In Australia, even thought we have some economic recovery, business conditions remain tough. Frank Gelber of BIS-Shrapnel doesn’t think these conditions will ease for another year or two – when he expects a new round of broad business expansion and investment.
Two important conferences were held over recent days, by the Events and Exhibitions Association of Australasia and the PCO Association. From both emerged some very similar issues and concerns for events, exhibition, conference and sporting events businesses….
How do you see the marketplace and do these pressures affect your business and decision-making?
► tighter budgets
► expectations of bigger and better for less
► demand for exhibition spaces tending to smaller areas
► late decision making by clients
► clients’ uncertainty of objectives, image and how to present
► questions about measuring results
► more simple and effective creativity needed
► desire, even demand, for more experiential content and emotion to be included
► sponsorship negotiating is harder and taking longer
► the scope of contracts is being stretched and blown
► unrealistic costs are not matching pricing (well, there is are some crucial business matters wrapped into that)
► hard to get to corporate and events decision makers – and when you do, “they tend to know it all, or think they do”
► need to expand chargeable services as well as charge realistically for project management services.
Think about these and which are the three most pressing for you as you go into 2014?
