Entering a new field, with little to no experience, can be daunting at first.
Trade show business, complex and vaste as it can be, hides a multitude of challenges and risks, but it also gives great satisfaction.
Today, we want to share a story about someone who developed a true and lively passion for trade shows: Marco Barozzi, Expo Consulting founder (30 years in the field and counting!), whose professional and personal achievements testify how everchanging and dynamic working in this business can be.
The beginning of a true passion
Marco got his first job in the exhibition business thirty years ago. It was in Modena, working for the Italian branch of a prestigious organization that was, and still is, running trade shows all over the world, including Italy. As a sales manager he had to sell space for an exhibition in the food and beverage industry in the North of Italy. The fairground was in Genoa.
Apparently, after many years of substantial growth, the fair had entered a phase of decline and the organizers had asked for help. Thier goal? Bringing the show back to its former glory.
Marco was given a desk, a phone (landline) and a long list of companies to call.
Trade shows in the ’90s
Back in the early ‘90s clients had big budgets to spend and the exhibition business was literally flourishing.
That’s how he started to love the job, to love the trade show industry in every aspect: solving problems of angry exhibitors and visitors, the excitement of the build-up and of the day the show opened, the anxiety or fear that anything could happen.
He went from one exhibition to another for many years, ran a few events, promoted hundreds with passion and enthusiasm, travelled countries and developed markets.
This passion for trade shows ended up with Marco creating his own agency and a team to whom he transferred the love for this business.
What is the purpose of a trade show?
Why do companies exhibit at an event? What are their objectives? What is their budget?
While anyone who has attended or exhibited at a trade show is aware of the purpose it has, few people understand what goes on behind the scenes in the days and months preceding the event, the amount of work which is required for its preparation.
And if it is true that technology and digitization have invaded our daily lives, face-to-face meetings like the ones taking place in trade fairs will never lose value. As humans, we long for real time in-person connections, we want to live and share memorable experiences.
It has been said that
The quality of our lives is proportional to the amount of uncertainty we can embrace.
And it still holds valid: the reason why Marco, and other people, ended up choosing this job is to connect with others, but, above all, to help others connect and create business opportunities for them in a given market.
