Ocean Media Group has responded to claims that its Event Production Show has been cancelled by confirming the show and its affiliated products are up for sale. It is thought the future of the co-located UK Venue Show is also under threat.
According to a letter to exhibitors dated 1 May and seen by CN, Ocean informed confirmed exhibitors of the show’s cancellation in 2013 and their right to a refund.
“It is with great regret that Ocean Media Group Ltd has decided to cancel the above event due to take place on the 30 to 31 January 2013,” the letter stated.
“Any monies you have already paid to Ocean media Group as a form of a deposit to secure your stand at Event Production Show 2013 will be refunded to you in full.”
MD David Moran confirmed Ocean is not running next year’s edition of the Event Production Show and said the organiser was currently in negotiations with four bidders to sell various combinations of the Event Production Show, UK Venue Show, Event Production Awards and Access All Areas title.
“Disposal of the events business is part of our process of selling anything in an area where we are not the market dominant,” he told CN.
Over recent months, Ocean has also offloaded Negotiator and Built IT magazines.
The UK Venue Show debuted this year alongside the Event Production Show in February at London’s Olympia.
The show was poorly attended and fell short of its predicted 250 exhibitors and 5,000 visitors.
Robin Parker, General Manager of Church House Conference Centre in London, was one of the inaugural show’s exhibitors and tells CN: “Since the UK Venue Show I have not heard a single word from the organiser, to either say thank you for exhibiting, to talk about next year or even to ask how the show went, so on that basis I am not the least bit surprised that it is unlikely to be repeated.
“From an exhibitor point of view the show was very poorly attended, and the feedback I have had is that the only people who visited were suppliers trying to sell to their venues. We signed up as there seemed to be a reasonable logic in trying to build a show in this area following Confex’s move to Excel. However, for whatever reason, it just didn’t work. If they were to hold it again in 2013 we certainly wouldn’t exhibit.”
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