Issue link: https://tradeshowexecutive.epubxp.com/i/58649
POWER LUNCH BOB: You're the personification of the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead's axiom: "The art of progress is to pre- serve order amid change and change amid order." You've worked through five ownership changes and six corporate name changes to become president of Nielsen Expositions. What's your secret? DAVID: Change can be very disruptive if you allow it. For most of these owner- ship changes, I tried not to worry about what I couldn't control. I adapted to each owner's style and focused almost exclu- sively on our customers and brands. I always believed we were on the right path in what we were doing, understanding that there are many ways to accomplish the same goals. BOB: What were your challenges when you took the helm two years ago? DAVID: My first challenge was to create a single structure that reflected a leading trade show organization, not simply a media company with regional offices and non-complementary products. Nielsen Business Media became Nielsen Exposi- tions. To avoid alienating our successful print teams, we recognized the strength of our nine magazine titles — those that were not sold in 2009 — by aligning them much closer with their companion trade shows, creating market dominance in each sector. We now spoke with one voice to both our attendees and readers: face- to-face, print and digital. We then carried this single voice theme to our partners, vendors, cities, facilities, hotels, etc. Tis gave us leverage and scale, both for our benefit and, even more importantly, for our customers. BOB: That's great. What else was on your change agenda? DAVID: It was time to move from a culture of managing decline to one of growth. We had seen four or more years of declining print titles, most of which were sold, and we were in the second year of the Great Recession, which affected almost every show. We needed an attitudinal change before we could experience success and growth. I worked hard to implement this. I even created a "golf score card" of success that highlighted those brands contributing to this turnaround. SPONSORED BY BOB: Speaking of growth, how are your current revenues and profit margins trending? DAVID: Nielsen just reported exposi- tion revenue of US$179 million for 2011, compared to $168 million in 2010, which is a 7% growth. EBITDA came in at $78 million in 2010 and $87 million in 2011, a growth of more than 12%. If we continue this Y/Y high single-digit revenue growth, we will be on track with our expectations again this year. We have growth strategies and new initiatives in every market we serve, regardless of the underlying cyclical changes occurring. Some of these are organic and some are serving markets in new ways. BOB: What about acquisitions? DAVID: We made a great acquisition at the end of 2010: WPPI/Rangefinder, which fit perfectly into our successful photo group Photo + expo and PDN magazine. We continue to look for complementary acquisitions to grow our current brands. BOB: What about show launches? DAVID: We launched four new shows in 2011 and have three planned for 2012. Of these, three are international. 2011 launches were Special Delivery Chicago (Jewelry), Outdoor Photo Expo (a coopera- tive effort between Outdoor Retailer and our Photo group), ISS Midwest (apparel), and WPPI @ Photo Plus Expo. Tis year's launches are WPPI Mexico City (photo group), ISS Las Vegas (apparel), and HD Expo Asia (hospitality design). BOB: That's quite impressive, particu- larly in this economy. Have you made any major staff realignments since Meeting of the Minds. David Loechner swaps ideas with other industry leaders at the 2011 TSE Gold 100 including (L-R) UBM's David Levin, Nielsen's Darrell Denny and dmg's Galen Poss. 58 March 2012 | Trade Show Executive you took the helm? DAVID: Leadership and talent develop- ment are major priorities. We had been well staffed for where we were two years ago, but not where I envisioned us to be, so aligning our talent with our future needs was a big challenge. We now have centralized teams for finance, operations, order entry, floorplan management and digital support. Structurally, we have three senior VPs, each a very experi- enced trade show professional overseeing multiple brands. Joe Randall in Atlanta Continued on page 60