Industry
Steve Knight Talks AIBTM
The hosted buyer show's project manager discusses why Baltimore will be the place to be June 21-23
By Leo Jakobson
June 13, 2011
In two weeks, Baltimore, MD, will play host to
AIBTM: The Americas Meetings & Events Exhibition, the first of the major new hosted buyer shows targeting the meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions market this year.
Produced by Reed Travel Exhibitions, AIBTM is an offshoot of the company’s other IBTM shows, led by the flagship EIBTM, which takes place in Barcelona in late November each year.
With the exhibition space sold out, 1,000 hosted buyers and 400 non-hosted trade buyers already registered, and 9,000 buyer-supplier appointments scheduled, AIBTM is well on its ways to proving that the hosted buyer format is one the United States meetings market is ready and eager for.
The show, and its associated America Meetings Week, will offer extensive learning opportunities, including AIBTM’s own educational programs, as well those by the Professional Convention Management Association’s PCMA Education Conference, which will be co-located at the Baltimore Convention Center. Meeting Professionals International (MPI) will release its "Value of Meetings" study (see “
Research Preview: Few Companies Measure Meetings”) during the show, and the Convention Industry Council (CIC) is holding its Hall of Leaders Gala during AIBTM.
Less than two weeks before the meetings industry descends on Baltimore, Incentive caught up with AIBTM Project Manager Steve Knight for an update on the show’s reception, what attendees can expect, and why the U2 concert many attendees will get to see is the least of the reasons to be there.
Incentive: How are preparations for AIBTM going?
Steve Knight: It is going very well. The city is looking great, the banners are up already, and we’re continuing to register people. It hasn’t slowed down. Our aim is always to get at least a one-to-one ratio of buyers to suppliers, and we’re at that already, so anything on from here is a bonus.
Incentive: How is the quality of buyers?
Knight: I’ve really been very pleased with the quality. We are known for being quite rigorous with our [hosted buyer] qualifications. We’ve seen people come from different segments, but they’re all very high-level. The breakdown currently is 14 percent corporate, 24 percent association, and 53 percent agency—the agency is a mix of incentive and third-party planners like HelmsBriscoe and HPN Global. It’s actually not that different than our other shows. If anything, the corporate is slightly higher. I think that is encouraging and reflects the convenience of being on the East Coast.
Incentive: What are you hearing from the incentive market?
Knight: We’ve been a little stronger on the incentive side than I was expecting, because everyone saw us as an association show. We’ve been all over the country recruiting buyers, and [incentives] have been one of our target areas, because Baltimore is not particularly associated with the incentive market. We’ve got buyers coming from BI, Carlson, Excellence in Motivation, ITAGroup, Maritz, Maxvantage, US Motivation, Victor Incentives—all the major players.
Incentive: The choice of Baltimore caused some head-scratching when it was announced. How has the reaction been since?
Knight: I recently was at [CIC's CMP Conclave in Cancun, Mexico, May 9-11] and had loads of people coming up to us saying what a good choice [Baltimore is]. We chose it, obviously, because of its location. And when AIBTM is taking place, we will be what’s happening in Baltimore, not one of 10 other events. That was the biggest attraction to me. And we’ve got U2 as well—what better party can you have? We’ve been able to distribute tickets to the exhibitors and to our hosted buyers.
Incentive: Can you give us some highlights of the education program?
Knight: We’ve got
about 20 sessions taking place. The last one we signed up is by the U.S. Travel Association. They’re going to be updating everybody on their new advocacy program—how they’re addressing the visa problem. [See
“Industry Takes Aim at U.S. Travel Barriers”] That’s going quite well, and we’ve only just announced it. We have the MPI "Value of Meetings" study, the
International Congress and Convention Association,
Site is doing two sessions, Joan Eisenstodt [chief strategist of Washington, DC-based Eisenstodt Associates LLC] is doing a session on women in leadership, “I’m Doing My Strong Woman Number…and It’s Exhausting Me.”
Some of the education sessions are geared to exhibitors, some to buyers. Registration for those is going quite well. We have the CEO Summit featuring CEOs from the travel industry that takes place on Wednesday.
Incentive: What would you say to potential attendees who are on the fence about going to AIBTM?
SK: What we’ve tried to do is to build a platform to do business in the meetings industry, to access trends and knowledge. But it's up to them to make the most of this opportunity, to go to the education [sessions], and also do the one-to-one appointments, get all their sales visits over in a two-day period.
Baltimore’s a business destination, so people are coming to this show to do business. I think that’s really what I’d like to say to people—if you’re serious about doing business, then you must come to the show.
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