Promote new trends in the outbound exhibition industry and support the foreign trade cause

On August 19-21， the 10th 10th Expo Project Fair for International Cooperation （Nanjing） 2020 was held in Nanjing Air-hub International Expo Center. On the morning of August 21， as one of the highlight forums of the fair， Outbound Exhibitions Forum was once again presented to the exhibition participants as scheduled.

Participating in overseas exhibitions is a main channel for foreign trade enterprises， especially small and medium enterprises， to open up the international market. The COVID-19 epidemic that broke out in early 2020 has swept the world， leading to the stagnation of exhibitions throughout the world and severely hindered Chinese companies from going abroad to participate in exhibitions. However， participating iin overseas exhibitions as an important measure to stabilize the basic foreign trade cause， as proposed by the Chinese Governemtn， is of great significance. The theme of this years Forum was "Outbound Exhibition Power and Foreign Trade Cause"， focusing on new trends in the outbound exhibition industry after the epidemic. The content of the forum was very rich， dividing into five parts： leaders speech， report release， theme dialogue， China Outbound Exhibition Club Tablet Awarding Ceremony and lucky-draw.

This forum was moderated by Zhang Hongmei， General Manager of Jinyun International Freight Forwarding （Hangzhou） Co.， Ltd. The forum received great attention from industry colleagues. Dozens of participants gathered on the scene， bringing warm atmosphere onsite.

Leaders speech

At the beginning of the forum， as an important guest of this forum， Yang Ming， Secretary General of the Convention and Exhibition Committee of the China Chamber of International Commerce and General Manager of CMEC International Exhibition Co.， Ltd.， delivered a warm opening speech.

Yang Ming： Chinese exhibitors to overses trade fairs have witnessed the historical changes of Chinas foreign trade development by leaps and bounds， and have recorded the development and changes of the industry in the past 40 years of Reform and opening up. Since 2020， the epidemic has drastically reversed the expectations of moderate growth in the world economy at the beginning of the year. At the same time， as an important channel for Chinese companies to understand industry development trends， showcase advanced technologies and products， expand foreign exchanges and cooperation， and explore investment and trade opportunities， companies participation in overseas exhibitions is greatly hindered. According to incomplete statistics， in the first half of 2020 alone， more than 2，000 exhibition projects will be affected. The epidemic has not only severely affected foreign trade companies participating in the country， but also caused major losses to companies participating in foreign exhibitions. With the development of the COVID-19 epidemic， all exhibiting companies have been affected， and no company can stay aside.

Under the test of major global public crisis， innovation is about the survival of a company， and it is also true for exhibition companies. Innovation points out the direction for the development ： one is to continuously improve the exhibition industry chain and build a large exhibition platform to serve the internationalization of enterprises； the other is to provide value services in the industry chain to provide enterprises， local industrial clusters and governments with industrial and packages of solutions for the development of the value chain， supply chain and other industries to enhance the international competitiveness of enterprises.

Report release

Ge Jing， Deputy Editor-in-Chief of China International Conference and Exhibition Magazine， released the annual report "2020 China Outbound Exhibition Industry Survey Report" compiled by Beijing New Expo Wisdom Big Data Technology Research Institute. In addition to covering the basic overview of Chinas exhibition industry in the previous year， the report focused on the operating conditions of outboud exhibition companies after the epidemic. It mainly included the overall scale of Chinas exhibition industry in 2019， the basic situation of overseas self-organized exhibitions， analysis of exhibition agents， analysis of popular outbound exhibition markets， and the business situation of the outbound exhibition industry since the outbreak of the epidemic， etc.

According to the report， in 2019， the most important exhibition markets for Chinese companies were the same as in 2018， mainly were Asia， Western Europe and North America. At the same time， the volume of Chinese participating in exhibitions in Latin America and the Caribbean， Africa， and Oceania increased slightly， and that in Eastern Europe and Russia droped. Among them， the top ten "Belt and Road" countries with the largest exhibition volume of China remained basically unchanged compared with 2018， followed by Russia， India， UAE， Thailand， Vietnam， Turkey， Indonesia， Malaysia， Poland and the Philippines.

