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Each episode of GAIN Momentum focuses on timeless lessons to help grow and scale a business in hospitality, travel, and technology. Whether you’re a veteran industry leader looking for some inspiration to guide the next phase of growth or an aspiring executive looking to fast-track the learning process, this podcast is here with key lessons centered around four questions we ask each guest.
GAIN Momentum episode #89: Expert Advice on Launching a Hospitality Expo in 2026 | with Dan Assor
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Adam Mogelonsky: Welcome to the Gain Momentum Podcast, focusing on timeless lessons from senior leaders in hospitality, travel technology, and food service. I’m joined today by Dan Assor. He’s the General Manager of NoVacancy London, and this to me is a special episode because we’re talking to somebody who is launching and supervising and managing a trade show, a convention — and we all know that in hospitality, trade shows and conventions are big business. They’re important for us to attend.
But it’s great to hear from you, Dan, about where the world of trade shows is going, what value they bring to the attendees, to exhibitors as well, and how to launch a trade show in a market where there’s already a trade show for 50 out of 52 weeks of the year. So Dan, to start — give us the elevator pitch for NoVacancy London: when the conversation started, when it is, what you hope to achieve. Types of exhibitions, sessions, et cetera.
Dan Assor: Sure. Thank you. Firstly, thanks for inviting me on, Adam. Appreciate the opportunity. So yeah — NoVacancy Hotel and Accommodation Industry Expo London, to give it its full name, takes place 25th, 26th of February 2026. I know this episode, I think, will be going out in early ’26, so in a month’s time.
Excel London. It’s a business-focused event for hotel and accommodation owners and operators, predominantly across the UK, but we will expect attendees from outside the UK as well.
Audience includes general managers, senior leaders across operations, revenue, sales, marketing, IT, digital, people and culture, sustainability, F&B.
And they represent, in the main, independent hotels and branded groups. Also luxury resorts. Then a smattering of holiday parks, hostels, and also hospitality management companies.
Essentially visitors come, as you mentioned, to see suppliers on the expo floor, which will feature a wide range of solution providers.
And then that works alongside a conference programme. And in London we have nine tracks, and it’s designed to help operators enhance guest experience, drive revenue, improve operational…
So that is… probably more than elevator pitch. Maybe if you’re going up to the 33rd floor of a building.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, I mean, it’s important to cover all those because you’re covering a lot of ground and you’re really incubating that cross-pollination of different parts of the industry, so that way people can be inspired, they can learn. And then you have the nine tracks there for people to have educational sessions and to really drill down to specific topics they wanna learn about.
One question: they’re in London. London is London. It’s its own world, but why London, not another European hub?
Dan Assor: Sure. So… we were thinking about where else we might take the NoVacancy brand, which obviously, as you, as your listeners and yourself will know — or might not know — it originated in Sydney, Australia.
Ultimately we felt it was a natural home. It’s where global brands and independents sit side by side.
And also some of it’s to do with the timing. February is, I guess, after peak trading period of the holiday season, the sort of Christmas — it means people have the head space to sort of step back, plan, make decisions.
So it’s a combination of the dateline, compared to other shows that were going on.
And also it’s a trade show, right? So we’re going after a significant volume of attendees. And given, as I said, London’s focus and the fact it’s a sort of epicentre of hospitality for Europe in many regards, we felt that it was the best place to do it.
And also it is very much a UK-focused event. So London — not to be disparaging to other cities in the UK — we felt would have the biggest draw. So that’s… those are the reasons, really.
Adam Mogelonsky: Those are very valid and very important reasons. Okay, so let’s take a step back now. NoVacancy started off in Australia. That was seven, eight years ago.
Dan Assor: Yeah. I think 2017… 2018. It was owned by National Media, a trade show company out of Australia.
Adam Mogelonsky: Okay, and then NoVacancy Asia was the next one over in Bangkok. When did that start?
Dan Assor: So that launched literally in November 2025, so just a few months ago.
