Gaby Appleton joined Trade Show Talk to share her experience as Chief Digital Product Officer at RX, a public company that produces more than 400 events in 22 countries. In this newly created position that she’s now held for three years, Appleton and her team have been building and commercializing digital products that enhance the value of RX events, by connecting buyers and sellers across 43 different industry sectors. With more than 20 years of experience in product development, sales and marketing, digital transformation and strategy, she told us she loves tackling complex problems. In fact ..read more

Bob Priest-Heck joined Trade Show Talk to share his experience as CEO of Freeman, a privately owned global events company that employs more than 4,500. As he prepares to step down from his role on June 28 after 15 years at Freeman and six years at the helm, Priest-Heck reflected on the risks and rewards of his career that spans more than 35 years in the events industry. We talked about the early days when he was on the show management side and had a front-row seat to launching and producing massive tech events during the Internet boom. Under his leadership at Freeman, the company was recognize ..read more

Elli Riley joined Trade Show Talk to share her experience as the VP, HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition, for Informa Markets. Riley joined the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) in December 2002 and has more than 28 years of experience in the meetings industry. Last summer, the HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition was acquired by public company Informa, and Riley joined the Informa team in September 2023. Today Riley is the business lead for the HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition and oversees the marketing, sales, content and operations teams ..read more

Lindsay Arell joined Trade Show Talk to share her experience as the CEO of Honeycomb Strategies, a consulting firm she launched in 2009 to provide innovative sustainable operational strategies for the hospitality, sports and events industry. Today some of her clients include: SoFi Stadium, Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Informa, Emerald, Freeman and VISIT DENVER. In April 2024, she was also appointed chief sustainability officer of ASM Global, a venue management company that operates more than 350 convention centers, arenas, stadiums and theaters around the globe. We talked about her ..read more

U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman joined Trade Show Talk to share his experience as the leading advocate for the $1.1 trillion U.S. travel and hospitality industry. In this role since September 2022, Freeman talked about recent lobbying wins, including the Congressional passage in March of $50 million in funding for the U.S. Department of State to reduce visitor visa interview wait times — welcome news for business events, with average wait times of 400 days for top markets like Mexico, Brazil, India and Columbia. We did a deep dive into the data from a Tourism Economics ..read more

Helen Sheppard joined Trade Show Talk to share her experience as Sustainability Director of RX, a public company that produces 400 events annually in 22 countries across 42 industry sectors. She’s held the position since 2022, but she joined the parent company, RELX, in 2011. She talked about RX’s Net Zero Roadmap, which was published on Feb. 29 and outlines how the company will reach net zero no later than 2040. Under her leadership, RX completed energy and waste reporting for 56 venues covering 141 events in 2023, and carbon footprints were completed for 10 events. Find out how she and ..read more

Caitlyn Correia joined Trade Show Talk to share her experience as President of BlueHive Group, a private, family-owned corporation that serves as the parent company for BlueHive Exhibits, Continental Woodcraft, Trigon Creative and Lime I&D Services. She’s held the position of president since 2021, but she got her start in the industry a number of years ago. She talked about growing up in the industry, as the third generation of a professional trade show family. Under her leadership, BlueHive is set to have its best year yet, serving 150 clients at 1,000 events across the globe in 2024 ..read more

Mike Champion joined Trade Show Talk to share his experience as CEO of Tahaluf, a joint venture between Informa PLC, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), and the Events Investment Fund (EIF). As head of Informa's Saudi operations and Tahaluf, he has grown revenue from $2 million per annum to projected more than $125 million in four years.  How? With two of the largest B2B events in history: Cityscape Global and LEAP. In November 2023, Cityscape Global debuted with 350 exhibitors, more than 10,000 international investors, an impressive lineup of more tha ..read more

Ep. 48 – In Play: Toy Association EVP Global Market Events Kimberly Carcone   The Toy Association EVP Global Market Events Kimberly Carcone joined Trade Show Talk to share her experience overseeing the association’s flagship event, Toy Fair. In 2023, the 118th Toy Fair returned last fall to New York City for the first time since 2020. Held at Javits Center, Toy Fair 2023 attracted about 20,000 attendees to see tens of thousands of products on display by 1,021 exhibiting companies, including nearly 400 first-time exhibitors. The trade show brought buyers from nearly 100 countries together ..read more

Last June, Nth Degree and its PE owners, MSouth Capital, bought Fern Expo. John Hense, who joined Nth Degree in 2018 as CFO and was elevated to CEO in late 2021, now serves as CEO over both companies.  Hense brings 20 years in leadership roles in growth-oriented companies. His previous three leadership roles were technology-focused with logistics-intensive companies, including Flash Global Logistics, Diligent Delivery Systems and most recently Ship Supply.  In this episode of Trade Show Talk, Hense shared his experience as a leader with PE-owned companies from outside the industry an ..read more