Postponement of IT fair may be the last nail in its coffin
The IT&T exhibition (ITEX) scheduled for this week will not take place as it has been postponed to late November, disrupting the plans of the few exhibitors who are not taking their participation for granted anymore, i-Tech can reveal. The decision...
The IT&T exhibition (ITEX) scheduled for this week will not take place as it has been postponed to late November, disrupting the plans of the few exhibitors who are not taking their participation for granted anymore, i-Tech can reveal.
The decision seems to have been taken last week when the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre (MFCC) sent exhibitors this notification: "Due to unforeseen circumstances I regret to inform you that this year's edition the IT&T Exhibition has been postponed to a later date".
However, the decision was not immediately communicated to the public on the billboards and on the MFCC website as over the weekend they still carried the original dates of the event. The notice on the website was updated last Monday evening.
According to the MFCC calendar of events, November will also see the wedding exhibition between the 13 and the 16 of the month and the machinery and tools exhibition between the 27 and 30. The IT fair should be sandwiched in between.
I-Tech contacted the MFCC and requested to speak to an executive responsible for the organisation of the event to shed light on the decision. However, the executive said she was not allowed to give the reasons for the postponement or say how many exhibitors had booked space in the structure at Ta' Qali.
The IT fair, as the IT&T exhibition is popularly known, has kept its annual appointment with the public year after year for the last two decades or so, changing venues and dates but usually being held in the fourth quarter of the year. The last time it was postponed due to "unforeseen circumstances" was in 1996 when the general elections were called for October. It was held the following February.
This year's fair was scheduled at the end of this month, earlier than mid-October or November as in previous years, to coincide with the re-opening of schools after the summer holidays.
A spokesman for the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communication, one of the main exhibitors of this year's fair, said: "We are of course disappointed that this postponement has occurred. No decision has been taken about participation at the new date."
Another major exhibitor, Go, is ready to move on with its campaigns, fair or no fair, from its network of outlets, according to its spokesman.
"Clearly the possible postponement of the fair does not hinder Go's current marketing efforts and a number of campaigns have already been launched, such as the one-year free broadband campaign, and others will be launched in the coming days via our extensive range of outlets all over Malta and Gozo, especially from our quad-play outlets in Valletta and Birkirkara selling mobile, fixed, broadband and TV. We will be evaluating our participation in a possible ITEX fair in November accordingly with our plans.
A spokesman for Vodafone Malta said the postponement does not affect their marketing plans. However, when asked whether the company will confirm its participation when it is held in November, the spokesman simply said: "That is a possibility".
Throughout these years the IT fair has witnessed important landmarks in the use of computers in Malta. The first Apple Macintosh and IBM-compatible Windows PC were put on show at this event in the late 1980s, and then in 1995 the fair introduced internet to the mass market, perhaps reaching the peak of its popularity before the turn of the millennium when internet broadband was launched.
It used to host a conference that brought together people in the ICT industry to discuss the latest trends, challenges and opportunities in Malta. But from then onwards, it went into a steady decline in terms of exhibiting space booked and number of visitors.
The postponement of this year's edition could be the last nail in its coffin. Last year it was re-branded into ITEX, the IT exhibition, and re-located from Naxxar to the MFCC at Ta' Qali. It looked like it could be a promising restart, as i-Tech had reported last year, but the developments of recent weeks raise more questions on the future of the event.
Signs that things were not going the right way were evident earlier this month when the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprise (GRTU) held a meeting for potential exhibitors. It was very poorly attended and the few who did lodged several complaints at the organisers for failing to provide the right business environment that would attract exhibitors and the public. The high cost of exhibition space and poor marketing topped the complaints list.
"It's a chicken-and-egg situation," explained the owner of a small computer hardware retail outlet who used to participate successfully in the fair in the late 1990s but stopped from doing so in the last few years.
"There are few exhibitors with new products and services and this does not attract a lot of people. The low number of visitors in turn does not encourage more exhibitors to participate. Maybe in Malta we are just following the international trend where IT fairs are becoming less popular, supplanted by more handy and interactive online marketing tools available 24 hours a day. The organisers of the local IT fair are just making the demise more rapid."
More bells started ringing towards the end of last week when some of the major computer systems outlets in Malta announced they were going to have an open week or a week of special offers at their premises and not at the fair. These included retailers that had not missed a single edition of the fair in many years. Others had been shouting "we are not at the IT fair" for quite some time, preferring to get customers directly to their shops and save on the high cost to exhibit.