So history of NoVacancy as a brand, as a business — as I said, it launched under the ownership of National Media. They’re a significant trade organiser in APAC.
And Terrapin, who own NoVacancy now and have been going for 30 years in the conference and exhibition space, purchased NoVacancy in Australia in March 2024 off National Media with a view not only growing it in Sydney and Australia, but also taking it elsewhere.
And the first port of call was Bangkok, just a few months ago in November. And now, next month in February in London.
Adam Mogelonsky: Right. So as the manager of the, I guess, the London arm of NoVacancy, when did you have the first conversation about setting this show up?
Dan Assor: So typically, we work in the trade show industry — I think most people appreciate this — in sort of 15-month cycles.
So even with an established event, you’ll be planning before the next edition’s happened, three months before putting the business plan together. And this was really no exception.
So, I was having conversations with the CEO, Greg Hitchen, CEO of Terrapin, even before I joined the business. I’ve known Greg for a while through my own industry podcast, and he was telling me — this is sort of the summer of ’24 — that they just bought NoVacancy in Sydney, looking to take it to different places.
He was interested in getting someone on board with my experience of launches. So those conversations with Terrapin started about 18 months before what would be the launch date in February 2026.
And then really we get into the weeds of the business planning, as I said, about 15 months before — looking at the market strategy, the types of suppliers, conference, the speakers, the positioning really of the event.
And also speaking to the likes of Excel in terms of the dateline, what’s available. I mean, if we’re honest as organisers — and you know this, Adam — why London and why venue, sometimes it’s to what’s available as well, if we’re frank.
There’s only so many destinations that you can put trade shows of a certain size in, even like a major country. You know, like the UK: you’ve got Excel in London, you’ve got Birmingham NEC, you’ve got Olympia in London, and then you’ve got other smaller event spaces.
So yeah, the planning really starts 15 to 18 months out for a new launch event.
Adam Mogelonsky: Wow. And how do you do that? Because we are launching a new product, it takes a lot of convincing to get hoteliers outta their daily grind to be there. And of course you gotta get vendors on, and they’ll wanna see an ROI or some sort of… calculate. How do you promote this to get exhibitors and then also get attendees?
Dan Assor: So I’ll tell you what I did exactly. Honestly, I’ve worked in many different industry sectors, but I didn’t have a network in hospitality, right?
So what did I do to start off with? We all know at least one or two people in most business sectors. So I found one or two individuals, told ’em what we’re doing — working, what we call, I guess, buy-side in the UK, so hoteliers specifically — had a conversation with them. They introduced me to some others.
And the first thing I did was to build a steering committee of the great and the good. I think we had like 10 individuals within a month. So what’s this, 14 months out? Who are gonna help me shape the conference programme, start off with, right? What are the challenges, the opportunities that they’re finding in their day to day?
So these people were general managers of hotels, revenue directors, sales and marketing professionals. I was trying to build a broad church with accommodation types. So really building the network.
Why did they get involved? Because they could also see — a lot of them knew NoVacancy from Sydney, even though they were in the UK. Some of it, I was… whether I should have been surprised — I was a little bit surprised. They’re like, “Yeah, we’ve been to that,” or “We know… we’ve heard of NoVacancy Sydney.”
So that sort of did the job for me a little bit. It wasn’t just me as Dan Assor coming to them to launch an event.
We had the heritage of Terrapin, so I could show them what we’d done with other events. Let’s take the World Aviation Festival, which is now Singapore, in the US, and in Lisbon. Solar & Storage Live, which is a series of events which now takes place in 16 different territories.
And so that all built up the credibility. So that allowed me to have conversations with individuals: “Okay, so these guys [are] serious.”
And then similarly, when we started to approach suppliers, you can imagine that I went first to companies that had exhibited and sponsored NoVacancy Sydney.
So, companies that were global — predominantly in the technology space, hospitality tech. You’ll know lots of them, Adam. You know Muse, Agilysys, SiteMinder, RoomPriceGenie, and so on. They love NoVacancy. And honestly, they were very excited that we were gonna be bringing it to the UK.
