Exhibition Venues in Cardiff, Wales

There is no major exhibition centre in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. When one compares with the SECC in Glasgow, the RDS in Dublin, London's ExCel, Olympia and Earls Court venues, Cardiff is short of a major exhibition centre.

If you planning to organise an exhibition or trade event in Cardiff though there are certainly options. Venues though tend to be suitable for domestic rather than large international exhibitions, with several of the main hotels, the CIA and a few other venues.

The CIA (Cardiff International Arena) is the largest venue in Cardiff but this almost exclusively focuses on live music and entertainment. A few exhibitions are held at the CIA but they tend to very small, except for the beer and cider festival each year. The centre does not tend to promote themselves as an exhibition venue.

One fairly new venue and an option for holding an exhibition in Cardiff is the Wales Millennium Centre (not to be confused with the Millennium Stadium). This state of the art venue, situated by Cardiff Bay, offers venue hire. The space is relatively small though and can only accommodate a few hundred people.

If you have a venue which offers exhibition space in or near to Cardiff for large exhibitions let us know and we will include you in future blogs.

Internet World 2009 and the week ahead....

Internet World 2009 is now almost upon us, with the show starting this coming week from 28th - 30th April. Taking place at the Earls Court Centre, Internet World is expected to be as popular as ever despite the recent problems with the economy.

A lot of people involved with marketing have turned to online and digital marketing to market direct and reduce overall costs. Internet World is an exhibition which is a great forum for finding out about online opportunities for ones business.

If you are based in the South-West, one show certainly worth considering this weekend is the Select exhibition. If you are interested in arts and crafts, then why not pop down to the Assembly Rooms, Bath and see more than one hundred very interesting displays. A variety and unique display of gifts, collectables and artistic creations will be available for sale on 26th and 27th April: The show starts from 10am daily.

News update: In case you missed them, do not forget to read our two recent blogs on:
Online Marketing for your exhibition: Learn about marketing your exhibition.
Marketing your exhibition stand online: Learn about promoting your stand at an event.

Online Marketing for your Exhibition

As well as being an exhibitor at an exhibition, you may on the other hand be organising he exhibition itself. There are a number of ways you can use Online Marketing to help promote the Exhibition and below a few quick ideas.

1. It is worth considering using Google AdWords to promote the exhibition. The benefit of AdWords is that it offers immediate impact and results and with limited time when it comes to organising an exhibition, the time benefits of AdWords can be very handy. For those of you unsure about what AdWords is, these are the paid ads which you normally see at the top and on the right side of Google search results.

2. If you are designing a website or web pages on an existing website, to promote the exhibition, try and get the pages live as soon as possible. It takes a few months to get a site or pages visible in the search engines. If search engine results are not important because you have for example, a large mailing list then it is not such a problem.

3. As mentioned above, consider mailing lists as a way to target potential exhibitors and visitors to your exhibition. If budget allows, then mailing 10,000 people interested in baby products, if your exhibition is aimed at mothers, is a good example of the power of mailing lists.

More Online marketing and Exhibition tips coming soon......

Marketing and promoting your Exhibition Stand for an event

If you are planning to exhibit at an event, trade or public exhibition, have you considered the idea also of promoting your plans to exhibit? Even though the purpose of exhibiting is for you to market your business direct to the trade and the people, some people I have found do forget to also market the fact that they will be at the event.

There are a number of ways and things you can do to promote yourself and there are several things also to consider. If you promote yourself for example, remember to make people aware of:

• Your stand number (which will explain the aisle and spot)
• The dates
• The hall or rooms number (if applicable)

In terms of actually promoting your attendance at the event, if you have a web presence then this is an excellent place to start. Post a blog about your exhibit, add the information to your news page or headlines on the site, include the information on your newsletter and you can also consider a temporary promotion using your email signature.

