Show Special
Alto have enjoyed a busy run of shows over the past month so we thought we would compile for you a summary of the news and views from our time out and about…
Pittcon 2008
Back in New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, Pittcon 2008 as ever proved to be an excellent show for Alto and attending clients to meet editors with an interest in analytical laboratory technologies. Both US and European editors alike made the long journey to the ‘Deep South’, with at least 30 European registered journalists attending. To see the list of attending editors you can visit the Pittcon website where the organisers very efficiently share this useful information, both pre and post event. Sarah and Nicki attended the show and were able to make contact with the vast majority of attending editors in the extensive press room, in client press conferences and booths and also over dinner!
According to the organisers’ website, the show was a big one, and Alto attendees would tend to agree! “Pittcon 2008 drew nearly 20,000 laboratory science professionals – more than half of them Conferees. There were 1,110 companies in the Exposition occupying 2457 booths – both numbers higher than Pittcon 2007 in Chicago and Pittcon 2006 in Orlando.
The Technical Program featured more than 2,200 presentations and opened on Sunday, 2nd March with the Pittcon Heritage Award presentation and the Plenary Lecture. Dr. Leroy Hood, President and Founder of the Institute for Systems Biology received the award and also delivered the Plenary Lecture – “Systems Biology and Systems Medicine”.
Pittcon 2009 will return to Chicago for its 60th anniversary year at Cormick Place, Chicago IL, 8th-13th March, 2009. Further details will be available on the 2009 website to be launched in April.
Interphex
David has been to Interphex now for the last two years and again this year it seemed a well attended show with good traffic throughout the hall. Interphex is predominantly a pharmaceutical manufacturing show, co-located again with the PharmaMedDevice conference and exhibition. This year the organisers added Biotechnica America, expanding the successful German Biotechnica franchise into the US. While Interphex appeared the most busy show, exhibitors at the other events seemed reasonably happy and willing to support the fledgling co-located events.
As an opportunity to meet the pharmaceutical manufacturing and associated media, Interphex is excellent. At the Pennsylvania Convention Center there was a large press room and associated rooms for press briefings. Alto set-up and ran a number of successful 1-2-1 meets with high profile media on behalf of one of our clients – and we strongly recommend this event for the media opportunities it offers.
As at all events, stand location is important, as is making the most of conference speaking opportunities/posters. We also suggest a planned event marketing programme to drive traffic to your booth (see below).
Next year, Interphex and co-located events returns to the Jacob Javitts Center in New York.
Analytica
1st-4th April saw the 21st Analytica trade fair and from all reports we have seen, it was the best on record; surpassing even the organiser’s best expectations. About 36% of the 1,032 exhibiting companies were from 34 countries other than Germany. Furthermore, Analytica 2008 was a truly international fair for attendees, attracting approximately 32,500 visitors from 111 countries (with some 33% from outside Germany).
Chris and Neil from Alto met with editors from a broad range of European and international publications, both at the show and at a client facility opening event on the 31st March. This was a very useful event for the client and was very well received by the editors.
It was also good from our point of view as most press events we are involved with either happen at a client facility (avoiding exhibition dates), or take place just before or during key exhibitions to enable editors to maximise the time demanded of them. This event showed that, with appropriate forward planning, it is possible to:
get editors to arrive a day early
have a more relaxed atmosphere
maximise time around exhibition attendance
have the editor’s undivided attention for a considerable period of time
Obviously it helps if you have a facility in the general vicinity of the exhibition, but if you can do anything to keep editor’s travel and ‘time out of the office’ to a minimum, then most things are possible.
SBS
Once again Alto (Chris and David) made the trip to the 14th Annual Meeting of the Society of Biomolecular Screening, which this year took place in Saint Louis, Missouri on the 7th–9th April. The scientific programme entitled Enhancing Research Productivity: Quality Tools, Leads & Candidates was once again of a very high standard supported with the usual strong trade show exhibitor turnout. Whilst the quantity of final delegate numbers was reported by many exhibitors as disappointing, the quality of the attending delegates remained of the same high standard as for previous annual SBS conferences. As with many shows it is quite difficult to determine the reasons for some loss of attendance, particularly with such a strong scientific event – so is it location, is it timing, is it funding? The ever present challenge of the conference organiser! Whatever the reason – the need to maximise your presence at these leading shows remains of critical importance – both before, during and after the event.
So, what can you do? Pre-show planning remains the key and this means working at least 6 months ahead if not more to ensure you take advantage of all opportunities to get in front of your audience – workshops, presentations, posters, pre-show promotions, pr, booth competitions and giveaways and the all important follow up. They all play a part.
The SBS rotates from the US East Coast to Europe to the US West Coast in recognition of the international reach of the society and for 2009 takes place in Lille, France so we do hope that this brings back the crowds to this important event in the drug discovery event calendar. Meanwhile, in the UK we can look forward later in the year to the SBS & Elrig 2008 Drug Discovery meeting will be held this year at the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC), UK, on 23rd-24th September. For more information, click here.
Up and coming Events
If you are interested in any media networking at these events please contact Chris or David
Focus 2008, 18-22 May, ICC, Birmingham, UK, www.focus-acb.org.uk
Bio 2008 International Convention, 17-20 June, San Diego Convention Center, CA, USA, www.bio2008.org
Microscience 2008 International Conference and Exhibition, 23-26 June, Excel, London, UK, www.microscience2008.org.uk
Pre-show Marketing
Please contact Alto Marketing if you need help with driving traffic to your booth for any event that you have planned.
We look forward to seeing you out and about very soon!
The Alto Team
