ExporamaShow opened its gates for its 2nd edition in Athens, Greece from December 6 to 9 at Helexpo Palace Exhibition and Conference Center and succeeded in becoming the focal point of the exhibitions, conferences and corporate events industry. The Business-to-Business event for the events in Greece and the wider Southeastern Europe proved to be a successful communication platform and source of effective business contacts between sellers and buyers, industry suppliers and event managers.

The biennial exhibition (www.exporamashow.gr) is organized by Exporama Crossmedia and with its 2nd edition it showcased 140 exhibitors - suppliers of the Meetings Industry, such as exhibition, congress and event organizers, venues, hotels with conference facilities, stand building companies, audiovisual and event technology providers, catering providers, media and associations etc.
The majority of ExporamaShow exhibitors were from Greece but it should be mentioned that the list of exhibitors included a “small” but sound number of international participations from Turkey, Cyprus, Serbia, the UK and Germany.

Although ExporamaShow happened to open gates at a period of turbulence in Athens and other major Greek cities, it managed to attract over 2,000 visitors, professionals from the whole spectrum of the industry that attended the show looking for new products, services and technologies for their face-to-face marketing programs.
In addition, the organizers invited and fully hosted 55 international buyers who contacted more than 1,100 pre-arranged appointments with exhibitors. ExporamaShow VIP “hosted” visitors came from all over Europe (the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic), India, Thailand, Hong Kong, the USA and Latin America.

A number of interactive seminar sessions were held during ExporamaShow 2008, aiming to reinforce professional development and knowledge. Amongst others, the Industry Analyst and Senior Lecturer in Business Travel and Tourism at the University of Westminster, Rob Davidson, presented the findings of this year’s EIBTM Industry Trends & Market Share Report. Fiona Pelham, Managing Director of Organise This and CSR rep for the UK MPI chapter, talked about the hot issue of “Implementing Sustainability”. Maarten Vanneste, CMM, President Meeting Support Institute, gave a session on the Meeting Architecture topic.

ExporamaShow’s side-events program also included many dance and music happenings. Every day the show ended with a Latin hour party sponsored by SOL LATINO magazine that is based in Athens.

ExporamaShow 2008 was once again fully supported by major international and national associations and organizations including IFES (International Federation of Exhibition & Events Services, IAEE (International Association of Exhibitions and Events), MPI (Meeting Professionals International), EFAPCO (European Federation of the Associations of PCOs), HAPCO (Hellenic Association of PCOs), HELEXPO and Thessaloniki International Fair.
In addition, printed and electronic media from all over the world supported ExporamaShow promotional campaign.
Exporama Show’s media partners list included ADC - Agenzia della Comunicazione, Grupo Eventoplus,Eventos Latinoamericanos, European Business Revies, Nuestromundo Global Media, S&M Publications, Kongres Magazine, Exhibit Bulgaria, Travel Daily News, InVentMe.net, eTurboNews, Islamic Tourism, Exponet.ru and a number of printed and electronic media in Greece, while Mash Media, the leading specialist publisher for the events industry, was the show’s international media sponsor.

Next ExporamaShow will be held 12-14 December 2010 in Athens, showcasing more than 150 exhibitors and expecting to attract over 3,000 visitors. Exhibitor registration is open until October 1st, 2010.

A few testimonials from VIP visitors:

It was an excellent show that provided me the unique opportunity to meet with a number of important Greek vendors including hotels, destination management companies, PCOs, and CVBs all in one place!
It was very beneficial and we look forward to participating at future Exporama shows and bringing future business to Greece!

Thomas Hinton
CRI Global, LLC
Association Management & Incentive Meetings

Thanks for organizing everything. It was a great experience with lots of professional contacts.

Arndt D. Benninghoven
WestLB AG
Group Procurement
Non-IT / Travel Management

On behalf of our firm "Alfa Touristik LTD», I would like to thank the organising committee and the sponsors that you have invited me to exhibition ExporamaShow 2008!
I have met many prospect interesting partners from Greece and established important business relations during the event.

Elena Volchkova
Director
Alfa Touristik LTD Moscow

For further information visit the official website of the event www.exporamashow.gr
or contact ExporamaShow Press Office:

EXPORAMA CROSSMEDIA
8 Herakleous Street., GR 117 43 Athens, Greece
Tel.: +30 21-06197311, Fax: +30 21-06197310

Press Officers:
Christina Malakou: christinam@exporama.com
Dina Dionyssopoulou: dina@exporama.com