HM607 Conference and Exhibition Management: UK Destination Report

This report delves into the intricacies of conference and exhibition management, focusing on a UK destination for an international fashion exhibition. The report begins by defining the conference and exhibition sector, differentiating between various event types like conferences, exhibitions, and congresses. It then critically examines the key purposes of conferences and exhibitions, highlighting the benefits of face-to-face connections and brand awareness while acknowledging the financial and competitive challenges. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to evaluating specific UK locations, including the Excel London venue, and comparing other venues like Manchester Central and the Scottish Event Campus. The report also provides an in-depth resource evaluation for an international fashion exhibition, identifying essential resources such as human resources and technical equipment. Finally, the report outlines the technical resources required for a successful event, emphasizing the importance of audio-visual equipment for product displays and audience engagement. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the key elements involved in planning and executing successful conferences and exhibitions, with a specific focus on the UK market.

Conference and Exhibition
Management in London
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Critically define and explain the exhibitions and conferences sector..........................................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
Critically examine the key purpose of conferences and exhibitions...........................................4
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................5
Identify and evaluate thorough reconnaissance, specific locations including purpose built
exhibition venues.........................................................................................................................5
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................6
Produce and in-depth resource evaluation for a specific type of conference or exhibition.........6
Outline the technical resources required for a specific event......................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Exhibition and conference management can be defined as application of project
management to the creation as well as development of corporate events (Voorhies, 2017). It is
based on London, UK destination for international fashion exhibition. It will discuss some
reasons of developing exhibition and conference and their importance. It will further discuss
some positive as well as negative impacts that conference and exhibitions can have on
performance of businesses and on brand promotion. It will recommend and requirements of
resources for making exhibition successful and helping out businesses in attracting people to the
great extent.
MAIN BODY
LO 1
Critically define and explain the exhibitions and conferences sector
Conference: A large official meeting that lasts for several days in order to meet specific
aim or for discussing importance matters is known as conference.
Exhibitions: An exhibition can be defined as presentation or display of specific selected
items. There are different types of exhibitions such as it may be cultural, educational and
business. Some examples of educational and cultural types of exhibitions are: museum, art
gallery, park.
Congress: A formal meeting as well as a series of meeting that is being help for discussing
important topics within a particular sphere of activity is known as congress.
One of the main examples of congress is: Tatiana. It was a war refugee relief organization,
organized in 1914, September. The main speciality and features of this committee was it
provided first aid and other basic needs of things such as: clothing, food and shelter to refugee.
Overall, it can be said that the main aim of this committee was to makes refugees able to
represent themselves and helping out people against war.
In this type of exhibition, specific educational and cultural items are being displayed in order to
make people aware about culture and increase their knowledge about different cultures and
ancient areas. One of the best examples of such events and conferences include: Chelsea flower
show.
The main aim at displaying some educational and cultural items is to increasing awareness
among people and increasing their knowledge (Thuneberg, Salmi and Fenyvesi, 2017). Whereas,
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in business type of exhibition, companies display products and a type of idea for improving their
brand and launching their new products. It is one of the best ways of making people aware about
new products of companies, making them know about features and effectiveness. Exhibitions
where businesses display and launch their new products can help them out in deciding whether
they should go in the same direction or expanding business or not. It can be decided with
numbers of people or attendees at exhibitions (Marzouqi and et.al., 2018). Whereas, conference
refers a formal meeting of people who share interest (Ranchoux and et.al., 2018).
LO 2
Critically examine the key purpose of conferences and exhibitions
International fashion show is specific exhibition and conference that will be occurred and
developed at Excel London, the best place for exhibition and conference. It is recognized by
designers, fashion buyers and industry expert of the UK as the UK fashion trade show. In this
exhibition, different varieties, prints of fashionable clothing collection will be displayed to
people by specific fashion designers.
Purpose or importance of conferences: They will discuss about features of clothing that will be
displayed at this selected venue. There are several reasons of business exhibitions and conference
such as:
Face to face connection: Exhibitions and conference can help companies and businesses
in connecting with people directly or face to face. Direct communication can also help company
in knowing their interest, their needs, demands about products that are being displayed to them.
It can help businesses to win leads and also increase trust by making them know about detailed
features of products (Ramli, Ghani, Ma’mor and Rashid, 2018). An example of conference that
help in London was: London conference of 1912-1913 that is known as London peace
conference.
Brand awareness: If customers understand and like products, displayed to them then they
become customers of business. It can also help them out in improving and promoting brand
because satisfied people at conference and exhibition help company in promoting goods by
words of mouth (Langga, 2021).
There are some limitations and negative impacts of trade shows and brand promotion at
exhibition such as: Requirement or investment of finance and time to the great extent.
