Hi NLs,

So I went to the Ariya Expo on Saturday showcasing West African Tourism for those who want to travel or invest in the tourism industry.

The event was supposed to showcase "..the very best of West African Culture and Tourism. From Airlines to Accommodation providers, Car Hire, Entertainment and Hospitality, Business and Financial Services."

Why did I go? Well a multiple of reasons really, I am a firm believer Nigeria should be a number one tourism spot. Already I enjoy going there for the people, food, music and culture alone, investing more in this sector may make it more attractive to non-Nigerians and will impact the economy positively creating jobs with the multiple development schemes. So when I saw this advertised on BEN I thought it was a great way to see some destinations I could visit next time whilst going to view investment opportunities. My husband was eager to see investment opportunities also so we went along with our little soon to be 14 month old son.

The event was held over two days Friday 2nd November 10.00pm - 6.00pm and Saturday 3rd November 10.00am - 3.00pm at the Hilton London Kensington Hotel and besides Nigeria showcased some other places I'd like to visit like Ghana and Cape Verde.

The nature of me and my husband's work and business meant Saturday was the only viable day...

For attendees I will judge the event based on:

- number of participating exhibitors;

- quality of products or service exhibited;

- and conferences,

- seminars and

- events organized at the exhibition

- service quality


...For exhibitors satisfaction review and the full article: http://realnaijwife..co.uk/2012/11/ariya-expo-enjoying-or-investing-in.html
BOOTH MANAGEMENT

There was no real booth management as no high tech technology was visible at booths, products offered were give-aways and contact details for different booths were obtained via written registration forms and surveys. So the management of booths was fair as there was not much to manage for the organisers.



CONTENTS

Exhibition content included trade seminar, cultural performances and fashion show. This would have been very useful for exhibitors where they were relevant to the different exhibitors. The trade seminar, likely relevant to all was strictly by invitation and involved governement officials and diplomats however this was only on the Friday so I cannot comment on the quality of it thought it was likely very interesting. It was also by invitation only, this asks the question who gets an invite. If exhibitors all were allowed to send a representative this would be a key selling point, if not, then it was likely to be irrelevant, limited only to the fact they may see a passing official on exit from the seminar.

The cultural performances and fashion shows would be interesting to exhibitors who were likely to hire the services/buy the products, or whose region the performance/marketable product related to provided the performance/products were good. On the Saturday I saw some drummers with dreadlocks and I am not sure which country they were representing but I doubt it was Nigeria, the performance was basic as they sat down and drummed and the only interesting thing was they invited some children to play. If this had been developed more professionally or they had wonderful costumes for themselves and the children/participants and dances in tow that would have been better. The fashion designs were okay but I have seen a lot of great designs here in the UK and the runway was the whole floor instead of a professional runway, although there was a small runway which was not used.

...

EXHIBITION AND BOOTH ATTRACTIVENESS

The event was televised by BEN, this is where I saw the initial advert. I believe they had trouble getting exhibitors and attendees because of this. Any exhibitor that wants investment knows it pays to advertise in as many sources as possible. I am not certain this was advertised anywhere besides BEN and perhaps the Trumpet (a Nigerian newspaper). The event should have been in local newspapers that investors read like FT, Metro, Evening Standard, City AM. It should have been on other TV stations that British non-Nigerians view too. It could also have been on each exhibitors website. It should have been sent to investment bankers/fund managers/UKTI/DFID etc. I feel the lack of attendees that did not register meant the organisers could not spend as much as they wanted.

The booths themselves were quite basic and in many cases consisted of a desk, a chair and a pop up banner. Pop up banners are fine and serve their purpose, but it would have been nice to see a variety of booth investment ranging from basic to premium to indicate the investment of exhibitors themselves. This could have been done by the show organiser investing in the exhibition stands owned by government as these go a long way towards forming a lasting and even a first impression.

NUMBER OF EXHIBITORS

Very few, perhaps 9, plus a drum performance team consisting of two men in casual clothing and a fashion catwalk team. Past exhibitions I have seen have on average 100 exhibitors. As stated above I don't believe it was promoted well.

QUALITY OF PRODUCTS/SERVICE EXHIBITED

Average, quality ranged from very unique or valuable to very poor. Exhibitions are supposed to help exhibitors promote their product/service but this does not mean invite everyone who will pay it means that organisers should work with exhibitors to let them know the profile of the audience and what they expect (through preliminary surveys) and how to market/sell, in cases where you have enough exhibitors, the best exhibitors should be shortlisted (not necessarily the biggest but those with something valuable to offer). Shortlisting would not have been possible here but collaborative working to help exhibitors market would have been valuable.

CONFERENCES (a meeting of people who "confer" about a topic)

None at all, so cannot comment. Sadly this would have been a highlight for me and my partner. However, my partner networked and had his own impromptu "seminars" (well discussions really) with exhibitors regarding Nigeria...

Goldman Sachs has called Nigeria a Frontier economy and made it one of the Next 11 a group of 11 countries set to change the economy by 2020. There money is already in Nigeria. So why don't we invest in tourism? It definitely makes sense. I believe the next event they do will be fantastic if they take on the feedback received. They must however do really a number of things, invest in more promotion so there are more attendees and exhibitors, invest in booth management/marketing so booths are attractive, invest in the events organised making a valuable variety available on a public holiday or weekend as well as a weekday. They should invest in a bigger event to handle the large crowds they will draw in. I have taken this 2012 event as a dress rehearsal as all companies have this when venturing into something new and for a first time attempt it was not too bad, so bring on Ariya 2013!

For exhibitors satisfaction review and the full article: http://realnaijwife..co.uk/2012/11/ariya-expo-enjoying-or-investing-in.html