Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) wrapped up the 25th anniversary of its European meetings tradeshow EIBTM 2012 with preliminary figures showing it was the second biggest exhibition ever, beaten only by the pre-recessionary high in 2008.
Over 200 people registered for the online part of EIBTM’s inaugural Hybrid Conference.
Despite a power outage during the show, RTE Events Portfolio’s Head of Marketing and Buyer Programmes Mandy Torrens said: “We’re pleased with how the hybrid part of the show has gone.”
Torrens added that RTE was “particularly proud of the Twitter activity with over 26,800 accounts reached with #EIBTMhybrid and over 71,000 impressions”, more than the main show hashtag.
EIBTM also offered 117 education sessions and launched its Decision-makers TV channel, designed as a platform for CEOs to explain what makes them and their businesses tick.
Event Director Graeme Barnett said that EIBTM’s success was “governed by the success of our customers” for whom 65,000 pre-scheduled appointments had been arranged during the course of the show.
Under a renewed contract signed with Barcelona Turisme and Fira Gran Via, RTE confirmed earlier in the week, the show would stay in the Catalan capital until 2016 at least.
Barnett told CN that there had been no real consideration given to moving the show from Barcelona and described the local partners as “the most co-operative, supportive group of stakeholders we’ve ever worked with. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
The show, he stressed, brought with it a €50m (£40.5m) economic impact for the city. It was a city, Barnett said, that had become the mobile technology capital of the world thanks to hosting major trade shows and conventions in that sector, “and it now wants to become the meetings capital of the world”.
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