And so those conversations started, obviously after we had to put the website out, built some material — probably about February ’25 — so about 12 months from the show.
And as I said, at this point I’d built a steering committee, so I could show them where the direction of travel was going. Obviously had the floor plan, prospectus.
And so you start to build a network.
Then obviously we build out the other profiles of businesses from there.
And I’m pleased to say that we’re sitting here with 70 exhibitors, plus our start-up zone — which I’ll talk about in a minute — which I think is a great differentiator between us and other trade shows in the market.
And coming to the visitors — so getting other hoteliers and other accommodation professionals to the event — really three ways:
We build our own databases. We’re laser-focused on who we wanna go after. There are obviously tools that allow you to do that.
Personally, I set about early on building partnerships with the likes of the trade associations in hospitality — so UK Hospitality, Institute of Hospitality — lots of the media organisations. UK Spa Association. AA Media. Gain Advisors, who are a partner of the event.
And again, that builds credibility when you’re speaking to prospective suppliers and also visitors as well, because they know and recognise the names, the logos that they see on the website.
And it’s social proof, right? We all buy from word of mouth.
And so, yeah, our visitor campaign is built internally and then through the partners. They help me to promote it, the exhibitors themselves — and the noise starts building — and then eventually people are approaching you, because they see the excitement.
Adam Mogelonsky: Yeah, so it’s building a network. It’s conversations. And I wanna go over to a personal side of things, is when we’re talking about building a network — and networks are built one conversation at a time. Therefore, how do you manage your time to move from those initial conversations with vendors, with exhibitors, with prospective big partners or attendees, through to closing business and then getting that social proof?
Dan Assor: Yeah, that’s a good question. I mean, I think in the first few months I was probably having — just thinking about it now — 30, 40 conversations, like Teams calls like this, on a weekly basis.
I’m a great believer, especially when you’re launching — I tell my team this — say yes to most things in year one, because you just [don’t know] where it leads.
It’s easy to think, “Oh, this inquiry or this individual might not be able to do something,” and sometimes you can’t. But actually what I’ve found in my experience are the ones that you think aren’t gonna lead anywhere — or might lead anywhere — actually end up leading somewhere.
The one thing that I did, and I’ve done, is get out — go to all the events. You know, funnily enough, I’ve kept every lanyard from every event I’ve been to in the last 12 months.
I will get to a point after the show of doing a LinkedIn post of all of them, but there’s probably 150 — international.
We were speaking off camera — you know, I went to HITEC for the first time in Indianapolis. I went to ITB Berlin. I went to other shows in the market, like the Independent Hotel Show conferences.
Because personally, that’s where you build the connection. It might start on LinkedIn, it might start over email.
And what I found [is] the hospitality community — both vendor and operator side — and maybe it’s because from an operator side they’re used to serving customers, but they’re all really friendly, right?
Everyone, I think, is really excited about another opportunity to connect with the wider ecosystem: suppliers, to generate more business, new business, have existing conversations.
So yeah, it’s getting out and about, and finding out in year one what works.
We’re reassessing when we’re planning for year two — what are the partnerships that we felt were mutually beneficial, which some, for whatever reason, weren’t — but they’re few and far between, if I’m honest.
Yeah, look — it’s not easy. It’s not for the fainthearted. Personally, I like launching new things. It’s just what I like. It’s what I get off on. I just quite like doing it.
You know, I know what I like and why I don’t like [things], having got to the ripe old age of 52.
So yeah — it’s just making time to speak to as many people as possible.
And also just building a great team. It’s not just me. I’ve got a great conference manager in Bobby Nunez. I’ve got a great operations manager, Eloise Rowlands. I’ve got another business development manager, Thomas Corfield. Marketing manager, Rob Berg.
And we’re supported by the wider Terrapin ecosystem, right, which allows me to make time for those conversations. So maybe I don’t have to worry about certain bits and pieces because I’ve got this engine in the background.
