How to optimise participation in a trade fair
Every year, business is generated in trade fairs totalling 60 billion euros and 75% of firms recognise trade fairs as the fundamental instrument for developing business, contact with the market and communication of their own expertise. The quality and organisation of the trade fair present the conditions for success, but cannot guarantee it: much also depends on how the exhibitor prepares and organises their effective participation.
Precisely in order to prepare Companies to make the most of their presence in trade fairs, the AEFI has created and edited a pamphlet entitled “How to take part in a fair effectively: some indications for exhibitors”, which will be distributed to all Members and also to Italian entrepreneurs in the area of the various fairs and exhibitions.
Starting from the assumption that trade fairs continue to represent one of the major tools available to businesses – and SMEs in particular – for direct contact with the market, the guide produced by the AEFI offers a series of detailed, practical indications for preparing to participate in a trade fair event to maximise results in terms of image and business, on how to organise presence within an exhibition and how to manage contacts and contracts at the end of the fair.
An important aid so that exhibitors can gain all the opportunities presented by participating in a fair, and a compact, easy-to-read marketing tool, with plenty of strategic suggestions and practical ones too.
AEFI – the Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association – was set up in 1983 with a view to generating synergies between the most significant Italian exhibition districts. Specifically, AEFI would like to be seen as a privileged partner for operators and institutions alike, and its role is to support members through the development of activities and programmes in the sphere of training, marketing, promotion and research, as well as to provide services for trade fairs through the activities of its Committees: the Exhibition Hub Technical Committee, the Administrative-Legal Committee, the Trade Fairs Network Committee, the IT and Technical Innovation Committee, and the new Initiatives and Programmes Committee.
To increase the international character of Italian trade fairs, AEFI collaborates with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Productive Activities and ICE Agency.
On an international scale, AEFI represents Italian trade fairs in UFI – Union of International Fairs. Each year the Association publishes, with the Ministry of Productive Activities, the official calendar of Italian trade fair events recognised as international and their statistical data.
Chaired by Ettore Riello, AEFI includes 34 member exhibition districts, which organise over 1,000 events a year over an overall exhibition area of 4.2 million square metres. 95% of international trade fairs, and 85% of all trade fairs, which take place each year in Italy, are held in AEFI-member exhibition districts.