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A record number of attendances this year (2644) coupled with a one per cent increase in exhibitors (835) has seen the majority of exhibiting companies positive about the experience. The sales team at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, for example, was at the time of going to press finalising proposals for 14 new events directly linked to AIME 2006.

The events include an international convention for 1000 delegates, four national conventions, sales workshops, seminars, trade shows, company briefings and gala dinners. Many destination exhibitors were also positive. First-time exhibitor, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, said AIME worked effectively in raising awareness of the destination in the marketplace.
“People have been very interested to learn about Abu Dhabi and our new developments including the convention centre,” said Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority’s Gillian Taylor.
“We are targeting high-end and MICE markets in both Australia and Europe and we have had a good mix of incentives and PCOs from both markets.”
The Singapore Tourism Board’s Michelle Thoo was also positive.
“Australians were the third largest group to Singapore in 2005 and a large part of this can be attributed to the meetings industry and our presence at AIME,” she said.

“Singapore has been coming to AIME since the beginning and will continue to have a presence.” Newcastle Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Ruth Appleby said the NVCB has been at AIME since its inception barring the first year and “I can confidently say that this year has been the best so far”.

“We had an excellent AIME with some excellent quality appointments and leads resulting. We have already confirmed one piece of business and are confident that others will result. Our member booth partners were similarly impressed.
“The pre-scheduled appointment system appears to work very well and really is the big ‘plus’ with AIME.” And non-destination exhibitors were also positive. Carson White of ICMI Speakers and Entertainers said: “We have always exhibited at AIME as a necessary part of our overall marketing plan. AIME gives us the opportunity to catch up with local and interstate clients we may not normally see during the year. It is also a good opportunity to keep our brand in the marketplace for potential new clients. The show itself we always find very well organised and we will continue to exhibit at AIME in the future.”
Dean Sunshine of fabricadabra was also positive.

“I felt this year there were not as many people coming through, but in the same sentence I thought the quality of people was much better. I suppose there weren’t as many tyre kickers,” he said.
“As usual it was a very well organised and run event. The snow and flameless candles were a hit with loads of interest and enquiries, so for us even thought the cost is substantial, it [exhibiting at AIME] is worth it.” At their third AIME, Hedgehog Events’ Shane Rushbrook said he was not sure if he and his team have learnt with experience how better to reach potential clients or whether the quality of buyers continues to improve at the exhibition.

“Last year gave us great exposure to the industry plus four new clients with many annual events – definitely worth the expenditure,” he said.
“This year [we had] almost an immediate response with three bids out already and great leads and contacts made to enhance our prospects for the next 12 months.
“We budget between $12,000 and $20,000 for this event – that includes everything – and is the best buyer for dollar value for us behind direct calls to targeted businesses. In short we are already planning our presence at AIME 2007.”
First-time exhibitor Heather Stone of You’ve Been Gifted was happy with her investment at AIME.
“It was everything we expected it to be,” she said. “The quality of the buyers was 100 per cent. We did it well for our first time. The trade visitors and exhibitors at AIME are both our clients so it was the perfect fit.”

Poor performance
There were, however, some detractors, including Sabre Corporate Development’s Talan Miller.
“We have definitely found our ROI to have been disappointingly well below expectations in terms of quality based upon performance from previous years at AIME,” Mr Miller said. Melissa Craig from Te Puia in Rotorua was also less than positive about her AIME experience.

“It’s been interesting,” she said of her first AIME experience.
“It’s different to every other trade show I’ve done. It’s very different to Meetings [in New Zealand],” she said. She said many of the pre scheduled appointments she had were poorly matched, with many buyers from the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe.
“I haven’t had a high volume of Australian buyers. You find that you have to sell New Zealand as a destination and then your attraction [because some international buyers are less aware of what New Zealand has to offer].” She said Te Puia was unsure at this stage whether it would be returning to AIME in February because it would fall in the same financial year.

