As North America’s only event for the party and Halloween market, Halloween and Party Expo’s show organiser has revealed that the show generated 2,800 meetings, with a focus on face-to-face connections and order writing.
Organised by Clarion Events, the show – which was held in New Orleans in January – was a celebration of fresh products and new business connections.
The annual tradeshow was held in conjunction with HAuNTcon, the Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow & Convention and the two events brought together more than 3,500 industry professionals from 37 countries, generating 2,800 appointments on the show floor.
For the third year in a row, the Buyer’s Club helped set up many of these one-to-one meetings and initiated plenty of order writing. The Buyer’s Club is a result of the partnership between H&P Expo and the Halloween & Costume Association, and helps buyers find products and connect with the right suppliers during pre-scheduled meetings.
“We had 28 meetings in the first two days alone,” said Tyler Volz, buyer from Spotlight Characters in Bentonville, Arkansas. “We used the online appointment system and it made it really easy.”
It was the second successful year for the MATCH! guaranteed meeting programme, which bought buyers and exhibitors together the day before the show, generating guaranteed appointments for exhibitors, based on in-depth company profiles.
This year’s event also launched the new SMART Event Experience, which generated almost 13,000 leads for exhibitors. The initiative saw buyers tapping in to collect information, which was sent to them at the end of each day, also allowing exhibitors to secure quality leads.
“[The SMART Event] was absolutely fantastic, no question about it!” said Ralph Koeniger with BoneWare Cutlery. “It allowed me to put all the information in there ahead of time; price sheets and description of our product. Last year it was hard to get the business cards and this time it was just… boom… scan… and we exchanged information. It was terrific and made it so much easier.”
“We thank all of our exhibitors, partners, retailers and sponsors for an incredible celebration of the industry in New Orleans last month,” commented Marni Vinci, show director of the Halloween & Party Expo. “With their feedback and advice we continue to evolve the show in tandem with the overall market in order to find new ways to forge face-to-face connections and support business success for our customers.”
