Events CEO Mike Seaman said: “This is an exciting development for our US business and is a sign of our continued ambition to deliver exciting and engaging B2C events for specialist self-identifying consumers passionate about health and well-being.

“SIA is the perfect partner in this venture and shares our vision to create an inclusive event that is environmentally sensitive and built around a premium start-of-season retail experience.”

SIA president Nick Sargent added: “Consumers are a major initiative for SIA. This partnership allows us to serve our members with best-in-class consumer show opportunities both here and abroad and offer a premium experience for the consumer and the entire winter outdoor community. We are excited to partner with Raccoon to grow and evolve the Snowbound experience.”

Snowbound Expo is due to take place in November and will offer winter outdoor enthusiasts a retail experience, speaker line-up and a plethora of interactive features.

Las Vegas secures more new shows

Las Vegas has secured two more major shows and extended the contracts of a raft of others as business continues to grow in the destination.

The National Confectioners Association announced that its Sweets & Snacks Expo will rotate between the city and Indianapolis for the next 10 years, while GSMA will move its North American edition of Mobile World Congress there for the first time in September.

It comes as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has secured the future of several existing contracts.

We look forward to welcoming @SWEETSandSNACKS to the destination with an #OnlyVegas experience. @CandyUSA #VegasMeansBusiness
https://t.co/4sPGEbqMsE

— Vegas Means Business (@LVCVA) March 15, 2022

LVCVA said the signing of new shows is a boost as the destination continues to recover after the pandemic brought in-person meetings to halt.

Traditional years saw business travel to Las Vegas accounting for more than $11 billion in economic impact to the area.

Six CX pitfalls to avoid

A new piece has highlighted six customer experience pitfalls to avoid in the business world.

McKinsey & Company’s latest article shines a light on how firms need to build the right organisational capabilities and culture to plan, execute, and sustain the transformation.

The piece claims delivering best-in-class customer experiences is becoming increasingly important for businesses to succeed.

It also shows how building a culture of customer-centricity is a critical, which needs targeted efforts to build employee skills across an organisation.

Outperformers were claimed to create customer experience (CX) capabilities to enable all employees to clearly articulate its value.

The use approaches focused on agility and design thinking, while considering the customer in every decision they make.

Here are six areas it sets out:

1. Failure to link CX to value
2. Fragmentation
3. Solving for touchpoints
4. Limited creativity
5. Sidelining customers upfront
6. CX on its own island

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