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 IMEX America Delivers Big
The inaugural voyage of North America’s largest meetings show sets sail with the wind at its back
By LORI TENNY
IMEX America opened Oct. 11 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, Venetian/Palazzo in Las Vegas, and by most accounts knocked the ball out of the park with its inaugural edition, pairing hosted meeting planner buyers with sellers from virtually every corner of the Earth.
The show kicked off with roughly 2,000 hosted buyers and 1,867 worldwide exhibitors, 800 of which were from the U.S.
Designed after the award-winning annual IMEX in Frankfurt, IMEX America offered a model new to the U.S. market, with prequalified, hosted buyers paired with exhibitors, an approach that was very well received, according to Ray Bloom, IMEX Group Chairman.
“Our global and U.S. exhibitors and buyers have responded with great interest and enthusiasm to the IMEX America hosted buyer model, with the result that over 20,000 individual appointments had already been made between buyers and exhibitors before the show doors opened,” Bloom said at a press conference on the opening day of the show, adding that with group appointments, the total increases to 30,000, and he expected that number to further rise before the show closed.
Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of MPI, IMEX America’s strategic partner and premier education provider, expressed enthusiasm for the show’s superb turnout.
“You don’t see an American trade show here, you see a global event,” MacMillan said.
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Video Reports: IMEX America
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Meetings Focus Chief Content Director Tyler Davidson interviews Deborah Sexton, president and CEO of PCMA, and John Graham, president and CEO of ASAE, about current trends shaping the meetings industry.
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 Ray Bloom, IMEX group chairman, discusses the first edition of IMEX America, and what he’s seeing from the trade show floor. Watch Now! |
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 Michael Murray, vice president of sales and marketing for corporate meetings for the Hawaii Convention Bureau, and Neil Mullanaphy... Watch Now! |
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 Michael Massari, senior vice president of Caesars Entertainment's meetings and events division, describes a major shift in the gaming companies meetings sales operations, which will bring all 38 of its U.S. properties... Watch Now! |
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Visit the following sites operated by
IMEX and MPI:
IMEX:
www.imexamerica.com/press.php
MPI:
www.mpiweb.org/Search?area=blogs
&page=1&term=imex+america |
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