Clarion Events, producer of the ICE Totally Gaming trade show and conference, announced that it is renegotiating its contract with London’s ExCel Centre to rent the remaining 12 halls of three facility over the show’s next four years, and from the 2020 edition onward to occupy the entire ExCel Centre facility.
“We will have to look at it in the light of what is best for our exhibitors and our visitors,” said Kate Chambers, managing director of Clarion’s gaming division. She said the show grew by 4,000 square meters (43,000 square feet) this year alone, taking up two additional hall sections.
Chambers said over the next four years, the show will occupy the entire site, with next year’s show adding 8,000 square meters and four more halls. “We have enough space for the next few years, unless something dramatic happens within the industry, either positively or negatively,” she said. “Our current contract with ExCel runs out in 2019, so clearly, we will have to re-evaluate everything before then.”
Clarion recently bought out rival show organizers giving it control of Super Show, the internet gambling event held in Amsterdam, while Clarion has its own show for that sector, EiG, which was held this year in Berlin.
“We have only just completed that acquisition,” said Chambers, “so with this event coming on so quickly after that we have had no opportunity to sit down and look at what happens with those events, whether we run them as one perhaps moving to London, or keeping them as they are for the moment.”
The London reference was followed up by Chambers insisting that “our exhibitors and visitors love London,” pledging her organization to continuing its patronage of the U.K. capital.
“In all of the post-show discussions,” she said, “we will look at the key areas. And those key areas for us are the customer experience. We have three main groups to consider, the exhibitors, the visitors and our own staff who work so hard all year to put these shows together.
“We have at the front of our thoughts the commitment we are making to the industry to make sure that these events are fit for purpose. The venue must serve the industry and present the industry in the right light, and that it is all accomplished at the right price, for us and for our exhibitors.”
