The US tradeshow market is the world’s largest and is forecast to grow at a strong rate through 2018. Large acquisitions have seen organizer valuations rise, most recently UBM’s acquisition of Advanstar and Informa’s acquisition of Hanley Wood. While the industry is clearly attractive, large platforms are valued very high, which means investors may need to consider smaller buy and build strategies to access this sector. Nevertheless, the market remains highly fragmented with opportunities to drive value through strategic and operational levers

1. Trends and the future outlook for the US
tradeshow industry
Sector report

2. 2©2015 AMR
Contents
1. Tradeshow fundamentals
2. Market opportunity
3. Organizer opportunities and challenges
4. AMR’s sector experience

3. 3©2015 AMR
Economic recovery and continued demand for face to face will drive
tradeshow growth
US tradeshow industry size and growth 2009-2018(f)
Source: AMR Globex report 2014
14.414.013.412.812.311.811.310.910.611.0
-12
-8
-4
0
4
8
12
16
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
2009 2010 2017f2013 2014e 2018f2016f
4.0%
CAGR
2011 2012 2015f
Marketsize($bn)
Change%
US real GDP % change
Market size ($bn)
Market % change

4. 4©2015 AMR
Tradeshows achieve high gross margins and exhibit healthy cash flow
Tradeshow profitability
Source: ITE Group
0-20,000
20,000 – 75,000
75,000 +
15%
45%
60%+
Tradeshow size (sqf) Typical gross margin
Tradeshow cash flow
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
-12 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0-11
Deposits
2nd
deposit Pay
vendors
Final
balance
Stand
construction
Months to opening
Cumulativecashflow$’000s

5. 5©2015 AMR
Contents
1. Tradeshow fundamentals
2. Market opportunity
3. Organizer opportunities and challenges
4. AMR’s sector experience

6. 6©2015 AMR
Major tradeshow acquisitions timeline and multiples
2005 2011 2013
Ebitda/transactionvaluemultiple
Size of
transaction
$ m: <50
50-
500
>501
Corporate buyers have stepped up to the plate with 10-12x EBITDA
deals. This used to be the terrain of private equity
Source: Company accounts, AMR research and analysis
2009
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
2007
Inter-
CHARM
Alcantara
Machado
JV
Asian
Gaming
Expo SinoPharm
JV
VNU NV
Advanstar
Emap
B2B
Clarion
Hanley
Wood
MC Communications
Abu Dhabi
portfolio
Adipec
Ad:Tech
Evanta
Aircraft
Interiors
SST
Canon Comm.
Ecobuild
GLM
BTS
CloserStill
MMPI
Evanta
Nielsen
2015
Hanley Wood
Advanstar
Reed ExhibitionsDMGPrivate equity UBM Informa Emerald Euromoney i2i
GLM
Mining Indaba
Money 2020
Clarion
Quantum Bus Media
Ithaca
Vision
ITE
BreakBulk
Comexposium

7. 7©2015 AMR
Top 5
organizer
Number of
exhibitions1
Turnover2
($m)
Net space
sold (sqft m)
Net space
sold (sqm m)
Sector focus
Emerald 30 184 4 0.4
Media, retail, sports,
merchandise, real estate,
jewellery
GLM
(acquired by
Emerald)
11 77 3 0.3
Gift, toys, other consumer,
sports and leisure, textiles and
fashion
Reed
Exhibitions
81 219 4 0.4
Home, lifestyle, security,
healthcare
Advanstar
(acquired by
UBM)
33 211 5 0.4
Fashion & licensing, power
sports, life sciences
Hanley
Wood
(acquired by
Informa)
12 38 2 0.2
Building products, home repair
and construction
The market remains highly fragmented despite recent M&A activity. The top
five organizers account for only c.6% and span a range of served markets
Top five US tradeshow organizers 2013
Note: 1Domestic; 2Domestic exhibition organising turnover
Source: AMR analysis
6%
Rest
Total US
market 2013
Top 5
94%
The high market fragmentation is driven by the unique structure of the US market – c.80% of shows are
association-run. However, there are a number of tier two for-profit organizers that may be attractive
acquisition targets

