We are all conscious that the market is changing. Globalization favours large companies and it is evident that these have greater resources at their disposal to take advantage of the synergies that are offered by a fair such as ICE. However the traditional businesses, those that normally form the basis of ATEI, are being forced to reinvent themselves as a result of the appearance of new applications based on the Internet.

This is especially so in the case of the Spanish market. What is certain is that the ICE/ATEI organizers are trying to respond to this new scenario by giving a greater prominence to the former yet perhaps forgetting that, as a result of specialization, they are running the risk of starting to divide whereas, until now, they have multiplied.

It is impossible to satisfy everybody all of the time and obviously there will always be complaints. The work of the organizer, apart from the exhibitor's direct marketing, consists of ensuring a stable flow of visitors to all the participants, whatever the size and the position of the stand they have taken, avoiding, as far as possible, any imbalance. A truly difficult task that is made almost impossible when, as in the case of ATEI/ICE, the growth of the sectors is unequal.

No manufacturer with international aspirations wants to lose the opportunity of being present at an event which, up to now, has been considered as the best in the world. Nevertheless, this premise alone cannot be sufficient for those exhibitors, above all for the small or medium-size ones, who cannot always offer truly new products or cannot always present new ones every year.

For these professionals the costs of internationalizing their businesses cannot exceed the limits of common sense and, in that same regard, for them the fair is only an opportunity to meet with their own clients and of sharing with them the "know how" offered by the event when one considers the exhibitors as a whole. Among the latter, companies like Digital Center, Billares Sanchez Sierra, Famai, and Talleres Emit, have been among the first to abandon the ship and the organizers should take this serious account of this.

Those that have remained such as Compumatic, IPS and Gaelco have complained of the high costs of attending the event in times which, such as those at present, advise pragmatism rather than ostentation. It is very difficult when internationally recognized Spanish companies such as R. Franco, Unidesa Gaming, Zitro, Azkoyen, and Industrias Lorenzo have given up attending the London shows, but we should not forget that those that were not there, also had something to offer. What's more, some were there but were in another place, which benefits nobody and confuses the visitor even more as he needs to take longer to work out his optimum route around the stands.

Nor was the requirement to have to register separately, in order to be able to enter both events, welcomed by the Spanish visitors who had travelled to London and one could question whether, in order to obtain a better overall result, the organizers had not resorted to counting the figures for both events. Especially when in order to access one show from the other, one had to pass through a computerized control to enter the other show, something that did not always happen on leaving. Furthermore, as a result of the separation of both exhibition areas, in addition to the inconvenience of registration, those visitors who wanted to visit them both had to allow for the time taken in always having to return to the initial point of entry when the internal stairs that linked both exhibitions were closed to the public.

To summarise, without attempting to question the results supplied by the organization, the feeling of the Spanish exhibitors and visitors who attended ICE/ATEI is that there were fewer people in the corridors of the fair this year and those that were, faced with the enormity of the exhibition area chose to be in certain places, and to remain there waiting for their contacts.

Because of this we were able to make the mass media our work in part. Thanks to this and the activities organized by some exhibitors, the encounters between the more regular clients were facilitated. The organizers should reflect on all these things and take into consideration the fact that in view of the special conditions affecting the current market no-one should be excluded and that, above all, whoever visits the London show does so in the hope of meeting the maximum number of possible exhibitors. That is to say, regardless of whether they have new products and which stand they are occupying.

Finally, passing onto other matters, one should mention that once again this year and coinciding with the celebration of ICE, there were the presentations of the "Golden Dice" awards sponsored by a Spanish magazine. The lucky winners this year were F.B. Metronia, in recognition of the quality of the numerous models of gaming machines developed by their R & D department for various European markets, such as Spain, Great Britain and Norway, to mention but a few countries, the Brazilian company Copag for its one hundred years of making playing cards and the President of WMS International, Sebastián Salat for his personal career.

Those who for various reasons could not see the new products intended for the Spanish market that were presented by the companies exhibiting at ICE/ATEI, always have the consolation and opportunity to attend the next Málaga Fair in Spain. Two months more or less are all that separate one from the other.

Nevertheless, this year unexpected complications have arisen as regards the Spanish fair and its organizers have been forced to delay it until April. Another problem to be added to the crisis which does little to help us get out of it. A difficult year, which manufacturers and distributors alike will have to manage with wisdom if they wish to be present in London next year.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---