A few weeks ago our EDPA association exhibited at EuroShop 2011 in Duesseldorf Germany. This was my first big international show (over 2,000 exhibitors in 17 halls and more than 100,000 attendees over 5 days). Of course I was blown away by the size and scope of the expo…no real surprise there. But EuroShop also got me thinking about what it takes to be a globally competitive tradeshow marketplace…
If we go back to our favorite tradeshow industry pie chart (and metaphor) it seems to me that a lot of our energy goes into how to get as much revenue as possible from the existing pie. Not enough of our work and focus goes into making (or baking) the pie any larger.
Last week, a handful of tradeshow industry associations and leaders urged President Obama to quickly accept a series of recommendations advanced to him on March 11th 2011 by the President’s Export Council intended to repair failures of existing U.S. visa and entry policies that are preventing thousands of international buyers from attending U.S.-based trade events.
Chairman of the President’s Export Council and President and CEO of Boeing W. James McNerney recommended five priorities to the President designed to help U.S. companies compete globally including:
- Facilitate visa processing for B visa travel by establishing dedicated business windows at U.S. consulates, setting aside specific times for B visa traveler interviews and encouraging U.S. posts abroad to collaborate with American Chambers of Commerce wherever possible to assist small business owners to secure their U.S. travel documents.
- Streamline the visa interview and issuance processes by increasing the number of consular offices abroad, moving resources to those posts with the highest demand and waiving the interview requirement for low-risk cases.
- Work with Congress to reform U.S. visa and immigration policies to attract the kind of highly-skilled workers, entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world.
- Establish a Trusted Employer Program through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to facilitate and streamline travel for employers with strong track records of compliance.
- Form an informal public-private working group to serve as a mechanism to improve transparency and increase communication between the Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security and State, other relevant government agencies, and affected U.S. companies and industry groups.
Citing the alarming and chronic problems that international business visitors continue to endure when trying to secure travel documents to visit U.S.-based trade events, IAEE President Steven Hacker wrote President Obama, “The United States is not losing the competition, we are forfeiting it. We are not even in the game.”
IAEE has been an early and outspoken supporter of the President’s National Export Initiative (NEI) which was launched in early 2010 with the goal to double U.S. exports by 2015.
What can the EIC and its founding member associations do to help? This blog page has been designed for discussion. Please participate and add to the dialogue.
If we want to be truly competitive in the larger global marketplace, it is going to mean change. Next month we will explore how our counterparts in Europe approach the tradeshow industry with their model. Stay tuned and stay involved.