Adam Mogelonsky: Yeah. You know, you talk about support from Terrapin, and draw that back to the point about all those lanyards that you’ve kept from all events — one thing they’re in is these events cost money. Badges, attendance fees, and then transport, airlines, hotels.
How do you justify budget for getting approval to go to all these things unless it’s, you know, you’re remortgaging your house to do this, right?
Dan Assor: Yeah. It’s a good question.
Listen, coming back to the planning: we sit down and we say, “Right — specifically in year one, or for the first couple of years, we’re gonna have to say yes to most things.”
I’m gonna have to go to events where maybe year two and three I’d decide that it’s not the best use of time and money because it didn’t get the ROI.
And the ROI, for me, is building contacts. And that’s fine.
And so we probably would put a disproportionate amount in the first couple of years assigned to travel and entrance. As I said, they’re not cheap.
But that’s what it takes, coming back to launching a trade show like this.
Ultimately… you’ve gotta give it three years, right? And hopefully by year three, you’ve got to a scale where the profit and the… are significant enough to justify the effort that you’ve put in.
But year one and two, it’s not about a quick buck. And this is what I tell suppliers: we’re in it for the long run.
If someone is going into a venue like Excel, they’re putting on this type of show — they’re putting a lot of money and investment into it — and you’re only gonna do that if you are committed for, you know, three to five years as a minimum.
Adam Mogelonsky: Yeah. Well, I mean, Excel itself is… that’s where WTM is — World Travel Market — so it has a history of being a hub for hospitality connections.
But yeah, what I’m wondering there is, you know, you’re looking at these connections as a KPI right now. How do you scale once you reach that three-year term, where now your KPIs are shifting to something that are more ROI-focused and maybe others, and then I guess expanding within the space that Excel can offer you, or expanding the conference tracks? How do you grow?
Dan Assor: Yeah, well, I mean from a supplier perspective, we identify a number of profiles, right?
So for example, you’ve got technology, software and systems. You’ve got furniture, fixture, equipment. You’ve got operating supplies and equipment. You’ve got consultancy. So, you know, we have like six buckets from a supplier perspective.
Then the idea [would] be to grow those out over time.
And once you get to a certain level of revenue, you benefit from the economies of scale, right? ’Cause you’ve already hired out the whole… and so then, you know, the extra booths you’re putting in and sponsorship essentially is all profit.
But it takes a while to get to that point.
You have to work with the venues, with Excel — they’re very good, they know us. And this is another benefit of doing it with a company like Terrapin (or any other established organiser): that in the first couple of years, Excel would traditionally — and other venues — work with you as a partner.
It’s not to say there’s no cost, but they will help you sort of build that platform because it’s in their interest for you to then, over the next two to three years, take a bigger space.
We’re taking three halls in Excel in year one, about 6,000 square metres. We probably use about three quarters of it.
But if I’m in Excel’s shoes, they see Terrapin putting in a new event and they know what we’ve done with previous events, so they know that could turn into 12,000 square metres in three to four years’ time.
So they’re willing to help you out the first year or two.
So yeah — it’s getting to that point where you’ve got economies of scale.
And there’s no shortage, from a visitor perspective — there’s no shortage of leaders, buyers in this market, and not just within the hotel space, within the wider accommodation ecosystem.
So we believe that we will build the go-to event for the hospitality community in the UK.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, I mean, it’s the right time of year in the UK as well, and in Europe, because, you know, everyone wants to start the year strong. And I’ve always, personally, it’s always baffled me why so many events are in Q4 when people are trying to budget and close out things instead of front-loading it in Q1, when hoteliers actually have a break after the holiday season to come to these things and they want to plan.
Dan Assor: Yeah. I think, um, I can’t speak for everyone else, but my experience might suggest that from a sales cycle selling into suppliers, you’ve got the runway of the whole year, right?
