FM Expo moves to November

David Thompson, project manager, FM Expo.

When will the show be held and is this a permanent move?
The seventh annual show will run from 21-24 November at Sheikh Zayed Hall 1. It will be co-located with Big 5 and will run alongside the PMV, concrete and green build expos.

The November move is permanent. FM Expo until now has been held alongside real design led shows. You normally get architects, procurement directors and interior designers, which are also relevant to FM. But having researched the shows, although these people are people FM folk want to meet with, the amount of people going to Big 5 is just so much bigger.

Why the move?
The main reason is to give something back to the industry. In the six years that it has been running, visitor numbers have fluctuated from 4,500 to 6,000 and have never exceeded 7,000. Big 5 had 36,000 visitors last year. Not all were relevant to FM but having broken it down, the people that attended the Big 5 looking for either TFM or FM elements, ended up being about 14,000.

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the last 6-7 years, the FM phase has become more and more important, mainly because the strategy for property owners has changed. A few years ago properties were bought before they were even finished, whereas now, because the market has slowed down, property owners and investors are looking at it more as a five to ten year plan and are therefore more concerned with the maintenance of their building.

Property owners and real estate developers that come to the Big 5 get to see not just what will happen during construction, but what will happen post construction, so it’s giving them more business, more features, more information and more opportunity.

Do you genuinely expect a higher footfall of FM attendees at a construction event?
Absolutely. 14,000 is at least what we’re looking at. We have a budget and campaign we put together, very similar to what we’ve done previously and the size of the budget is very similar also. However what we’ve got on top of our promotion is the Big 5 promotion also. My expectation is that it will be as big as the one in May, however, my expectation for 2012 would be to see it double in size.

Will exhibitors really be willing to spend the money again this year?
Considering the number of FM exhibitors that requested the move alongside Big 5 in November, I hope they will feel we’ve listened and acted on it.

We hope to see the industry leaders come back again and really stamp their mark at the FM Expo alongside Big 5. I do expect it will have a strong element of service providers because that’s what it has always been, but we also want to see product suppliers, from the technology side and consultancy side also.

What will differ from the May expo?
We like to look at what the market is currently focusing on and at the moment that is OAs. So we’d like to create a seminar on the shop floor which will bring the members together. It’s relevant to what’s going on and will be hugely beneficial to the exhibitors.

In May, IFMA came along and presented one of four sessions which would eventually lead to IFMA certification. The first course was on project management and had about twenty people attend. Delegates were interested in doing the rest of the sessions and so IFMA will be present again in November to do the next session.

What FM Expo is trying to do is to not just be an exhibition. It’s not just about business to business but is also about educating the region.

Don’t you think the show will be overshadowed by the Big 5?
FM EXPO is its own event so no, it won’t be overshadowed – I don’t think so. It’s really complementing the exhibition itself. The signage and way of delivering that FM Expo is an actual show will be highly effective and will drive people into that side of the show.

I don’t think it’ll be lost – it’s an excellent part of Big 5.

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