In the overseas exhibitions originally scheduled to be joinned by Chinese exhibitors this year， the percentage of cancellation/ postponed projects accounted for an average of 80% of the original total number of projects.

Thematic dialogue

In the dialogue session， under the moderation of Li Zhenli， General Manager of Beijing Neogreen International Exhibition Co.， Ltd.， Li Jing， Deputy General Manager of Hannover Milano Exhibition（Shanghai） Co.， Ltd.， Lin Liping， Lin Liping， General Manager of Zhejiang Hoer Convention and Exhibition Co.， Ltd.， Shen Chunlian， Vice President of sales of Middle East International Exhibition Group， Wu Xiaoqing， General Manager of Shandong Kewei International Business Exhibition Co.， Ltd.， shared the business strategy under the epidemic.

Li Jing， Deputy General Manager of Hannover Milano Exhibition（Shanghai） Co.， Ltd.： After the US launched a trade war against China， the Australia-China foreign trade， UK-China foreign trade have also greatly affected. These are obstacles for many Chinese companies to enter the international market. Under the dual tests of the epidemic and the changes in the international economic and trade environment， I think Chinese leaders are still very smart and can respond well to adjustments and encourage Chinese companies to "go global"， especially， under the "Belt and Road" policy， Chinese companies are more active in foreign exchanges.

Now that foreign exhibitions are basically on a stop， it is very difficult for foreign organizers and domestic agents to survive. We have communicated with many partners and found that some of the agents have now changed to domestic exhibition projects. Today， everyone who is still in the outbound industry needs to work hard to continue to live. As a German exhibition organizer， we strive to do what we have at hand. At the same time around the world， we conduct online communication， exchange information， and build confidence. Judging from the current situation， the governments are actively promoting enterprises to "go global" from the policy level. As a German company subsidary in China， we are also echoing national policies to cater for the needs of enterprises and new create service points.

Lin Liping， General Manager of Zhejiang Hoer Convention and Exhibition Co.， Ltd.： Before the outbreak of the epidemic， we were only engaged in the agency and promotion of overseas exhibitions. In 2019， the company exhibited 97 projects， but after the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020， the company has only completed 6 exhibition projects so far. Fortunately， several major projects have been completed this year. The profits of these projects will suport the entire company this year. After the outbreak of the epidemic， many exhibiting companies are carrying out business innovations in various aspects. Some are helping foreign trade companies to deal with inventory， and some are helping companies to carry out some business matching based on their own existing databases.

In April， we found that this years outbound exhibition situation was very difficult. We expected that in the first half of the year， overseas offline exhibitions were unlikely to be held. Foreign trade companies could only obtain orders via online， so we began to innovate and build online exhibition platforms. I feel that no matter what model an exhibition company uses to innovate， as long as it can give full play to the vitality of the company， every company is respectable. If you are afraid of hardships and challenges， you wont dare to make new attempts. The innovative spirit is the most valuable in the exhibition industry.

In the process of online exhibition， we have accumulated some experiences. First of all， most exhibition companies are micro and small companies. External capital， including some technology giants， have strong technical teams and comprehensive databases. They are a very big challenge to traditional exhibition companies. We must pay attention to this in future development. Second， exhibitors docking habits of online exhibitions， acceptance of online exhibitions， and willingness for participating in online exhibitions all need to be improved. Third， the current online exhibition technology is in a stage of florishing， and the choices on technologies are multiple. In general， I believe that online exhibitions have certain development potential. Although it is very difficult for the organizers now， I believe that after a period of hard work， as long as exhibitors can see certain effect， their acceptance of online exhibitions will gradually increase.