8. 8©2015 AMR
Contents
1. Tradeshow fundamentals
2. Market opportunity
3. Organizer opportunities and challenges
4. AMR’s sector experience

9. 9©2015 AMR
Continued M&A and better analytics are the key growth opportunities.
Managing competition and staying close to served markets remain critical
Opportunities and threats
 Pursue scale with acquisitions and launches,
particularly in emerging markets
 Diversify business models via addition of non-stand
revenue streams such as online communities and
data products
 Use analytics and segmentation to align price to
value on an exhibitor by exhibitor basis (limited
opportunity for wholesale price rises)
 Build analytics capacity in order to convert data into
business insight e.g. attendee intelligence for better
marketing
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 Most common management pitfalls are (i) losing
touch with market needs (ii) driving square footage
at expense of show focus
 The threat from other marketing channels is
mitigated by the surviving value of face to face
interaction, but to compete organizers must get
better at proving ROI
 Competitive threat, both from pre-existing shows
and spin-offs, requires continual management –
emphasis on facilitating valuable interactions (right
attendees + right environment) is critical for
prolonged competitive strength
Source: AMR analysis

10. 10©2015 AMR
Tradeshows are becoming data-driven organizations
Data analytics use by organizers
Source: Use of analytics today by B2B exhibition organizers, CEIR 2015; AMR analysis
13.0%
Active 55.0%
Soon to be active
Inactive
32.0%
Analytics is fast becoming a critical driver of organizer success
Advanced organizers use analytics to deliver against key business
objectives:
Attendee marketing
Registration data segmentation
Social media analysis to identify social “influencers”
Heat maps to identify attendee interests
Pricing and ROI demonstration
Leads data to demonstrate exhibitor ROI
Leads data to identify highest value stand positons
Floor planning and operations
Heat map analysis for crowd control and to maximize stand
traffic
Use of analytics by B2B exhibitor
organizers, CEIR research (n=307)

11. 11©2015 AMR
Contents
1. Tradeshow fundamentals
2. Market opportunity
3. Organizer opportunities and challenges
4. AMR’s sector experience

12. 12©2015 AMR
AMR have advised corporates and private equity in most of the
major events deals
Select US deals AMR has supported 2012-2014
Business to retail
trade shows Registration data service
One-to-one events in
consumer/retail
Registration data service Fashion trade shows E-commerce tradeshow Consumer related trade
shows and conferences
Fashion tradeshows
Geo-adapting events Online information group
International packing
exhibition
Mexican
tradeshow platform

13. 13©2015 AMR
AMR advises 15 of the top 20 global organizers on key business
questions
What is the future
outlook for my
shows and what
paths can I take to
gain growth?
What acquisition
options do I have to
expand my events
through vertical
channels?
Who are my
competitors, how
do my events
compare to them,
and what can I do
to gain advantage?
How can I optimize
my pricing models
for my major
events to increase
the number of
visitors?
What should my
strategy be for
convention and
exhibition
facilities?
How can I leverage
data for show
success?
I want to launch a
show in a highly
fragmented events
sector, how do I
ensure success?
What do I need to
change in my
business model so
that I can expand
internationally?

14. 14©2015 AMR
AMR publishes the exhibitions industries annual assessment and forecast
AMR’s Globex report
Globex report
Now in its 6th edition
http://www.amrinternational.com/globex-report
 AMR’s authoritative Globex market report is a definitive dataset and
forecast for the exhibitions industry released annually since 2009
 The 450-page report tracks the developments and future growth
prospects of the world’s largest and most promising exhibitions
markets, and analyses growth options and challenges in each
of them
 It also provides an overview of the performance and strategies
of the world’s leading global exhibition groups providing outlook on
pricing models, venue development and visitor/exhibitor dynamics.
“Everyone in the industry needs a copy of this report. It brings
everything together with clear analysis - it’s worth it for the
forecasts alone.” Reed Exhibitions

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Director
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