Jumping the queue spoils the show!
Source: Textile Asia Business Press Date: 2006-05-18
The organisers of ShanghaiTex 2006 are enthusiastic about the coming show, which was announced on September 28, 2005, shortly after the last ShanghaiTex, to meet what is called “the urgent requests of many of its exhibitors and visitors and of China Textile Enterprises”. It will now become an annual event, having started as a biennial show in the mid-1980s.
This is nothing new. It is an exercise in “jumping the queue”, but will have a contagious effect on other machine shows. Thus not only ShanghaiTex will indulge in such ambitions, but other events will be encouraged to programs of expansion.
Their latest announcement, in late March 2006, stated the 2006 show to be already “almost sold out.” The secret of its coming quick expansion resides in the fact that the organisers have combined several specialised exhibitions – the Shanghai International Clothing Machinery Exhibition, Knitting China and the Shanghai (China) International Textile Machinery Accessories & Parts Exhibition, which have all been held hitherto in even-numbered years and are now being persuaded to integrate into ShanghaiTex 2006. They have been encouraged by the ShanghaiTex organisers’ assurances that they will now hold an annual rather than a biennial show.
Thus not only ShanghaiTex will have such prospects but the specialised shows will have “equal chances to share the fruit of this rapid expansion.” But will this program be accepted by other show organisers in the world, especially CEMATEX, the organisers of ITMA and ITMA Asia? So far no official opinion has been announced. It seems the longer the silence, the worse the situation will become. In such circumstances the difficulty may become insoluble.
This explanation is in any case not satisfactory, as ShanghaiTex is now trying to profit from the strength of other specialised shows so as to enlarge its sales and mislead them into similar expansion. But in these circumstances there will be too many shows. On the one hand this policy will turn ShanghaiTex into a grotesque event like the Shanghai amusement park, similarly famous or infamous. On the other, a modern show of whatever size must cover a concentrated field, like ITMA. This world show has established over some 50 years a splendid record. After 1971 ITMA decided to separate from the clothing manufacturers, who themselves desired to concentrate on IMB. Now ShanghaiTex, on the contrary, desires to take the Shanghai International Clothing Exhibition and several other specialised events under its wing – a big step backwards.
In the past 40 years the world of textile machine shows has expanded into many specialised sectors in order to meet the demand for specialisation and for new arrangements in which specialisation would be the order of the day. The management of ShanghaiTex found it necessary to reverse this trend by rendering their show an annual event. They still have two months in which to correct this historic mistake and revert to the world trend.
Meanwhile all the specialised shows such as SICME and the others would be well advised to remain as they are and maintain their status as established biennial events. I have never heard of any success in the show business obtained simply by converting a two-year show into an annual event without other justification. In this modern world, and especially in the marketing of textile technology, specialised trade fairs must be held in a serene environment and an educational atmosphere (see also ITMA Asia and CITME join forces in the Exhibitions & Conferences section).