When you straddle two calendar years, it can sometimes be a bit tricky because, if you could imagine, you’re speaking to someone in March about an event next February — just psychologically it’s a bit more difficult, especially with those companies that don’t actually work to fixed budget cycles. And actually we’re finding that more and more now.
Perhaps that’s one of those things because you sort of knock out a month between mid-December and early [January] as well. Like Christmas — not much is happening.
But if you get it right, it does create opportunities, ’cause as you quite rightly said, there aren’t that many other events. And you’ve created a good gap between the ones that have taken place in Q3, Q4.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well that many other, because the following week is ITB — so that’s the show of shows.
Dan Assor: Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I mean, different from a visitor perspective as to who goes and where it is.
Obviously you wouldn’t want to cross over with it, especially a hotel tech perspective.
And honestly I thought maybe, you know, that might be a challenge because we’re only a week before, but it hasn’t proven to be — because I think people have got an appetite to, especially for a UK-focused event.
And I’m pleased to say that, you know, lots of companies that go to ITB have also succumbed to NoVacancy London.
Adam Mogelonsky: Yeah, it’s great strategy and design on that front.
To look at the actual content — sure. This is where sort of an omnibus show where you’re trying to touch on everything can really come in to an advantage because there’s always something for everyone to find there.
And I wanna start small here by looking at sustainability, ’cause this is increasingly of demand. People are looking for sustainability education and also suppliers and people to solve specific fixes. And there hasn’t really been so much of a focus on that as a trade show versus technology, real estate, investment travel, et cetera.
So can you talk about how you’re helping bring that specifically to the forefront?
Dan Assor: Sure. Just to roll back slightly, I mentioned there are nine tracks, and we think very carefully about what those tracks could be.
So, you know, most of them are topic-based, but we also have a track specifically focused on small hoteliers as well, ’cause they might face slightly different challenges to some of the chain brands.
So it can be tricky when you’re trying to appeal to lots of different audiences. You have to try and find some commonalities.
Coming back to sustainability: also, we want it to be very grounded in reality. I think as a trade show, we want people to be able to attend and then take back the tips, the tricks, the… into their day-to-day role.
Ultimately, hotels and other accommodation outlets are dealing with rising operational pressure. So the focus is on actions that deliver genuine impact to commercial value.
And I’ve got a few examples. So we’ve got Jeremy Slater from Bob W. who’s talking about what he calls “shoestring sustainability”, which is all about the high-impact changes that fast-growing hotel short-term rental businesses can make, specifically without huge capital investment.
One of our suppliers, Zenio, is showing how smart room tech and intelligent energy control can deliver measurable sustainability gains.
And we’re also trying to move beyond new builds from a content perspective. So we’ve got John Humphreys from Mainland Design, and he’s sharing some lessons from upgrading existing buildings, and also we’re talking about circular design.
We’ve got Josh from Lamington Group talking about that and shaping the future of hotels and the journey to net zero.
So it’s a wide range.
We’ve also got a panel which includes reps from Radisson Hotel Group, and they’re looking at what sustainability means in practice inside hotel businesses today.
So I think the key thread across all that, as I said, is practicality, and the honest opinions and takeaways that people can apply day to day.
Adam Mogelonsky: And how does principle of practicality in today’s world apply to the other eight tracks that you have?
Dan Assor: Very similar. You know, if I take the people and culture track — even though it will say “people and culture”, you think, “Well okay, is it just for heads of people and culture?” But actually it’s not.
GMs are obviously heavily invested in what’s happening within the hotels.
So I think it’s similar across the piece.
Technology: we’ve got lots of discussions around the use of agent AI — how that’s gonna disrupt people’s travel plans, how they’re searching and booking.
Direct bookings as well — again, how that’s gonna affect OTAs and the need for more personalisation. And can AI give us that?
So it really is about practical sessions and insights across all of the tracks.
And the reason why we built this steering committee is because every six weeks we’re going back to them and saying, “Right — what about this talk, opportunity for this speaker,” and so on and so forth.