Conference require too much time and cost to launch. Displaying products at trade shows and
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exhibition can be costly as only for 1 day, businesses have to pay a lot. Another main limitation
is competition at exhibitions. Wrong selection of trade shows for exhibiting products and
services sometimes can result in displaying to wrong audience. There is requirement of fund to
attain people, display products and associated costs. Businesses are being judged by people
against competitors and their stands because at exhibitions, many businesses with same products
are being given opportunities to exhibit or display their products.
Along with this, there are some advantages of conferences that are being held and in the
context of London, it can be said that it gave employment opportunities to local people. Catering,
decorators and all other parties play a vital role and they all are being given employment
opportunities that improve economy of the country.
In regard to effectiveness of Excel London that is selected venue for exhibition and
conference is: it is international convention centre with wide area. At this venue, several trade
and consumers private and public events have been exhibited. It is an attractive venue that can
grab attention of people and people might likely to come here for knowing about fashionable
clothing that is going to exhibit in this event. There are numbers of rooms are there that makes
guests able to live there effectively and enjoying flexibility and privacy. There are some rooms
where there are attached private swimming pool and it also makes them feel valued. Hotels are
now engaging themselves in maintaining security and according to this all guests are being
allowed to access their room even when they are not in their room with technology and their
mobile phones.
It also found that each side of this area and venue consist of catering facilities as well as
information points (Reshetnikova and Magomedov, 2018). So, overall it can be said that this are
and selected venue is effective and might help in making this international fashion show
exhibition successful.
LO 3
Identify and evaluate thorough reconnaissance, specific locations including purpose built
exhibition venues.
UK is one of the best countries and destination as it has several venues for exhibition and
conference. One of the most popular destination and venue selected for conference and
exhibition is: Excel London. In regard to UK it can be said that it is the main central for all and
there are several attractive and wide areas of venues where businesses and other exhibitions can
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be developed Venues in the UK grab attention of people and people are more likely to come and
visit here and by attracting large number of people, businesses can accomplish their goals of
developing exhibition and conference.
In the UK there are several attractive venues that are specially being developed for
conferences and exhibitions. Battersea power station, London, Sea life aquarium, Manchester
central, London, Scottish event campus and others. In regard to all these venues, located in the
UK, it can be said that all these venues have several nearby hotels where people can stay.
Excel London: In regard to selected venue, Excel London, it is found that there are around
27 bars, restaurants as well as cafes on this site. People who come here for attaining exhibition
can explore more of London such as a trip to flat iron steakhouse as it takes only an hour away
by the tube from here (Antonyan, 2018). There are around 12 hotels, located around 15 minutes’
walk away of this venue. Several popular and successful events and exhibitions have been hosted
here already such as: VidCon London, Cloud and cyber security and others.
Manchester Central: This venue in London is known as award winning exhibition venue
with around 23,000 m2 of versatile space. Any size of event or exhibition can take place here.
People can see some remains of old railway station so; it is the main reason of people for
selecting this because it grabs attention of people. Some successful exhibitions that have been
hosted here are: digital city, healthcare estate events, Northern restaurant and bars. There are
around 11 hotels near by this venue. There are several attractive venues nearby this venue and
some of them are free and dripping in culture.
Scottish event campus: It is an amazing and attractive venue, located on outskirts of
Glasgow city centre. People can go for traveling from here and they may find easier to get here
because there are 3 international airports within an hour of SEC. Some successful events or
exhibitions such as: The Scottish wedding show, The creative craft show and others. There is
easy access to this venue and due to this some hotels near by this offer easy access to this and
chance to explore city (Rougemont and et.al., 2018). This venue also consists of bars that offer
bar snacks, pizzas, sharing platters to dinner, burgers and others.
So, from the above evaluation of venues of the London, it can be said that companies can
select this destination and attract people to the great extent.
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LO 4
Produce and in-depth resource evaluation for a specific type of conference or exhibition
For making exhibition successful there is requirement of an effective plan. Before
developing any exhibition and conference there is need to make an effective plan. In this plan,
businesses identify and select all resources that they will require for performing functions.
International fashion exhibition is being selected that is going to help at Excel London. For
making this exhibition successful, it is important to identify and make a list of resources such as:
Human resource: For a successful international fashion exhibition, there is requirement of
human resources. Some staff and members will be required who can plan conference venue,
activities and catering. Some staff will be required who can administer and operate some main
functions like budgeting, attending registration and others. Some members who are expert in
marketing and making people aware that exhibition is going to take place related to this and
others (Shamsa and et.al., 2019). But human resources can perform their functions effectively
only when they have proper other resources. There will be requirement of some paper work like
noting down telephone numbers of suppliers, public, organizers and others. It will help in
performing further functions in an effective manner. It is important to align theme of conference.
It is also important to jot down numbers and names of people who are interested in sponsoring
and making partner in exhibition organizer.
