The systematic activity of organizing various kinds of exhibitions and fairs in most countries of the world is an important sector of the economy. The market infrastructure of Russia is also characterized by such a rapidly developing business as exhibition and fair activities. This is facilitated not only by the dynamic development of local markets, investment in the economy, but also by the rapid development of the regions themselves, as it is one of the driving forces for economic development.
The concept of exhibition activity and why it is needed
This activity is aimed at finding the most rational forms of communication between trade and industry, finding new markets for goods produced in the country. At present, the activity of organizing exhibitions in Russia has a sufficient amount of necessary professional resources:
- administrative;
- economic;
- technological;
- technical;
- household;
- promotional;
- informational.
General issues of development and technology of exhibition activities in Russia have already been sufficiently studied. At present, the topic of its effectiveness is becoming more relevant.
The reason for this was certain changes in the country's economy: the period when capital was rapidly accumulating was replaced by a period of competition.
The position of the industry in the economic segment of the country today
Now many representatives of domestic business understand that it is more profitable not to withdraw profits abroad, but to invest in their own economy. Even the essence of competition is changing: manufacturers and distributors are now concerned not so much with advertising the product itself, but with the presentation of the benefits that the buyer will receive by choosing a particular brand. That is why the exhibition and fair activity of organizations and enterprises producing and selling goods is aimed at creating demand for the object being sold. In this regard, the importance of organizing various fairs and exhibitions is noted.
These events are designed to acquaint the interested audience with the development of a particular industry and the goods and services it produces and identify the demand for them. Their value lies in creating a situation of partner communication between an exhibitor and a potential buyer. The more professionally the exhibition is organized, the more benefits can be expected from it. It is sad that at present Russian exhibition organizers are solving this problem in an unprofessional manner: without taking a progressive approach to their organization and inadequately evaluating the results of this action. Many exhibitors are not aware of the inefficiency of their participation in the fair, because they do not have the mechanism for adequately assessing the organization of the event.
And yet, many steps have already been taken in this direction: a classification of organizational methods has been made, on the basis of which the planning and organization of the described events are carried out:
- theoretical models, which contain analysis and recommendations, in which the company participates in the exhibition;
- collection of analytical data on the activities of the enterprise during the insertion;
- exhibition activity in general information and rules of its organization.
Forms of exhibition events
Forms of organization of exhibitions (fairs) are very extensive and able to satisfy any needs of market participants. Currently, these services are implemented through the following events: auctions, thematic weeks, exhibitions, symposiums, salons, fairs, conferences, festivals, exchanges, tastings, etc.
Despite the apparent similarity, such events differ from each other in a number of ways:
- target;
- order of organization;
- participation method;
- composition of attracted participants and interested visitors, etc.
Currently, the activities that are the subject of this article are mainly represented by the holding of fairs and exhibitions held in the form:
- trade fairs;
- exhibitions of various levels (international, regional, city, etc.);
- specialized showrooms, etc.
Features of congress activities
Congress and exhibition activities are no less powerful advertising tools that promote various products and services. In addition, the advantage of this direction is the possibility of prompt exchange of information. The sphere includes the organization of events of various formats and scales. Typically this is:
- symposia;
- forums;
- seminars;
- conventions;
- summits;
- conferences, etc.
Often, this vector of the exhibition and fair business is called "event", which is explained by the tourist component. Congress and exhibition activities have a significant impact on the formation and development of professional and business tourism in the regional, national and international framework. It is important to note that such exhibitions help stimulate visits by two categories of people. The first includes direct participants of exhibitions who are looking for ways to promote advertising and customers to sell their goods. The second group is people who attend exhibition events in order to familiarize themselves and further purchase products, conclude long-term contracts for cooperation or supplies.
Fundamentals of exhibition activities in the field of congress tourism are the basis of national economic development. The task of the industry is to create new and optimize existing enterprises in all sectors of the economy, as well as to attract funds from foreign investors, the arrival of which will become a determining factor in readiness forfurther growth of professional and business tourism.
The place of museums in the exhibition activities of the country
Modern exhibition activity includes in its system another important element of the cultural and educational vector. Changes in the public life of the state at the end of the 20th century had a negative impact on museum exhibitions, the main task of which was to educate the people, familiarize them with the style of fine arts and orient themselves in certain genres. The exposition and exhibition activity of that period practically came to a standstill. Working for more than 20 years in the mode of "one-day" exhibitions, and today museums continue to work according to the same scheme.
Active museum and exhibition activities remain only in institutions that are ready to boast of the mobility of holding events. This is what allows commercial and non-commercial participants in the exposition environment to quickly respond to public requests, introduce research materials into the work of exhibitions and provide them to visitors.
Despite the fact that museum and exhibition activities are almost identical concepts, the economic component of the latter is a higher priority at the state level.
Meaning of exhibition and fair activities
The Russian economy, which has advanced far in its development, at the present stage considers exhibition and fair activities not only as a tool for pricing, searching for potentialpartners, attracting capital, but also as a stimulator of production based on a large scientific potential, a tool for interaction between regional and international markets.
Organization of exhibition activity implies such an economic space where technologies, services and goods could move freely, innovative business methods could appear. Not only the organization of export-import exchange at the moment becomes dependent on exhibition and fair activities, without it, the economic development of territories within the country is hindered. This is due to the fact that this type of activity has a significant integration potential, advantages over other types of communications and the ability to compare the country's economy with the world economy.
