Miami Beach, FL, July 16--Trade Show International's Skip Mason and Michael Coburn have announced a new marketing event, the PanAmerican Stone and Tile Expo. It will be held March 30 to April 1, 2004 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The expo will be an annual event in Miami and will be scheduled for the same time period each year.
Mason stated, “There has been a strong under-current developing that many executives wanted a marketplace that was not so overwhelming, that provided a more appropriate return on investment, and that is held in a cosmopolitan city that has more to offer...PanAmerican Stone and Tile Expo reflects those needs.”
Exhibitors at the industry's largest existing trade show increasingly feel that they have become “lost” in the crowd. To counter this unusual situation the new show will be staged at The Miami Beach Convention Center. This is a great facility, large enough to accommodate the vast majority of exhibitors, but not so large as to overwhelm both exhibitors and visitors. Mason said, “We want to be sure that each company’s investment … is more closely related to producing a good return on investment. We don't want the PanAmerican Stone and Tile Expo to become a battle ground of egos…where companies feel pressure to build larger and more expensive exhibits…only to make them stand out from the crowd and producing very little, if any, tangible results.”
The cost of exhibitor participation will be substantially lower than at association owned industry events. The stone industry will no longer have to subsidize the ceramic tile industry. As the PanAmerican Stone and Tile Expo is not owned by any industry sector, it will be able to offer more value at lower prices. Mason said, “The day has come for a change. I did not expect it to happen this way, but it has…and Michael, I and our staff including Team One Inc. want to continue to work for the stone and tile industries.”
Coburn stated, “We felt that we really needed to follow the established business model of American trade shows. The trade show industry knows that as many visitors attend a three-day show, as a four-day show. The PanAmerican Stone and Tile Expo will run for three days. This saves our exhibitors a substantial amount of time and money, yet produces just as many sales and leads.”
Originally, Miami Beach was the primary venue for what is now the industry’s largest event. That show left Miami Beach in 1995 in order to grow and increase profits. At that time, Skip Mason wrote a letter to friends of the show. It stated, “For many years, I have been a strong believer in the magic of Miami Beach. As an international crossroads situated in the land of blue waters and blowing palm trees, (the show) grew and developed.” Now without the politics to increase profit every year, this new exposition can return each year to a venue where the proportions make sense. We are committed to keeping the show in Miami Beach.
The expo will focus strong attendance on wholesalers, distributors and fabricators from North America. A very important emphasis will also be placed on attracting and delivering clients from Central and South America, including the Caribbean Basin. These visitors simply prefer Miami as a marketplace to visit.
Keeping with the needs of exhibitors, the PanAmerican Stone and Tile Expo will build strong alliances with the southern design and architectural community, whose activities are centered in the Miami area. Coburn stated that he expects “The professional design community will return to attending the PanAmerican Stone and Tile Expo in very strong numbers. It is simply a matter of geography. Southern Florida and particularly Miami is the design capital for the entire region.”
