By Sharyn Macnamara
Mining and Technical Exhibitions (MTE) has been in business for more than 30 years offering the mining community expos with a difference. Join Sharyn Macnamara (SM), editor of African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror in an interview with Andrew Macnamara (AM), MTE operations director, focusing on what differentiates this travelling exhibition company in a niche market. With MTE, high impact, area focussed, customised, media affiliated trade shows with secured operational buy-in are the order of the day.
©Mining and Technical Exhibitions (MTE)
The travelling expo concept offers outdoor tradeshow experiences, and Macnamara – now with the MTE for 18 years – says, “If one cannot see our trade-mark orange and yellow tents, then it’s not MTE!”
SM: What differentiates MTE from the rest of the expo organisers?
AM: Firstly, we take the expo to the mine, targeting mining areas. We host the exhibitions near the operations in the area, or even on the mine site itself, making it easier for the end users with busy schedules to attend.
Secondly, our marketing sets us apart. We canvas the area well ahead of the planned exhibition to get full buy in from the operations before the exhibition. We meet directly with management, and they are therefore happy to support the expo and encourage staff to attend.
Thirdly, our long-standing relationship with the mining community supports our business model. We spend time with mining management in the area, whether it be engineering, mining, or the general manager at an operation to find out what the challenges and needs are. We then customise our exhibition by sourcing suppliers with solutions to cater to those needs. This makes visiting the exhibition worthwhile and highly beneficial for staff at the operation. Our expos are solutions-driven and therefore attract the right kind of visitor – the decision makers.
This makes our shows ‘high-impact’ – traditionally run for four hours, usually 1pm-5pm.
SM: How does your offering benefit the exhibitors?
AM: Exhibitors have a well-defined marketing strategy. Our expos enable networking and relationship building with targeted audiences generating new leads in a defined space and time – whether it be a general industry expo, or the type of mining in a particular geological area or solutions operations have specifically requested.
Our expos offer exhibitors an opportunity to brand build or to launch and demo new products – reaching out to more decision-makers in one location than one could achieve in one mine visit.
Our shows are small enough to allow for a more intimate, one-on-one, face-to-face solution delivery to end users. Exhibitors can spend more time having a decent conversation with a new lead. The end users can experience live solution showcases and ask technical questions.
SM: On average, how many exhibitors would you have at a show?
AM: It all depends on the area and the type of expo we are running. When MTE started up the expos were originally only hosted on site at the mine. We still run that kind of smaller, mine site event. Additionally, we have larger exhibitions, like our Rustenburg show, which predominantly focusses on the PGM and chrome sector, hosted in the town, where many operations in the area attend. For this kind of show – like our Steelpoort, Kathu and Richards Bay shows – we host from 60 to 150 exhibitors. At our smaller shows, such as Zondereinde, we host around 30 suppliers.
Our business model is a versatile one – we also service the cement, paper and pulp and power industries.
SM: How do you manage issues such as weather?
AM: Weather is unpredictable and can sometimes make things challenging. However, we have identified the best times of the year to host certain events in certain areas. For example, when we hit the coast, we target the winter period, because rain and wind could be an issue. We do monitor weather conditions very closely leading up to an expo and we are in constant communication with our exhibitors.
SM: How has the MTE concept evolved to add value?
AM: The company was started in 1993. MTE has moved with the changes in the industry.
Our visitors are the consumer/end-user and therefore a vital element in our world, driving technology to greater heights through their needs. If the technology on offer solves their challenge, this will translate into a business deal for our exhibitors – and this is what drives MTE.
Over the years, MTE has added the larger expo off mine site to increase the reach in larger mining areas, these are the expos tailored to the commodity needs of the area. The addition of general industry expos has stretched our muscle into other affiliated industries like the power industry, the built, the cement and the paper and pulp sectors.
Our face-to-face interaction with the end-users to understand their needs and then moving the expo in that direction, ensures that the right suppliers are well placed for the right visitors, in turn ensuring quality feet.
In addition to this, we have added improvements to logistics, like a guided walk through and colour coded visitor designation identity badging. The first involves our walkway at the event where we cordon off areas to direct traffic past every supplier, ensuring visibility for each exhibitor and a potential touch point on each stand for the decision makers visiting the show, who may be under time constraints to get back to the office.
The colour coded designation badges assist suppliers in identifying what departments come through to the show. For example, an engineering orientated supplier can then identify the engineers easily, which assists them in targeting their discussions.
SM: How does the unique partnership MTE has with its sister company offer your exhibitors and visitors support?
AM: We share an objective with African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror to disseminate relevant, useful information to industry. We work together, showcasing case studies, important trends and the latest technologies, offering solutions to industry – the hybrid publication is one of the longest serving media platforms in mining in southern Africa, while MTE offers the face-to-face events. We both talk to the specialists out there and translate this into practical operational information. Our content includes Health and Safety information, as well as the broader ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and investment and finance subjects, among others. Both arms of the business are built on mutually beneficial relationships.
SM: On a personal note, what drives you in your role at MTE?
AM: My passion is to facilitate networking events that provide support to our industry and end users, driving the economy and the long-term creation of jobs in our country. I am driven by constructive communication and connecting people and innovation to solve real challenges.
Contact:
MTE: Andrew Macnamara: +27 (0) 82 720 0083 | andrew@interactmedia.co.za
African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror: Timothy Sibuyi: +27 (0) 11 579 4940 | timothy@interactmedia.co.za