“Ideally we’d like to be back at AIME next year. We’ve got a big development happening on-site with a grand opening in March.” Another exhibitor, Feargal O’Conner from the Duxton Wellington, said he found the quality of buyers ranged from “very good” to “very bad”. He, Elsa Bradbury of the Wellington Convention Centre and Kristyn Liddelow of Te Papa, would like to see a “pay per meet” format for pre-scheduled appointments. While exhibitors have the opportunity of having up to about 30 buyers in their pre-scheduled appointments program for the two days the reality was that some may have half this number.

“We only want to pay for the number that we see,” the group said.
“If they could guarantee that we would have 24 appointments then that would be okay.” There was also some concern about the layout of the New Zealand stand as a whole. Some believed it appeared disjointed because it was spread over a few exhibition rows. Project manager of the Wellington Convention Bureau, Eleanor Currier, was happy with her pre-scheduled appointments.
“The pre-scheduled appointments we had have been really good. They want to know about Wellington; they were switched on about what New Zealand has to offer,” she said.
“I think we’re a little bit disappointed about the number of walk-bys [day visitors].
She said she was concerned that the focus of AIME had changed from an Asia Pacific exhibition to an international one.

Lower hosted buyer numbers
The only area of concern is possibly the reduced number of hosted buyers at AIME 2006. AIME exhibition director Rosemarie Sama said holding the event in June, a move caused by the staging of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, impacted on AIME in ways they could not foresee, particularly in relation to hosted buyers.
“The World Cup and other meetings and incentive events in Europe affected our international hosted buyer numbers this year. In New Zealand, a public holiday and other industry events also had an impact. In some markets June was the preferred time to visit Australia and in other markets it was not.
“Of the 935 applications we received for our hosted buyer program we qualified a record 501, which was well above our target of 480. Buyer cancellations were higher than usual, with many buyers citing time pressures and increased commitments in the month prior as the reasons for being unable to attend. This reduced our final hosted buyer numbers to 411.”
Hosted buyers who attended were also positive. ANZ’s Kerri Edwards said this was her third time at AIME but her first as a hosted buyer.
“The experience has been 100 per cent more valuable as a hosted buyer. I have already booked five events as a result of visiting AIME.
“The events are all with new venues that I haven’t used before and met at AIME. The on-site organisation of the show is fabulous and the floor layout is great.
Jane Yeaman of Tulips Meeting Management said the show appeared to be bigger than previous years and the quality of exhibitors was very high.
“I will definitely be placing business as a result of AIME. A visit to AIME is always worthwhile,” she said.
In 2007 the 15th AsiaPacific Incentives & Meetings Expo will be held on February 13 and 14 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Visit www.aime.com.au for regular updates.

Sandra Passaro was a popular winner of the Industry Person of the Year – Asia Pacific award at AIME 2006. The business tourism director of the Gold Coast Tourism Corporation accepted the award at the AIME gala dinner to much applause from the 1000-plus audience.
“Sandra is the longest standing employee at Gold Coast Tourism and one of the industry founders in attracting meetings and incentive groups to the Gold Coast region,” said AIME exhibition director, Rosemarie Sama.
“She has contributed to both the industry within her region and as a whole and is highly regarded in the Asia Pacific.” The AIME 2006 Awards took on a different format this year, and included two awards for individuals as well as awards for stand design.
The AIME Awards for Stand Design went to:
Best Single Exhibitor Stand – Flemington – The Event Centre
Best Multi Exhibitor Stand – Tourism Malaysia
Most Creative Stand Design - Abu Dhabi
Best New Exhibitor Stand – Papua New Guinea
The Industry Person of the Year – International – went to Robin Lokerman, CEO of the Institutional Division of leading pan-European association and event management company MCI. Robin oversees a staff of 130 in MCI offices throughout Europe, the Middle East and Singapore. He played a major role in the development of MPI in Europe, with GCI his previous company responsible for the association management of what is the world’s largest professional body in the meetings industry.

ABOVE: Sandra Passaro accepted her award from (l-r) , Reed’s Paul Kennedy and Rosemarie Sama, Victorian Minister for Tourism, John Pandazopoulos, and Reed’s Tom Nutley.