MTA – EXHIBITIONS – THE BUSINESS OF SHOWS

JAMES FUDGE – HEAD OF EVENTS AT THE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES ASSOCIATION

International exhibitions are of huge importance to members of the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA), who want to expand their customer base explore new markets in which to do business or just maintain relationships with customers.

From organising UK Pavilions at key world shows to offering support through association stands, where we exhibit alongside other trade associations from around the world, there are different ways in which the MTA support their members.

Overseas presence

A good example of how we utilise association stands came at IMTS 2018, which takes places in Chicago, USA, every two years and was the largest manufacturing technologies exhibition in the world last year. At the show, the MTA had an association stand within the international association’s area. This was a great base for the MTA to service our members who were exhibiting at the show, as well as offering a meeting space away from their stands.

We find this particularly useful when our members are exhibiting on agents or distributor stands as it gives them an opportunity to meet customers and clients away from the main exhibition. IMTS was also useful for us in that the Department for International Trade (DIT) Advance Engineering Team came to visit the stand and introduce us to the local consulate as well as tour some of the UK members who had benefited from funding for the exhibition.

Good relationships and local knowledge

When doing business abroad it is important to understand the local business culture, and through DIT and local British Chambers of Commerce the MTA are able to give key support and advice to help make that as easy as possible.
Maintaining a good working relationship with DIT is also essential to our membership so we can help them apply for funding to go to international shows. The MTA is an accredited TAP (Trade Access Programme) Partner. As such we are able to bid for certain overseas shows to attract funding for UK exhibitors. We have been successful in the past and the new rules mean that more people can benefit from this funding, even if they’ve been to the show before.

It is important that the MTA are in a position to influence DIT and signpost the key exhibitions of interest to our members and help them secure funding. We do all we can to make this as pain free as possible for companies who need support.

Hosting

The other type of show activity we undertake is the hosting of a UK Pavilion within an international exhibition. With this we take on the responsibility of negotiating with exhibition organisers to secure space (often at favourable rates) to exhibit and put together a package of on the ground support for travelling companies. Over the past few years we have successfully helped members go to Turkey, Russia, China and January 2019 will see our first Pavilion in India.

The MTA has a number of exciting opportunities to take advantage of over 2019 with China, India and Russia key areas of focus for our international pavilions. In 2018 the association also established an export committee made up of MTA members who advise and help to shape the offering for the whole membership.