Reed Gift Fairs Sydney September will be given a new lease on life next year with several major changes and improvements, designed to create extra buzz and excitement amongst our visitors, and to attract new buyers to the fair.
There was a lot to feel good about from this year’s Sydney September event, not least the overwhelmingly positive feedback from buyers, but we do acknowledge that in these tough economics times we need to do all we can to ensure your return on investment from the fair is on a growth track.
We know that Sydney September comes off the back of our popular Melbourne fair and is the fifth of our annual events; it is difficult to maintain high levels of enthusiasm. But our aim is to give this event a life of its own and make it a real occasion for gift and homewares buyers. We have developed a strong strategic plan for this and have secured significant additional investments from Reed Exhibitions head office to ensure we are committing our resources to this.
We are going to be working around a theme of ‘new’. Our visitors constantly tell us that they want to see new products, new trends and new exhibitors. Some of that falls on us to provide the basis for this, but it also requires a co-operation with all exhibitors and your offering but we want to set an example by providing buyers with new products, a new theme, a new look, a new layout, new creative, new marketing - a new experience. And new reasons to visit the fair.
Further details will be communicated to you over the next few months but these changes will definitely be exciting, positive and impactful.
We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Stephen Steenson to the role of Reed Gift Fairs Exhibition Director. From November and looking ahead to its five events in 2012, Steve will take full control of the day to day running of Reed Gift Fairs and will oversee the marketing, sales, event co-ordination and customer service functions. As many of you will already know, Steve has been in the position of Operations Director with Reed Exhibitions for many years and knows gift events and the wider industry extremely well.
Steve will be taking over from Omer Soker who has now been elevated to the position of Group Exhibition Director, a strategic role across Reed Exhibitions entire retail portfolio. With Omer's support, Steve will continue to grow his advocacy and support for the gift and homewares industry and will bring his own unique enthusiasm and positive attitude to the role.
We have received several reports of a new direct mail being sent out to exhibitors that asks them to provide information, and in some cases payment, for services around our events. These scams will usually identify themselves as something connected to the fairs (e.g. Fair Guide, Exhibitor Directory), but are in no way affiliated with or connected to Reed Exhibitions.
Anything sent from Reed Gift Fairs or Reed Exhibitions will always be clearly labelled/branded and will come from a reliable source.
We ask all our exhibitors to be extremely vigilant when dealing with any correspondence requesting money and/or information and we urge you to check with your account manager if you are ever unsure.