So we’re testing it all the time with that committee. They’re the people — and peers — that are gonna be turning up and obviously listening to these sessions.
Adam Mogelonsky: So testing then gets to the word feedback. February 27th, you are packing up and closing things down. What KPIs are you gonna look at in retrospect to show that this show was a success and guide next year, or 2027?
Dan Assor: Yeah, it’s a good question.
Look, the stark reality is commercially, this is a free-to-attend event, right? So these events live or die on how well our suppliers get on.
But obviously they only get on if we bring the right people to the room from a buyer perspective — and they enjoy it as well.
So the rebook is important. Trade show exhibition organisers will talk about the rebook, and we’ll have a specific number in mind as to what we want to achieve.
You know — X amount of money in the room, X amount of suppliers. We take their feedback anecdotal, but ultimately it’s: are they gonna sign on the dotted line for 2027?
So that’s definitely a big KPI and metric of success.
We can come off site and say, “That went brilliantly.” If no-one rebooks, then it’s not so brilliant.
We do as a business something called a Net Promoter Score, and most trade show organisers would do that.
So we send out a survey which we ask people to complete, I think within five days. It’s got four simple questions about how they enjoyed it and so on and so forth — the score out of 10.
So we have a Net Promoter Score that goes to exhibitors, goes to speakers, and it goes to visitors, and then there’s a combined score. Obviously anything plus is positive.
But you know, as an event director, honestly, whilst I want to hear the positive feedback, I’d really like to hear the negative feedback — or shall I say, the constructive criticism — because that’s how we learn.
And the good thing is, not that we might always like to hear it, we know that people that tend to fill out surveys are the ones that have got something to say about their experience.
But that’s good. You might take it personal to start off with, but once you become less emotive over the years, you realise they’re only trying to help.
So yeah.
And I personally will be speaking to every vendor. I’ll be speaking to our speakers afterwards — you know, we’ve got over a hundred speakers at the event — and getting their views as to what they think we can improve upon.
’Cause it’s gonna be lots. It’s the first year. It doesn’t matter that we’ve [done] it in Sydney.
But I think people are forgiving and they see that there’s the right direction of travel, they’re happy to stay with you on the journey. It’s not just about year one.
Ultimately, we’re the custodians of the event. The event is for the community. They will decide whether they want it, and they will decide whether we’re doing it well enough. So that’s the truth of the matter.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, I mean, I love the truth of it — that it’s all about that rebooking ratio, right? I mean, you know, that’s cut straight to the nose there.
Dan Assor: That’s it. They will decide whether it’s something…
But also we’re inviting lots of people down that, for whatever reason, couldn’t exhibit this year. We’ll have good conversations with them. We’ll get their views. Yeah — so lots of metrics.
Adam Mogelonsky: So just to firm up the business itself: this is free to attend for anyone, and then the exhibitors are the ones that are funding the whole venture?
Dan Assor: Yeah, essentially.
People exhibit, they sponsor, they speak. Sponsor packages normally include a speaking session and an exhibitor stand.
So that’s the model that we’ve chosen.
Some other Terrapin events are more traditional conference-based, so they charge for conference to get in.
Then it might have maybe a slightly smaller expo, and that’s more of your traditional — you know — you behind a curtain until coffee time and lunchtime.
Here, the conference theatres are open on the show floor. It’s a point of difference to other conferences.
Silent headsets — silent disco headsets — so people are moving around the floor all the time, right, and having interactions with the exhibitors.
Adam Mogelonsky: So this — the next question — which is: how are you innovating the overall space? And we’ve covered this a lot, but I’m sure you also have ideas for how you want to differentiate NoVacancy London from other trade shows, and also really shepherd this exposition industry forward.
Dan Assor: Sure. Well, what I would say is I don’t know whether it’s 100% innovative, but not everyone does this.
We deliberately mix buy-side speakers, peer-led case studies, and supplier presentations together, rather than separating them into completely different experiences.
