PCS Expo this year seeks to serve harassed property professionals a healthy diet of distraction from their search for the best ways to expand business and streamline their systems.
The Expo is not a straightforward exhibition, but rather a combination of show with a fat slice of conference. When it opens on 18 October, organisers will be determined to woo a select crowd of property movers and shakers with the promise of a feast of stimulating discussion and a free lunch.
In danger of becoming a bore
Having threatened to disappear without trace, the newly revamped show is now seeking to stake a claim for the title of property event of the year.
Twelve months ago, the show ditched its old self, undergoing an image makeover in an attempt to extend its reach before boring itself to death. Computing was to take a back seat because, in today’s world, the computer is pervasive.
It goes without saying that an event dealing with the property business will feature the latest technology and systems that the makers claim are designed to make your organisation run more smoothly.
Overseeing the makeover was Bob Rosen. Rosen launched the Property Computer Show in 1986, essentially to showcase his own company’s products, but soon the event grew to such a size that he quit his day job and took to running the show full-time.
“Things have changed,” he says. “When I launched the show 19 years ago there was very little technology around. Now every surveyor has a PC on their desk.”
Rosen decided to move the image of the show away from technology to give it a broader approach. As he explains, all businesses have their processes, and computer technology is firmly established as a key component in all of them. It seemed anachronistic to emphasise the technological aspect of the event that, moreover, had witnessed the advent and blossoming of the information age during its 18-year history.
After consulting within the industry, Rosen formed a committee of loyal exhibitors to help thrash out a new format for the event. The result was the rebranding of the Property Computer Show to become the PCS Expo, and the cornerstone of the new strategy to broaden the appeal became the conference-style, keynote speeches and seminars of the event’s extra-curricular programme.
The feedback was positive. Organiser VCM Events conducts exit polls among visitors to see how long each stayed – the yardstick of success being, according to Rosen, a long stay. The other crucial factor is the calibre of the visitors. The organisers do not necessarily want more people, but better people.
Graham Davies, sales director at IT solutions firm Trace Group, says that from the show’s origins it has grown to become a contender as “the property event”. Trace is one of the show’s stalwarts and a loyal sponsor, having once had Rosen as managing director.
In Davies’ opinion, the show succeeded last year because it did two things. “One: they got far more people through the door. And two, they upped the calibre of the people,” he says.
“There were far more heads of department and people of that level. This time we need more of the same, and some hot topics to fire them up.”
“Last year we expanded the free content significantly,” says Rosen. “This year, we’ve upped the ante in terms of quality. Traditionally, at a show like this, speakers are drawn from the exhibitors, who often make a sales pitch for their products. We are not doing that. We’re offering conference-quality content in a programme designed to address the hot issues of the day.”
Business kicks off early on Expo day with a series of “breakfast bytes”, designed to stimulate discussion over coffee and eggs. Rosen expects author and entrepreneur Naomi Langford-Wood to spice up proceedings with an assessment of the “seven deadly risks of business”. “It’s a bit off-the-wall,” he admits.
The free breakfast could be a lure for some, but free discussion is part of what makes a show successful. In an increasingly anonymous world, in which discussions are either electronic or, at best, telephonic, the face-to-face encounter is all the more valuable. Show organisers hope the discussion stimulated in the morning session will continue through the keynote sessions and on through a networking lunch – also laid on free of charge for attendees – into the various directors’ forums filling the afternoon slots.
Old favourites return to the show floor
The content complements what is happening on the show floor, says Rosen. “The show’s larger this year too – 85 stands compared with last year’s 75,” he says. “Some old favourites have returned in the shape of Hexagon and Intuit, and the new home information pack regulations have attracted seven or eight exhibitors for HIPs. It must be the first time they’ve all been together at one time.”
Highlights are set to include a keynote session on sustainability, led by Liz Peace of the BPF and Sarah Sayce, head of surveying at Kingston University, with panellists Alan Kell, managing director of intelligent buildings consultant i&i, Larfarge’s head of property Richard Spray and Dr Angus McIntosh of King Sturge.
Opening proceedings with a breakfast byte on day one will be Andrew Waller, who, together with three associates from different corners of the industry, will be addressing the new technology trends facing property management in the 21st century.
Waller, of Remit Consulting, says the aim of the seminar programme is simply to highlight significant “trends and scenarios for the property world”. For example, in the commercial space, “changes in the role oftenant and landlord are taking place whereby the tenant is now being wooed as a customer”, says Waller.
Another hot topic is that of global companies stripping back to core operations, outsourcing and selling off property. “There is now the possibility of outsourcing property management accounting to India,” he points out.
In addition, central and eastern Europe are drawing in investors. “We address that in one session, while the battle between the Far East and Europe for American money is addressed in another.”
“The overall idea of the show has changed,” says Waller. “It has been brought out of its roots in computers because, regardless of what business you’re in, you have a huge amount of technology and systems. People are concentrating on business issues. They are asking, ‘How do I do it?’. “It’s important for most business people to get best value and information, and we have been very lucky to get such a great set of speakers.”
The PCS Expo 2005 runs from 18 to 19 October at the Business Design Centre, Islington, N1. For more information, contact VCM Events or check out the website at: www.pcs-expo.co.uk.
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One key speaker at this year’s Expo is Philip Stott of Yardi systems, with a seminar on how best to exploit opportunities in central and eastern Europe. Stott says Yardi has been a regular at the show for six years and has seen its participation as crucial to building market awareness. “I’m pleased with the shake-up,” he says. “Attendees were finding the same people coming back each year. All the vendors were chasing the same people. It became predictable.” That said, it still seemed quiet to Stott last year. “It was as if many people walked past the stands on their way to a session, then went to lunch and disappeared,” he says. “This year, we’ve taken a better space to be more visible. From Yardi’s perspective, as a US firm, we want to be seen. We’re here, and we’re staying.” For Steve Vatidis, managing director at Yardi competitor Raindrop, business last year was steady. This year, the company is launching version 5.5 of its Manhattan software at the show, which Vatidis feels is a significant endorsement of the event. “Shows are important in that they offer the opportunity of face-to-face contact,” he says. “You can touch and feel what you’re investing in.” It’s also a place, he says, to come to catch up on gossip. “Shows these days face competition from new areas like, say, a website, where you can get information faster and from your desk. We want to contribute to shows that are trying to maintain a forum for face-to-face interaction. These shows need our support, so they don’t disappear.” In this way, PCS Expo is pitching to become the prime forum for industry debate, wisely ditching the constraint of association with all things computer. Exhibitors and visitors may be hawking or seeking some technological solution to a pertinent business problem, but they will be doing so in a tried and tested fashion. They will be meeting face-to-face, pressing each other’s palms and establishing eye contact. The BlackBerry might be bleeping away in a pocket, the mobile phone may spring into polyphonic glee at any moment, but away from the office and freed from the information shackles, business folk will be encouraged to engage in a ritual as ancient as the notion of trade itself – problem-solving through discussion and seeking out new opportunities. “If there’s a theme it’s about information,” says organiser Bob Rosen. “It doesn’t matter what technology you use. Garbage is still garbage.” |
