Iteca - results of the exhibition season 2018 and plans for the future year
In Kazakhstan an importance and popularity of the exhibition actions is increasing every year. They allow us to highlight the current trends in the global market and in the industries, to acquaint with them leading experts and representatives of domestic and foreign organizations.
The exhibition company Iteca has been working in our Republic for 25 years, and annually holds about 30 exhibitions and conferences of international level. In particular, in 2018, the company organized and successfully held 28 industry events. Among them are the following major projects: the exhibition and the conference “Oil and Gas” KIOGE, the exhibition “Tourism and Travel” KITF, the exhibition “Health Care” KIHE, the building and interior exhibition KazBuild and many others. Yury Borodikhin, the director of the exhibition company Iteca, informed about results of the expiring year and about future prospects.
Yuri, share your opinion on how the exhibition market of Kazakhstan and the countries participating in these events has changed over the past period?
We organize exhibitions almost from the date of independence of Kazakhstan. In 1993, Iteca began its way with the KIOGE oil and gas exhibition, and the following year, two more were added to the portfolio: the construction and mining industries. Due to the fact that the interest of international and domestic companies began to grow towards our events, an interaction with state structures was adjusted, Iteca expanded the industry spectrum and geography of exhibitions. Due to the fact that the interest of international and domestic companies began to grow to our events, interaction with government agencies was established, and Iteca expanded the industry spectrum and geography of exhibitions. Despite the repercussions of the global economic crisis, the number of participants for our events is not reduced, and even grows: in 2017 – 3 031 participants and 40 837 visitors, in 2018 – 3067 participants and 45 184 visitors. On average, the growth of visitors’ number is 10% annually. KITF, KIHE, AstanaBuild, KazBuild, Aquatherm Almaty, Mining & Metals, Powerexpo Almaty, Astana, Zdorovie, FoodExpo Qazaqstan, AgroWorld Kazakhstan exhibitions have been awarded by Global Association of the Exhibition Industry’s (UFI) mark.
Yuri, please give your comments on the results of the exhibition season 2018. How do you assess it?
2018 marked for our company. We acted as operators of the 25th World Mining Congress, which was held for the first time in Kazakhstan, in Astana. We also held 28 exhibitions and conferences, seven of which were Anniversary events. Within the framework of each exhibition, many interesting and topical discussions, reports and presentations were organized, which informatively supplemented the main events. During the year we held three international conferences (World Mining Congress, KIOGE and KIOSH), 114 seminars, 31 master classes and workshops, 28 presentations, seven round tables, six conferences inside the exhibitions and four forums. Our exhibitions and conferences were visited by 45,184 specialists from 53 countries of the world. In order to enhance the efficiency of exhibitors' participation in our events, we have entered the practice the buyers' programs, which included visits of delegations from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.We also provided participants with free marketing tools and conducted trainings to improve the efficiency of exponents' participation in exhibitions. According to reviews of the visitors and regular participants, our events contribute to the contracts, the introduction of new technologies, including those related to the digitalization of the economy, and the establishment of international relations in many sectors of the economy.
Which sectors of the economy do you organize exhibitions and conferences in?
This year we have held two exhibitions and one conference in the oil and gas industry, in the mining industry - the 25th world Mining Congress, two exhibitions on public health, two in tourism, four in construction industries and the same in energy, six in the food industry, one exhibition in the transport industry, as well as organized events for the market of object protection and labor safety.
Please share your impressions of holding such a large-scale event as the World Mining Congress. What significance this event has for Kazakhstan and, in particular, for your company?
It is important for the company that the government entrusted our team the organization of such significant event for the Republic. The Congress was attended by 2 586 delegates from 1047 organizations of 50 countries, and the participants included the representatives of governments and diplomatic missions, scientists, heads of mining enterprises, employees of international organizations. During the Congress, we held 21 technical sessions, and organized two major industrial exhibitions: Mining World CA and Kazcomak. 260 companies from 26 countries took part in these exhibitions. The main results of the Congress include the signing of a number of memorandums of the cooperation between the government, national companies and large corporations of the mining and metallurgical complex.
Representatives of state organizations take part in all events organized by Iteca. What is their role in supporting exhibition events?
We are actively supported by the profile ministries: the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs “Atameken”, as well as administrations of Almaty, Astana, Atyrau and Shymkent cities. Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank all the ministries and departments for supporting our events. Thanks to the state support, the subjects of exhibitions are expanding, the number of domestic and foreign participants is increasing, international relations are strengthening.
You have noted that exhibitors and visitors from more than 50 countries participate in the exhibitions. How are exhibitions supported by foreign organizations?
Exhibition events are attended by ambassadors and general consuls of more than 15 countries. In addition, we met a number of high-level foreign guests, sales representatives of the participating countries, as well as representatives of foreign sectoral ministries and government bodies. This indicates again that Kazakhstan is becoming an important player in the global business community. Our events contribute to the strengthening of interstate economic relations and expand the boundaries of business cooperation.
What Iteca's plans for 2019?
Currently, an active preparation is going for the exhibition season 2019, which will be full of interesting events and new formats for their holding. We have already rebranded a number of exhibitions. The following is waiting for visitors and participants in 2019:
- A new format of exhibitions, which provides the combination of exhibition, training and entertainment events on one place. For example, the preparation is already under way for the KITF 2019 tourism exhibition, which will include a forum of travelers, fairs, a marathon, a festival and master classes.
- high-quality content for business programs: trainings of world experts in management, HR, PR and others are planned. Continuing to form an exhibition culture in Kazakhstan, we will conduct two trainings for exponents to increase the effectiveness of the participation in exhibitions: Nikolay Karasev, the expert in exhibition business, will make the presentations in April 19 and September 6 .
- anniversary exhibitions of ShymkentBuild, MiningWorld CA, HoRex and AMM Congress.
- in 2019, Iteca's exhibition and conference sites will renew by changes in visual view and in content. They will be adaptive for any devices.
- following the trends of widespread introduction of the digitalization, Iteca has developed an electronic application form for participants, which is available today. This allows to simplify the process and reduce the time of application.
- continuing the "green policy" within the company and at the events, in 2019 all badges for participants and visitors will be made from ECO-paper. We rejected plastic in favor of recycled materials.
What do you think will be in trend in 2019?
I think that two directions will be actual: local content and digitalization. Such countries as Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, due to the current economic conditions, support the production of domestic goods and services, similar to imports and exceeding their quality. Our team, we can say, is always aware of trends in international and domestic markets. We always form the exposition based on the needs and orientation of a particular industry. We have recently seen an increase in the number of domestic and foreign participants and visitors. Consequently, the interest of domestic companies to the foreign technologies, connected with the digitalization of production and the introduction of innovative solutions, is growing.
Iteca will already open the regular exhibition season-2019 in March 13 by two exhibitions at once in Shymkent: the 5th Anniversary Building and Interior Exhibition ShymkentBuild and the South Kazakhstan Exhibition “Energy, Electrical Engineering and Power Engineering” Powerexpo Shymkent 2019.
