Transparency in Europe reaches a reliable standard
After the fall of the planned economy, many organisers were less than fastidious when it came to publishing data; now the calculation and auditing of statistics is on the increase again.
Ten years ago, trying to evaluate trade fairs in central and eastern Europe was a very hit-and-miss affair. After the demise of the state-controlled economy, many organisers were not very meticulous when it came to publishing data on trade fairs; pure fantasy prevailed in this unfamiliar area of competition. But today, the data of 240 trade fairs held every year in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Hungary are calculated and audited according to standard rules.
What made this development possible in a relatively short time? Back in the mid nineties, the big exhibition organisers in eastern central Europe - Poznan, Brno, Budapest and Bratislava - established contacts with the German Society for Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics (FKM), to find out how an auditor of exhibition statistics works. They independently had come to the conclusion that exhibitions exposed to the competition of the market economy will only have a chance long term if they can offer their customers reliable and comparable data about their events. These countries also had a particular interest in participating in the Euro Fair Statistics which several European auditing organizations publish every year under the aegis of the FKM.
With these aims in mind, the exhibition companies of Bratislava, Brno, Budapest and Poznan founded Centrex as a central European auditing organization, which set to work in 1997. The rules for arriving at exhibitor, surface area, and attendance figures are largely based on those of the FKM. The auditing procedure, too - auditing of figures by a public accounting firm - was also adopted. In the first business year alone, Centrex members had 120 trade fairs audited. In 2004, that figure doubled. The number of members rose to 13, the number of participating countries also increased - Ukraine and Romania joined. Today, Centrex has considerably expanded its range of tasks beyond pure auditing. It conducts exhibition research, positions the trade fair as a medium and is committed to training and further education.
But improving trade fair transparency in central and eastern Europe is not the sole responsibility of Centrex. Since 1996 exhibition organisers from Croatia and Slovenia have been guest members of FKM-Austria, a sister organisation of the German FKM, which operates by almost identical rules. The accountants of the Austrian organization are also responsible for auditing Zagreb and Celje. A total of 15 trade fairs are audited every year at these locations.
In Russia, too, access to comparable and reliable data is improving all the time. The exhibition company MVK based in Moscow has been a guest member of the FKM since the year 2003 and audits five trade fairs each year. And Russian exhibition association IUEF launched its own auditing system at the beginning of 2005; the rules were developed in close cooperation. The organization intends to audit no fewer than 50 trade fairs this year alone.
Above all, for the German export business, which is particularly eager to do business with Russia, the facilities for evaluating trade fairs in that country according to familiar criteria are improving.
Trade fair transparency has now therefore achieved a reliable standard throughout Europe. The Euro Fair Statistics, to be published for the 17th time this autumn will contain around 1500 trade fairs all of which are evaluated and audited according to pretty well identical rules.
Outside Europe, however, trying to compare trade fair statistics is a much harder nut to crack. That is why German and other auditing organisations are deeply committed to developing a new UFI standard for trade fair statistics. Its initiators hope that this standard, which was adopted by the board of directors of the International Association of the Exhibition Industry in June 2005, will be used in future to gauge exhibitor, surface area, and attendance figures.Harald Kötter
m+a report Nr.6 / 2005 vom 23.09.2005
m+a report vom 23. September 2005