It seems that the world is a small place

In recent news, HKPCA announced that they are partnering with IPC to manage this year's event in Hong Kong. I also noted that MMG (German owners of Electronica and Productronica) have announced Electronica USA is to take place in San Francisco next year. It seems that the normal boundaries have blurred.MMG have been doing very nicely out of their two massive electronics events for some time. I have, myself been visiting Munich every November for the best part of twenty years. Now it seems the formula is to be rolled out all around the world. Events like electronicAsia, electronicChina and electronicIndia are the beginning - you can read more about electronicChina in the event news section of EMSNow. But the latest development is the most intriguing. In April next year electronica USA will take place in San Francisco. This comes a month or so after the combined IPC Expo and APEX shows take place in Los Angeles.At the same time we are reading news of developments in Asia that involve IPC. HKPCA, Hong Kong's Printed Circuit Association have announced that this year's event will include equipment for assembly and will be co-managed by IPC. I asked IPC to comment and Kim Sterling said "We are partnering with HKPCA and hope to provide our members with a cost-effective, fair and focused event that will allow them to reach customers in China."I guess these facts underline a couple of trends. Firstly, the world is indeed a small place and, without a doubt it is a global market. Secondly, there is a clear trend back to the larger combined event. The later may be because the industries continue to blur as PCB makers become EMS companies, EMS companies become PCB makers and ODM, and associations become event managers. It may also be because the market was saturated with smaller events and there was value in bringing them back together.If the world is small does that mean that what works in Munich will work in Shanghai, Delphi and San Francisco or are the all different cultures with differing needs? I have been visiting around six trade fairs a year for the last ten plus years and have seen many changes, but one thing seems clear to me; events need to evolve and they need to serve the needs of their region. For example, IPC Expo does very well in attracting conference attendees, the Asian shows generally do not. Germans like conferences, the Brits and the French seem less keen to attend. Regions with agents rather than principle manufacturers like focused local shows, such as the CEMEX event in the UK and Productronic in Paris. Bigger regions like USA and China prefer the more international style of event.It is very interesting to see these organisations taking their events abroad, it will be even more interesting to see what they achieve in the next few years and how they compete with each others core home events…