The loss of the IT fair may well be compensated in part by the new Digital Arts Expo, which was held for the first time in Malta last July. Rather than selling hardware and services, it showcased the potential of creativity through computers. Strong interest was registered and the organisers are already planning next year's edition.
i-tech@timesofmalta.com
The decision seems to have been taken last week when the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre (MFCC) sent exhibitors this notification: "Due to unforeseen circumstances I regret to inform you that this year's edition the IT&T Exhibition has been postponed to a later date".
However, the decision was not immediately communicated to the public on the billboards and on the MFCC website as over the weekend they still carried the original dates of the event. The notice on the website was updated last Monday evening.
According to the MFCC calendar of events, November will also see the wedding exhibition between the 13 and the 16 of the month and the machinery and tools exhibition between the 27 and 30. The IT fair should be sandwiched in between.
I-Tech contacted the MFCC and requested to speak to an executive responsible for the organisation of the event to shed light on the decision. However, the executive said she was not allowed to give the reasons for the postponement or say how many exhibitors had booked space in the structure at Ta' Qali.
The IT fair, as the IT&T exhibition is popularly known, has kept its annual appointment with the public year after year for the last two decades or so, changing venues and dates but usually being held in the fourth quarter of the year. The last time it was postponed due to "unforeseen circumstances" was in 1996 when the general elections were called for October. It was held the following February.
This year's fair was scheduled at the end of this month, earlier than mid-October or November as in previous years, to coincide with the re-opening of schools after the summer holidays.
A spokesman for the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communication, one of the main exhibitors of this year's fair, said: "We are of course disappointed that this postponement has occurred. No decision has been taken about participation at the new date."
Another major exhibitor, Go, is ready to move on with its campaigns, fair or no fair, from its network of outlets, according to its spokesman.
"Clearly the possible postponement of the fair does not hinder Go's current marketing efforts and a number of campaigns have already been launched, such as the one-year free broadband campaign, and others will be launched in the coming days via our extensive range of outlets all over Malta and Gozo, especially from our quad-play outlets in Valletta and Birkirkara selling mobile, fixed, broadband and TV. We will be evaluating our participation in a possible ITEX fair in November accordingly with our plans.
A spokesman for Vodafone Malta said the postponement does not affect their marketing plans. However, when asked whether the company will confirm its participation when it is held in November, the spokesman simply said: "That is a possibility".
Throughout these years the IT fair has witnessed important landmarks in the use of computers in Malta. The first Apple Macintosh and IBM-compatible Windows PC were put on show at this event in the late 1980s, and then in 1995 the fair introduced internet to the mass market, perhaps reaching the peak of its popularity before the turn of the millennium when internet broadband was launched.
It used to host a conference that brought together people in the ICT industry to discuss the latest trends, challenges and opportunities in Malta. But from then onwards, it went into a steady decline in terms of exhibiting space booked and number of visitors.
The postponement of this year's edition could be the last nail in its coffin. Last year it was re-branded into ITEX, the IT exhibition, and re-located from Naxxar to the MFCC at Ta' Qali. It looked like it could be a promising restart, as i-Tech had reported last year, but the developments of recent weeks raise more questions on the future of the event.
Signs that things were not going the right way were evident earlier this month when the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprise (GRTU) held a meeting for potential exhibitors. It was very poorly attended and the few who did lodged several complaints at the organisers for failing to provide the right business environment that would attract exhibitors and the public. The high cost of exhibition space and poor marketing topped the complaints list.
"It's a chicken-and-egg situation," explained the owner of a small computer hardware retail outlet who used to participate successfully in the fair in the late 1990s but stopped from doing so in the last few years.
"There are few exhibitors with new products and services and this does not attract a lot of people. The low number of visitors in turn does not encourage more exhibitors to participate. Maybe in Malta we are just following the international trend where IT fairs are becoming less popular, supplanted by more handy and interactive online marketing tools available 24 hours a day. The organisers of the local IT fair are just making the demise more rapid."
More bells started ringing towards the end of last week when some of the major computer systems outlets in Malta announced they were going to have an open week or a week of special offers at their premises and not at the fair. These included retailers that had not missed a single edition of the fair in many years. Others had been shouting "we are not at the IT fair" for quite some time, preferring to get customers directly to their shops and save on the high cost to exhibit.
The loss of the IT fair may well be compensated in part by the new Digital Arts Expo, which was held for the first time in Malta last July. Rather than selling hardware and services, it showcased the potential of creativity through computers. Strong interest was registered and the organisers are already planning next year's edition.
i-tech@timesofmalta.com