More HR and training professionals impressed with this year's HRD Expo

With over 70 exhibitors and just under 2 000 visitors, a cross-section of corporate and media participants were invited to share their views, post-event, on this HR, education and training professionals' show of the year, and to ascertain whether all expectations were fully met.

The good, the bad and the ugly:

Overall, very positive feedback was garnered, following the 2012 staging of The Star HRD Expo, with 87 percent of exhibitors confirming that they would gladly sign-up for 2013. The remaining 13 percent were hesitant to commit, too soon following the show, and stated that although the exposure was excellent, they wished to see whether this translated directly into increased sales.

The highlights:

High praise was expressed for the following, as well as show improvements:

• Layout of the expo
  
• Choice of venue
  
• Complimentary speaker sessions and workshops
  
• The overall marketing and advertising strategy with increased general awareness through streetpole advertising, roving trailers, radio and more
  
• High calibre of attending delegates
  
• The Speakers' Corner
  
• The generation of new leads
  
• The platform provided from which to build-on and maintain existing client relationships
  
• Lavazza Coffee

The lowlights:

Although overall, the general feedback was complimentary, there were a few negatives communicated regarding parking during build-up, the number of visiting students, as well as the food and catering.

Improvement wishlist:

Some great suggestions were put forward for the possible hosting of the 2013 expo, inclusive of:

• Pre-meeting of participating media partners, to collaborate on concepts to further promote the expo and media lane, respectively
  
• Presence of industry-related Minister, to open the event
  
• Participation of high-profile industry-related speakers
  
• Free Wi-Fi for exhibitors
  
• Through the marketing and promotion of next year's event: Encourage visitors to bring their business cards

What stood out?

For first-time exhibitors, the continuous turnaround of visitors to the expo, was a welcomed surprise. Mention was also made of the fact that most show victors exhibited a genuine interest in, and association with the HR and training landscape, which made them more approachable and easy to engage with.

Direct feedback: Management

Says Jelena Kucan-Salic, ESI, Onsite Training, Expo & Sponsorships Manager IIR South Africa BV, "IIR is proud to host the annual The Star HRD Expo and we have completed the hosting of the 2012 event with some phenomenal visitor and exhibitor feedback. With the introduction of the on the show HR-related workshops, more prize give-aways and new existing line-up of Speakers Corner' presentations, our visitors this year have enjoyed a comprehensive variety of knowledge and information-sharing opportunities. What we are most proud of is the calibre and industry interest, which seems to grow year-on-year, as we continue to experience a marked increase of high level professionals attending. More than 40 percent of the total show visitors hail from CEO, Executive, Middle and Junior Management levels. The majority of visitors to the show are South African; however we are also seeing more visitors from England, Netherlands, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and other African countries."

Direct feedback: Exhibitors

"The expo this year was revamped from last year and was much better than last year's expo. The quality of delegate coming through was of a higher profile and thus made it more beneficial to us." ~ Regenesys Business School

"I am very happy with the expo concept and am surprised that the 'open' structure of people visiting on an ad-hoc basis works so well. I am used to a fixed conference style programme. I would like to have someone from our company talk at the Speakers' Corner next time and would be interested to know how organising that would work. The catering was a bit disappointing for me as there were limited options and it was expensive. Other than that, I enjoyed meeting new leads and seeing existing clients. Prizes at a stand is a challenge as the people didn't know they should bring business cards, so I would like the pre-communication to motivate people to bring them along to make it easy for them to give details for prizes or for contact at a later time. Thank you!" ~ AOSIS (Pty) Ltd

"It was a wonderful opportunity to meet new clients." ~ Bioss SA

"Overall huge success. The position of our stand was beneficial to us. Fewer students than last year." ~ 21st Century Pay Solutions Group

"The HRD Expo was well-organised and most HR companies attended. It was a good platform for work seekers as they met with a number of recruitment companies in one building, and registered their CVs on the spot." ~ Department of Labour

"It was good to see the increased awareness of the expo and quality of delegates attending the event. Feel the exhibitors were a lot better this year and also the layout was good." ~ CareerWeb

"We had a great three days and enjoyed it. I feel that it is value and one could get great leads from the Expo. We will definitely like to do this next year." ~ Workinfo.com

"I think the HR Expo provided a good platform for likeminded individuals to network and gain exposure into what is happening in the HR space. I quite enjoyed interacting with the other exhibitors and being a part of such a dynamic and informative display of knowledge and skill that we have available in our country, we just need to get out more and continuously be instrumental in sharing our ideas and thinking across organisations." ~ Africa Business News