LO 5
Outline the technical resources required for a specific event
On the basis of above discussion about required resources, it found that video, audio
equipment play a vital role. The main aim of exhibition and conference is to display products of
business and make people aware about it and its features. It is possible when businesses and
exhibition place have appropriate technical resources and equipment.
So, in this regard, it can be recommended that business should focus on making use of big
screen for displaying their products and fashionable clothes. For better identifying and analysing,
there is requirement of an effective planning. An effective plan can provide the right direction
and sequence of steps that businesses can follow for better and successful exhibition. An
effective plan consists of all resources that can help in making exhibition successful and can help
companies in meeting their main goal of exhibiting products and services (Marquez and et.al.,
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2019). So, in this context, it can be said that businesses should focus on employing technical
staff that can manage and handle technical issues in a timely manner.
It is important for exhibition organizers to think about transportation facilities and make
some arrangements for their partners and people. IT is also important to make sure that venues
have enough parking space or not and of there is no enough space then what would be
appropriate nearby places (Jermsittiparsert and Rungsrisawat, 2019). Right IT, audio for
announcements, video equipment’s for displaying products to people. Solid Wi-Fi access can
also make this exhibition successful and can attract people to the great extent.
In addition, some appropriate promotional materials like templates in which company has
detailed information of their stores that they will open soon and from where people can buy
products that are being promoted and launched in exhibition. It can help people in accessing
stores and buying products after this exhibition. They also need to provide printed cards in which
businesses have their contact numbers by which people can contact with them and ask for
additional information or queries if they have.
So, from the above discussed all recommended ways and resources, it can be said that
businesses can make their exhibition of products launching and promotion successful. They can
convert leads and increase sales of their products that are being displayed in exhibition.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized from the above study that exhibition and conference organization
can have several positive impacts and can help businesses in promoting as well as launching new
products. It has discussed some attractive venues where, several successful businesses,
educational and other exhibitions have been take place. For selecting an attractive venue for
exhibition, there is requirement of focusing on some areas and elements such as: nearby hotels
availability, resources, access to transportation and others. It has further discussed some
resources that need to be considered and required for successful international fashion exhibition
such as: stationery, IT resources, video and audio equipment and others.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Antonyan, S.A., 2018. World exhibitions. Overview of Exhibitions for 2016. In Проблемы,
опыт и перспективы развития туризма, сервиса и социокультурной деятельности в
России и за рубежом (pp. 50-54).
Jermsittiparsert, K. and Rungsrisawat, S., 2019. The supply chain management and information
sharing as antecedents of operational performance: A case of SMEs. Humanities & Social
Sciences Reviews. 7(2). pp.495-502.
Langga, A., 2021. The influence of intensive distribution and sales promotion towards corporate
image, customer-based brand equity, repurchase intention and word of mouth using
generalized structured component analysis. Journal of Financial Services Marketing,
pp.1-17.
Liangyu, L., 2020, December. Research on Exhibition Customer Relationship Management in
Digital Era. In Proceedings of the 2020 3rd International Conference on E-Business,
Information Management and Computer Science (pp. 335-340).
Marquez, C. and et.al., 2019. Resource sharing efficiency in network slicing. IEEE Transactions
on Network and Service Management. 16(3). pp.909-923.
Marzouqi, M.A. and et.al., 2018, November. Automated Multidisciplinary Collaboration in
Integrated Reservoir Management IRM through Business Process Management BPM.
In Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference. Society of Petroleum
Engineers.
Ramli, N., Ghani, W.S.W.A., Ma’mor, H. and Rashid, N.M., 2018. The Impacts of Perceived
Service Quality on Attendees’ Satisfaction. International Journal of Academic Research
in Business and Social Sciences, 8(11).
Ranchoux, B. and et.al., 2018. Endothelial dysfunction in pulmonary arterial hypertension: an
evolving landscape (2017 Grover Conference Series). Pulmonary circulation, 8(1),
p.2045893217752912.
Reshetnikova, N.N. and Magomedov, M.G., 2018, October. Influence strategic competitive
advantage international business cooperation in the frame of financial crisis. In The
International Science and Technology Conference" FarEastСon" (pp. 399-408). Springer,
Cham.
Rougemont, M. and et.al., 2018. IPS Scottish Branch Conference 2018 Doubletree by Hilton,
Glasgow, UK. Journal of Infection, 19(3), p.152.
Shamsa, E. and et.al., 2019, March. Goal-driven autonomy for efficient on-chip resource
management: Transforming objectives to goals. In 2019 Design, Automation & Test in
Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE) (pp. 1397-1402). IEEE.
Thuneberg, H., Salmi, H. and Fenyvesi, K., 2017. Hands-on math and art exhibition promoting
science attitudes and educational plans. Education Research International, 2017.
Voorhies, J., 2017. Beyond objecthood: The exhibition as a critical form since 1968. Mit Press.
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