The Helicopter Association International’s Heli-Expo is the world’s largest trade show for the helicopter market. Nearly 20,000 people attended the event, held March 2 to 5 at the Orange County Convention Center, which included more than 720 exhibitors and buyers from industries such as law enforcement, military departments, and medical companies from around the world.
“We have upwards of $2 billion in sales happening on the show floor,” said Karen Gebhart, the association's vice president of business development. “Some of our exhibitors do more than 50 percent of their annual revenue in the three days of this show. So we have a responsibility to ensure we have a quality venue, that we have quality services, that we provide quality buyers, and that we provide that turnkey service for all of these exhibitors to come in and have the best experience they can possibly have.”
The challenge for Gebhart and her colleagues was to meet the needs of all exhibitors—from large companies such as Bell Helicopter and Airbus that had booths as large as 40,000 square feet to the dozens of smaller exhibitors that just had a 10- by 10-foot space. The largest four exhibitors—Bell, Airbus, Sikorsky, and August-Westland—selected their booth spaces first on a schedule that rotates each year. “We need to place them first because these gigantic booths can’t just be put anywhere, and a lot of companies want to be near them,” Gebhart said. These exhibitors also typically do elaborate product reveals at the show, each one vying for the attention of buyers and media. To provide equitable opportunities for coverage, organizers strategically scheduled the reveals every 30 minutes, which gives guests time to make their way from one event to the next across the more than 300,000 square feet of show floor.
In the months leading up to the show, the association provided opportunities for all exhibitors to become familiar with the host city and venue. Gebhart coordinated site visits for the four largest exhibitors to help them select venues for off-site events they hosted for their customers and guests. “I get their agenda and work with Visit Orlando so that when they came in for their two-day site visit we were able to see venues that were relevant to them and their needs. So when they left they were able to go back and make a decision fairly quickly,” she said. The remaining exhibitors had an opportunity to send a representative to a group site visit where they walked the show floor, visited hotels, and explored nearby venues.
Organizers also used the show to educate attendees about the following year’s event. Heli-Expo 2016 will take place in Louisville, Kentucky, so more than two dozen representatives from the city’s visitors bureau and convention center were at the show to talk to exhibitors and buyers. Each attendee also received a packet of information about Louisville, including a thumb drive with two videos showcasing the city.
