PRESS RELEASE
White Paper Reveals Exhibitors View of the Industry
Irving, Texas – June 4, 2008 – Is anyone listening? Please help us! Not something show organizers or service providers often hear their customers saying about the trade show industry. Yet when MAYA Design, a human-centered resource and design consultancy based in Pittsburgh, Penn., delved into the tradeshow world that is what they heard. MAYA Design will release two white papers on June 18 as a result of their six-month study and hundreds of hours of audio and video wherein they interviewed exhibitors, attendees and show organizers. The Expo Group co-funded this research. The first paper, “The Invisible Exhibitor: What Your Exhibitors Aren’t Telling You (and Why It Matters for the Future of Your Show),” reveals that exhibitors want to engage in partnerships with their associations and with show organizers. The study was commissioned by The Expo Group after hearing the president of MAYA, Mickey McManus, deliver a keynote presentation at the 2007 Exhibition and Convention Executives Forum (ECEF) in Washington, D.C.  MAYA findings determined the four main experiences of exhibitors to be Anxiety, Cost Overruns, Busyness and Confusion. The study went on to find that organizers attempt to create solutions for one or all of these experiences but many times find themselves as being the creator of the problem. The study found that while organizers and exhibitors may be in the same industry, their challenges are 80% mutually exclusive.   The second white paper will be the attendee’s view of the industry, “The Invisible Attendee: What’s on Their Mind and Why You Should Care.”  MAYA conducted interviews with attendees at one of the largest medical shows in the country and learned their common complaints. Their study reveled how we are all codependent on each other to have a pleasant, cost-effective and ultimately successful experience. “We found that there is a real disconnect between the disciplines in our industry,” says The Expo Group President and CEO Ray Pekowski. “All of us are working in the same industry yet not connected to what the experience is like for each related party of the trade show. We are like independent silos standing next to each other independently.  Communication moves us toward understanding and ultimately connection. Reading the white paper is like being a fly on the wall in the conference rooms of your exhibitor customers.” The Expo Group is a general service contractor providing a patented Single Source Solution® for show organizers. The Dallas-based company also has offices in Las Vegas, San Jose, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. In addition to contracting services, The Expo Group provides exhibitors solutions for graphics, custom exhibits, transportation, storage and installation and dismantle. For more information and/or photos, contact Dana Freker Doody at 972-580-9000 or send an email to ddoody@theexpogroup.com. ###