If you often send out offline literature such as leaflets and newsletters then this is also another source for getting information out there. An even simpler technique is to spread word by telling suppliers, customers and anyone one you and your colleagues come into touch with in the lead up to the exhibition.

5 of the best Outdoors related Exhibitions for 2009

Having highlighted 5 of the best Sports, I.T, Travel and Food exhibitions for 2009.,this time a look at exhibitions associated with the great outdoors.

1. Chelsea Flower Show 2009 is the one of biggest flower shows in the UK and will be set in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, London - this year taking place May 19th to 23rd. Chelsea Flower Show attracts exhibitors from around the world and includes a number of marquees, show gardens and hundreds of exhibitors.

2. Play Fair 2009 is an event which focuses on the outdoors, play areas and facilities for children. In its second year, this show attracts visitors from Local Area authorities, schools, clubs and associations and also a number of other professionals involved with children. The Play Fair takes at Stoneleigh Park Nr Coventry on the 23rd and 24th June.

3. Southampton Boat Show (11th - 20th Sept 2009) is the biggest event in the UK for boating and is an impressive and large show which takes place over 10 days. Tour some of the worlds most impressive yachts.

4. Metro Ski and Snowboard Show (at the Olympia Exhibition Centre between the 21st and 25th November) is a fantastic show for those of you interested in winder sports and the great outdoors.

5. The Luxury Travel Fair is an exhibition perfect for those of you who love the great outdoors but like to enjoy it in luxury. This show covers first class travel and hospitality. The 5th - 8th November 2009 are the dates for the show.

Exhibitions and saving money in the recession

Exhibitions and the Recession: We are all aware of the recession and in one of or the other it has affected many of us or someone we know. With this in mind, marketing expert Catherine Gliddon of Clip Display has now published 2 new articles on this subject area.

1. Direct Marketing in Time of a Recession - 5 Benefits of Marketing Though Exhibitions is an article which looks at the reasons why Exhibition marketing can still be one of the cost effective and best ways to market in a recession.

2. Exhibitions and the Recession - Exhibitions Which Can Help You Save Money - is another interesting article looking at potential money saving exhibitions, i.e. exhibitions which might save you a lot of money in the long-term.

News Update: The main exhibition centre's are quite quiet over the Easter break, with everyone taking a few days of well earned rest. There are though some wonderful things to do over Easter and a list of local activities which are worth considering can be found on the English Heritage site.

Internet World UK 2009

April is quite an exciting time for Internet and Computing specialists with the annual Internet World UK exhibition always normally taking place at the end of this month. For the 2009 show, the 28th, 29th and 30th April are the dates for the event which takes place again at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre.

Internet World has been going for 17 years and this well established show now attracts over three hundred exhibitors and more than 12,000 visitors over the 3 days. This years show as always, will include a number of seminars related to the Internet. Seminars this year include:

• Online advertising in times of recession.
• The journey to optimised Digital marketing.
• Essentials of PCI DSS.
• Hands on SEO.

Free entry for the event is available if you book in advance online through the official site at internetworld.co.uk. There is also time to still be an exhibitor at the event.

UK Venues Guide: The Royal Bath & West Showground

When we think of UK exhibitions the main venues such as the the Excel Centre (London), NEC (Birmingham), SECC (Edinburgh) or King's Hall (Belfast) often come to mind. There are dozens of other smaller venues though across the UK and these include the:

• Barbican Centre
• Westpoint Centre, Exeter
• Aberdeen Exhibition Centre

The Royal Bath & West Showground is another venue which holds some large shows and offers venue hire for those looking to hold exhibitions, conferences and other types of events. Many of the events which take place at the Royal & West do tend to have a farming or outdoors feel but events are not limited to these areas.

The benefits of hiring the Royal Bath & West for an exhibition or other event includes the size of the grounds with 240 acres of space, a 1200 seated stand for people to watch displays and presentations, plenty of car parking space and also a dedicated events team who can work with you closely. You can find more detailed info about the Bath & West venue online.