High hopes for future partnering - the solution for struggling fairs
Business fairs are struggling but the concept of partnering is hotter than ever. By using social media, participants can prepare themselves for the perfect meeting.
Personal meeting. Arranging a business fair was an easy task fifteen years ago. The same concept could be adapted to any line of business or interest. Today it’s a different situation. Every fair has to adapt to the line of business that the fair is about. But the personal meeting is still, when talking to experts on meetings and fairs, the core element of what a fair is really all about. There is a strong belief that the personal meeting, arranged in customized ways for each kind of fair, will save the business fairs.
Mikael Jansson
– Big companies want to control the meeting environment and the meeting situation, says Mikael Jansson.
Partnering is often a way to increase the accuracy of the meeting. Visitors don’t want to waste time on useless meetings. Here, modern partnering tools come into the picture. Being able to get to know a counterpart in a meeting beforehand increases the probability of a successful meeting.
– Visitors want to be assured that the meeting starts at a high level. If you are a salesperson at a technical fair you want to be sure to meet the right product manager, says Mikael Jansson.
The entry of social media could be seen as a major competitor to personal meeting as social media is all about meeting friends, family – and business colleagues in a convenient way. But the “fair people” seem to believe that social media actually can increase the efficiency of partnering.
But does someone aged 20, with more or less all social relationships online, think this way? Mikael Jansson presents the Dreamhack meeting as an example. Even young online-living people want to meet like-minded people face to face. Dreamhack is a convention for gamers, developers and computer geeks held yearly in Borlänge, Sweden.
– Dreamhack is the proof that people want to meet in person. Why go there when you can sit at home and meet all the other computer people online? asks Mikael Jansson.
Mattias Strauss is partner at Matchmeeting who developed a partnering tool. He is convinced that people used to social media will be more accurate in their personal meetings at fairs.
– You are now able to meet the ones you really have an interest in meeting. This is totally natural for the users of our system under the age of 35, says Mattias Strauss.
Online life makes it unnecessary to meet physically as often as before but Mikael Jansson believes that people nowadays have more friends and acquaintances. Thus, the sum of personal meetings will remain constant.
– It is easy to find new friends and business partners but still difficult to know whether they are someone I would like to do business with. Meeting online will never be enough for judging whether someone is a potential business partner, says Mikael Jansson.
10 years ago , Biotech Forum was the first fair where Stockholmsmässan arranged partnering. Now, Stefan Aspberg, business developer at Stockholmsmässan, is planning for partnering at ten fairs next year and fifteen fairs in 2012. He outlines different ways of increasing the collegial part of the Stockholmsmässan fairs. Using partnering tools and social media will make it possible for alumni groups to initiate and prepare physical meetings at the Stockholmsmässan fairs.
– It’s a coincidence if you meet colleagues at a fair today. A scientist who wants to meet a certain colleague can arrange a meeting for a group or professionals interested in a specific topic instead, says Stefan Aspberg.
But Mikael Jansson believes that the personal meeting will have to develop even more in the future. He claims there is often an unbalance in the interests of the partners in a meeting. One participant has often more to gain from the meeting. This means that this participant will most likely exaggerate what he or she can offer the other person.
Stefan Aspberg
– It will be even more important to ensure meeting the right person and that he or she gives an honest picture of what can be offered. Partnering tools must be constructed so that the stronger participant has the final say over the meeting, says Mikael Jansson.