Types and differences of exhibition and fair events
The international classification system allows you to divide exhibitions (fairs) according to the following criteria:
- geographic composition of participants;
- industry (thematic) attribute;
- economic importance;
- territorial feature;
- time frame (duration).
This is far from the only way in which exhibition activities are classified, although recognized by the world community. In connection with changes in the European economy, it became necessary to streamline the activities of organizing exhibitions, based on a territorial basis in terms of participation in the event of interested persons froma certain number of countries. The following classification is designed to assess the economic significance of a particular event in this area.
- Global Expo (an industry-specific event on a global scale; attracts exhibitors from all over the world).
- European Exhibition (European-scale event; attracts participants from all countries).
The following structures can carry out this type of activity:
- executive authorities of the federal level and subjects of the federation;
- structures specializing in organizing such events;
- CCI (chambers of commerce and industry);
- both industry and interregional associations;
- organizations of various forms of ownership, even if this activity is not their main one.
Sufficiently efficient self-government, financial stability, organization of quality work of municipalities are impossible without the development of economic activity.
The organization of exhibition activities is focused on creating an environment that will promote goods and services not only to domestic, but also foreign markets, will force local entrepreneurs to establish economic and economic ties with foreign partners.
How is the field of exhibition activity developing in the world?
The development of activities for the organization of fairs (exhibitions) in the world does not stand still, it brings multibillion-dollar incomes to the organizing countries, whichmakes them constantly compete in this area. A quarter of contracts are concluded during international events. Exhibition activity, as a business of Asian countries, has made a qualitative leap forward, overtaking the countries of Europe and America, and gaining leadership in this direction. In our country, everything is happening differently.
In Russia, the development of exhibition activities is undergoing qualitative changes. Gradually, the sphere becomes an independent industry. The number of these events is growing, the requirements for them are increasing, which allows them to take their place in the global niche. This is evidenced by open data from the International Union of Exhibitions and Fairs: there are about 250 exhibition organizers in Russia, 55 of which are members of the International Union; they have held more than 1200 exhibitions of various levels. The annual turnover from this type of activity in the country is more than 193 million US dollars and increases by more than 30% every year.
Since 1991, the number of activities in this direction has increased by 17% per year. Everything suggests that this part of the country's economy is developing adequately.
Specifics of holding exhibition events in Russian regions
Exhibition events in our country are held in many cities, in addition to St. Petersburg and Moscow, although these cities continue to be recognized as international exhibition centers.
Some trends in the development of exhibition activities in Russia can be identified. Following the example of the worldcommunity, the country is on the path of reducing the number of universal exhibitions representing a large number of industries. Each subsequent event becomes more specialized, aimed at comprehensive coverage of a certain area of exhibition activity, a manufacturer of goods or services. The increase in industrial growth entails an increase in the number of exhibitions (fairs) on this topic.
The capital of Russia, Moscow, is still the city where the vast majority (more than a quarter) of these events in the country take place, and remains the center of representation for a large number of industries. But more and more clearly there is a tendency to increase the number of exhibitions (including international ones) held in regions and cities where a large number of representatives are concentrated who are interested in consuming the presented products and services.
The fact that exhibition activity is developing rapidly at the present stage is evidenced by the ever-increasing number of exhibitors who present their products at these events. Now their number is approaching half of the total number of participants.
Currently, large-scale construction of exhibition grounds is underway in Moscow (first of all, this concerns the All-Russian Exhibition Center). The exhibition areas of St. Petersburg are constantly expanding. New centers are being renovated and built to organize exhibitions of various levels in Irkutsk, Samara, Volgograd, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysk, Khabarovsk, Sochi andother cities.
Unresolved problems at this stage of exhibition activities
Unfortunately, the grandiose positive changes in the exhibition activity are taking place against the backdrop of a number of problems that are being solved slowly and with great difficulty.
- First of all, it should be noted the imperfection of the legal framework, which regulates this type of activity insufficiently. It is necessary to develop additional norms and relevant documents.
- Lack of coordination in planning these events: there is no agreement on timing, topics, priority areas, which makes international cooperation difficult; the national component is weakly expressed.
- There are no statistics of organizations engaged in exhibition activities, which slows down the analysis of their activities and makes it difficult to forecast development.
- There is no conceptual approach of state authorities of various levels to this type of activity, despite its significant importance for the development of the country's economy as a whole.
- Low level of support for certain departments, called upon by their coordinated actions to provide state support to the exhibition activities of Russia.
- The level of the material and technical base of this type of activity does not meet international standards, and as one of the main shortcomings in this regard, the lack of exhibition space throughout the country.
- At present, foreign exhibitors more often manage to promote their goods, services and technologies to the Russian market. Russian goods at international fairs are not adequately represented, so it is necessary to work towards the symmetry of import-export flows.
- The organizers of a huge number of fair projects of similar subjects do not always compete in good faith with each other, which reduces the popularization of such activities and negatively affects the development of the industry as a whole.
- Use for holding exhibitions (fairs) unsuitable for this area, lack of transport accessibility, the inability to attract a sufficient number of visitors, that is, undeveloped infrastructure.
Despite a long list of shortcomings, exhibition activities in Russia are undergoing extensive work to organize and improve the domestic market, truly on a national scale. This happens in connection with the recognition of its political and strategic importance in the development of the country's economy.