Having said that, we’re careful with the ratio, so we like to still keep it in favour of buy-side. We don’t want just all supplier presentations, but ultimately it also reflects how decisions we feel are actually made in hospitality — so the two are sort of mixed together.
I just mentioned: conference and expo sit together in the same space, with open theatres on the show floor. It creates that hubbub, if you like — there’s always a… I think the younger generation will call it a vibe. I dunno if my age will allow me to say vibe, but that’s essentially what it is on the show floor. There’s always something going on.
But you know, why do people come to events these days? During the pandemic, Zoom and other delivery mechanisms came into force. People can consume content now wherever they want, on demand.
So not only do they come for content — they also come for the networking. They come to meet their people in the industry.
So we also curate the networking opportunities quite deliberately — whether through a networking zone or through the app, which is pretty gold standard. There’s also arranged meetings, should they want it, as well.
We’ve got the Gain VIP evening, which is happening adjacent, in another area of Excel.
And so that’s also why people come — and it’s carefully curated. That’s not to say… you don’t wanna curate an experience to death. You also wanna allow a bit of serendipity: people bumping into each other.
We all do at events, and that’s actually sometimes where the magic happens — where deals happen, where relationships are formed.
So I think: carefully curated networking, the combination of the expo floor with the conference theatres being open, and then the mixture of buy-side and supplier presentations — we find that works.
Adam Mogelonsky: Yeah, you know, that word serendipity really strikes a bell with me, ’cause there’s always the beauty of the conferences. You’re bouncing around, and then something magical can happen out of just having an offhand conversation.
Dan Assor: Yeah, absolutely.
And coming back to what I’ve done to launch the event, and going to all these different events — mostly I’ve turned up by myself. I didn’t know anyone. But in a funny way, as I tell other people, that forces you into conversations, right?
Sometimes if we go to events with three or four of us and we all know each other, we just end up standing in a [group], because it’s safety in numbers.
When you don’t know [anyone], you’ve gotta get out there and actually speak to people, and then you speak to someone else, and then someone else, and so on and so forth.
And I think that happens at trade shows.
I think now if people are gonna go [to] the office, that’s what they want.
Content’s important, but it’s not the only thing that gets people to these events, ’cause content can be found elsewhere.
Adam Mogelonsky: Yeah. And I also like the earlier point about how you have the speakers on the trade show floor.
You know, these big convention centres — you have to find the room where the speaker’s at, and that takes 15 minutes, and it’s, “Oh, is it in room 131A or 3, 2C?” “Oh, I’m on the wrong floor.” “Forget it. Let’s just go grab a…”
Dan Assor: Yeah. And that also doesn’t help the suppliers, right?
In our [model], the suppliers, as we said, are paying for the event essentially. So if you’re locking your speakers and your delegates away somewhere else, what are your suppliers doing?
We’ve all seen it — they’re just talking to each other, which, okay, that’s fine. They build partnerships with that as well. But it’s not ideal.
I think you want the ecosystem mixing together throughout: the conference and the exhibition together at the same time, as opposed to just the forced interaction at lunchtime over the buffet cart where, if we’re honest, it’s the delegates at that point [who] just want to eat.
Adam Mogelonsky: Or if they even have a buffet cart, right? You know, we were talking about other events before we started recording — and we were talking about ones where the food scene, it was basically a food swamp and they were just overcharging for garbage. And in those cases, you’re forcing people offsite to get a real bite.
Dan Assor: Yeah, absolutely. And then you’re taking them away from the event.
I think, you know, the beauty of a free-to-enter trade show is that we’re democratising that, right? So people can come.
People don’t have to worry about budgets in that regard, or they can travel a bit further because there’s no entry point.
Having said that, we’re laser-focused on who we’re inviting.
So I think that’s why we feel this trade show model works. And coming back to your earlier point, it allows you to get scale relatively quickly.
And yeah, that’s what we hope to achieve.