Shen Chunlian， Vice President of Sales of Middle East International Exhibition Group： Our company is not only the Chinese agent of overseas exhibitions， but also the organizer of foreign exhibitions. From March until now， we have been organizing online exhibitions for almost half a year. From the release of documents supporting online exhibitions by the Ministry of Commerce in April to more policies for online exhibitions in August， the development of online exhibitions has been very rapid. In the past few months， we have seen that no matter how hard and difficult the process is， many exhibition companies China are actively paying attention to and exploring online exhibitions.

Compared with previous offline exhibitions， the online exhibition business places higher requirements on the service team of organizers， and customers are more concerned about the results of signing orders. First of all， there are challenges in the sales phase of online exhibitions. When we invite a customer to participate in an online exhibition， the customer will immediately ask： "How many orders can be signed？ How large are the orders？" When a customer signs up to participate in an online exhibition， he has already known the popularity and basic information of the exhibition in advance. With such basic understanding， he has certain expectations for the order volume. Secondly， in the process of exhibiting customers， we must considerately guide them to display their brands more effectively on the online booth. Finally， we all know that when organizing companies to participate in offline exhibitions， we exhibition company will not make any promises on the effect， but regarding organizing online exhibitions， we must make certain commitments to exhibitors. Because even if the overall number of clicks is high， if the booths of some companies are not visited， the exhibiting companies do not communicate effectively with the buyers， for these exhibitors， the number of customer visits is simply 0. Therefore， the online exhibition puts high demands on us exhibition organizer. Therefore， in order to ensure the accuracy and reliability of buyer invitations， we must continously to send emails and communicate repeatedly， so that buyers and exhibitors can accurately connect during the online exhibition period.

Wu Xiaoqing， General Manager of Shandong Kewei International Business Exhibition Co.， Ltd.： In the epidemic situation， our company is a pessimist， and the deployment is relatively early. We might be one of the fastest companies for business transformation in the exhibition circle. We began online platform development on January 30 and begin the new operation in February. On the first day of launch， the platform added nearly 30，000 fans， which is a very fast growth.

We have accumulated a large number of foreign partner resources in the process of doing overseas exhibition agency business. Since April， the offline exhibition industry in various countries has been hit hard by the epidemic. However， we simultaneously launched online exhibition platforms for Australia， Melbourne and some other countries. In foreign countries， during the epidemic， local companies were idle at home and had no business to do. Through online exhibition platforms， they became buyers and distributors of Chinese exhibitors products， all sides forming an ecological closed loop. At the same time， for some companies， To B exhibitions are closed， and their products need To C to reach end consumers. We then reached strategic cooperation with domestic and foreign e-commerce platforms such as eBay， Amazon， and AliExpress to bring their products online. Thus we tried our best to meet the foreign trade needs of enterprises as much as possible， and assist enterprises to explore overseas markets.

The key to our successful transformation and innovation lies in the business data accumulated before. Previously， most exhibiting companies only organized exhibitors to participate in the exhibition， and did not further collect on-site data. However， our company takes one step more than traditional exhibiting companies. For example， we have been doing statistics anylasis on the Canton Fair for the government， including matching and transactions data. During the epidemic， we also made corresponding service extensions based on the companys existing database to better serve enterprises. Our company has always maintained the idea of connecting suppliers， buyers， governments， and each link of the exhibition ecological chain to better serve the industry.

China Outbound Exhibition Club Awarding Ceremony

China Outbound Exhibition Club， initiated by China International Conference and Exhibitions Magazine， is an exhibition industry exchange organization composed of exhibition agencies and exhibition-related service organizations， connecting Chinese and foreign exhibition sponsors， creating a diversified resource ecosystem for entrepreneurs， and building connection between China and foreign countries. At present， the club members cover dozens of high-quality exhibition related organizations in many cities across the country， and the number is still growing. Yang Ming， Secretary General of the Convention and Exhibition Committee of the China Chamber of International Commerce and General Manager of CMEC International Exhibition Co.， Ltd.， issued tablets for present members.