PUTTING a debut business events show together usually takes most organisers at least a year, but Connect Marketplace Hong Kong did it in less than four months – from concept to the event’s opening yesterday.
Though an Informa-owned series of shows in North America sharing the brand name might have helped, the feeling among senior executives at organisers Informa Markets Asia is that Connect Marketplace will become rooted in the city to serve MICE organisers across East Asia.
“We really put this together within three to four months – a challenge, especially with all the holidays in between. We call it a preview event leading up to a full-scale event next year,” Margaret Ma Connolly, President and CEO of Informa Markets in Asia, told MIX.
With a “12 months full cycle” to get Connect Marketplace 2026 ready, Ma said there would be more time to build on the due diligence and market research made as Informa stepped in following industry rival RX cancelling an Asia Pacific edition of its IBTM show.
She also praised the efforts of Informa’s staff – especially younger team members – working on other shows at AsiaWorld-Expo in the run-up Connect Marketplace Hong Kong’s debut.
“We can engage a lot more partners, stakeholders,” Ma said of the longer period Informa will have to prepare for the 2026 event. “This year we missed the critical budget cycle for many customers, but our partners are now telling us that they are really excited about next year.”
Connect Marketplace Hong Kong comes as the region’s business community is being encouraged to align with the city government’s strategy for stronger economic links across the Greater Bay Area, a market of some 87 million people and a per capita GDP of US$22.8 billion, according to official figures.
Backgrounder… Connect Marketplace ready for HK debut
Informa is already doing its part with new shows tailored to the growth of air cargo and logistics expected from Hong Kong International Airport’s third runway and the “Skytopia” development linking AsiaWorld-Expo to the port facilities serving the 26km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau sea bridge and tunnel link.
Also scheduled for this year is another Informa debut – Data Center Asia (DCA) at AsiaWorld-Expo in July when it will be co-located with Build4Asia, The Battery Show Asia and Mobility Tech Asia. With China being the world’s largest electric vehicle and battery technology provider, Hong Kong is on the doorstep of new tech growth and advancements in logistics.
BETTER, GREENER STANDS
Exhibitions and trade shows in Hong Kong are being actively encouraged to switch to reusable display booths and stands.
The move follows a signing ceremony by Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Association (HKECIA) and Informa Markets Asia. Both organisations signed up to the Better Stands Programme – a scheme that encourages organisers and contractors to build pavilions with materials that can be reused instead of being discarded or disposed of in landfills.
Better Stands provides a gold, silver and bronze awards system to help organisers achieve improve there sustainability ratings and carbon-net-zero efforts.
HKECIA chairman Stuart Bailey and Informa Markets in Asia CEO and President Margaret Ma Connolly signed the commitment at Connect Marketplace Hong Kong.
“Renewable energy has become so important in new tech industries and they need more computing power and better data centres,” said Ma. “They will need a lot more sustainable power sources to cool those data centres.”
When asked about rival shows in the business events space, such as The Meetings Show in Singapore, AIME in Melbourne, and TTG’s events in Bangkok and Shanghai, Ma said Connect Marketplace’s reach into mainland China and East Asia would grow.
Read more… Informa chief bides time on China
“We do run a travel show in mainland China, which is primarily targeting China domestic, but [Connect Marketplace] is different – clearly it will be much more international and more for [Greater Bay Area] hub positioning.”
Also differentiating Connect Marketplace was its “curated meetings format” that matches buyers with suppliers. “We used to say that B2B events worked because of serendipity. But we don’t know exactly what conversations took place and their quality. So now we are leaning towards more of a curated meeting format to ensure it aligns, especially for this mice community.”
Connect Marketplace Hong Kong continues today and tomorrow at AsiaWorld-Expo