Adam Mogelonsky: Yeah, I mean the overall point that I guess we’re getting at is the actual design of the exposition is for creating that scene that draws people back, that people [are] excited, and ultimately creates a show that lasts due to — call it rebooking ratio or whichever other KPI you want to use. And it all comes back to that design of bringing people together.
Dan Assor: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
And I think also, you know, we’re very good — and other organisers are — at making sure that we use the tools available to get our speakers, our visitors, our sponsors to invite their networks to the event, right? And I’m very honest with that.
It’s not about “you are paying us to do it” — it’s in your interest to do it with your own marketing as well.
And it’s never been easier with all the social media that are available.
And it’s great because one person would invite another person who invites another person who invites another person — that’s how you sort of build that community spirit.
And I think most people accept that. And I’ve seen that already — lots of people doing their own around the event.
And we know in the tech space specifically — sure you’ll agree — over the last year of going to events, a lot of them do their own satellite events, either in the evening or the day before, or whatever.
So I think they’re well versed in maximising the opportunities.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, truly it’s been a masterclass discussing how to launch an event and a lot of the focus that you’re putting towards launching it and the design of it.
What’s next for NoVacancy London after the launch year? And if there’s anything else you want to touch on, please.
Dan Assor: Yeah. Thank you.
I think it’s coming back to: let’s see what we’ve got, essentially, after the first event, right?
Let’s take the feedback. Let’s see. You attended. Let’s take any constructive feedback and learnings.
And ultimately, as I said, for us, it’s about building out those audience sets: independent hotels, chain brands, holiday parks, hostels, serviced apartments, student accommodation.
The other supplier categories that I mentioned.
And getting to a point in, you know, 2, 3, 4 years’ time where we’ve got 15, 20,000 visitors, 300, 400 exhibitors.
That’s the direction of travel. You know, that’s… yeah, it’s a dream. But I think it can be done. A lot of hard work, but once you get that momentum…
As I explain to the team, you almost like… you get that ball to the top of the hill in year one, and then it drops over the other side and almost takes [itself], because then people start approaching you with opportunities, right?
It’s that law of attraction. People wanna be associated with something that’s successful.
And then in a funny way, it’s like you’re almost like, “Whoa — let’s decide,” because there’s always so much you can do.
But yeah, you know, if you’re talking to me in three or four years’ time, hopefully we’ve got an event where we’ve got 15,000 attendees, 300 exhibitors, and it’s working for the communities that attend.
Adam Mogelonsky: I mean, three, four years — we’re just gonna have robots, right? And robots with our digital avatar attending, and we’ll just be sitting back watching Netflix all day.
Dan Assor: Well, yeah, I mean, it’s interesting. I think there’s a lot of talk in the exhibition community that, in a funny way, with the rise of AI, what’s become ever more important [is] face-to-face, because it’s the only way to genuinely prove that that conversation is happening in real time.
So we think the trade show industry is gonna be in rude health and even in more demand, ’cause you — we spoke about serendipity. You can’t replicate that on AI.
There’s so much sort of fake news that, you know, getting those conversations in person are gonna be ever more important.
Adam Mogelonsky: That’s a timeless lesson unto itself. A close friend of mine says, in the world of AI, humans are the new luxury.
Dan Assor: Yeah, it’s true.
Adam Mogelonsky: So, and that comes down, and I’m as [optimistic] as you are about the future of trade shows. It’s really that chance to bring people together for that genuine connection.
Dan Assor: Absolutely. As human beings, you know, we like to have that connection. It’s what we thrive on. And I think that’s… that’s gonna be the way forward in the future.
Adam Mogelonsky: Dan, it’s been a pleasure to talk, just the ins and outs of what you’re dealing with and what the challenges you’ve overcome. Thank you so much for your wisdom.
Dan Assor: Thank you, Adam. Thanks for inviting me and hopefully I look forward to seeing you, and the rest of the Gain Advisors and other people in your community, at the show in London.
Adam Mogelonsky: Awesome. Thanks, Dan.
Dan Assor: Thank you.