30 Years and Still on Top – NEPCON China

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

NEPCON is one of the longest running events in China. Assistant Vice President Wilson Fung reveals how it continues to stay on top, by staying relevant to the market.

Over the past 30 years, NEPCON China has grown to become the largest electronics manufacturing event in Asia, by continuing to reflect the latest developments in China’s rapidly growing electronics manufacturing industry. In addition, the brand has been extended to include a regional edition in Shenzhen (NEPCON China South) each August, and we have just announced plans to run the first West China Electronics Manufacturing Summit Forum in Chengdu from 17-18 June 2016.

As traditional electronics manufacturing processes are phased out, NEPCON China continually aims to bring new technology to the fore. This year we debuted the new Electronics Manufacturing Automation (EMA) Pavilion showcasing the most advanced industrial automation technologies. Seminars on VOI, smart wearables and Industry 4.0, among others, also looked to future trends and generated high levels of interest. Other new events onsite included a Mobile Manufacturing Conference, Automotive Electronics Conference and New Electronics Materials Forum.

NEPCON China’s long-standing relationships with key association partners such as CCPIT play a vital role in reinforcing industry awareness of the show. This, combined with strong support from the ISG has secured the participation of key bellwethers each year and attracted growing numbers of high-end buyers. The 2015 event drew nearly 22,000 visitors from across China – 5% more than in 2014. Most notably the number of senior buyers attending as a result of our Targeted Attendee Program (TAP) rose from 438 to 1,066, an increase of 143.4%.

In terms of visitor promotion, WeChat has become one of our primary tools, enabling us to recruit new visitors whilst driving down promotional costs. We currently have over 9,300 WeChat fans, and offered pre-registration and onsite registration through WeChat. We also set up a mini NEPCON China website in WeChat and ran competitions to win gifts. Next year we plan to set up mini websites in WeChat to enable exhibitors to promote their products and services.

To generate new business opportunities and leads for participants this year we launched a business matching service for exhibitors and TAP attendees. Through their energetic pre-show communication, the TAP team completed 625 business match-ups, and a further 109 business matches on site.

We also introduced our new and improved NEPCON app which offered a more attractive and user-friendly user interface. The new functions included an exhibition guide, pre-registration and new product showcase.

Finally, to thank our exhibitors and key visitors for their long-term support we organized a 30th Anniversary Cocktail Party. On the show floor we featured a 30th Anniversary display area, to show the history of NEPCON and the electronic manufacturing industry. To interact with visitors there was a quiz and prizes which helped to draw the attention of the media before, during and after the show.

NEPCON South China 2015 Visiting Pre-registration：

• Hotline： 86-21-2231-7011
• Follow NEPCON WeChat：NEPCON_CHINA
• Website：www.nepconsouthchina.com

About Reed Exhibitions Greater China

Reed Exhibitions Greater China is a part of Reed Exhibitions, the world's leading events organizer that has over 500 events in 43 countries. Globally, Reed's portfolio of exhibitions and conferences serves 43 industry sectors across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Africa. The company employs 3,700 people worldwide. In 2014, Reed Exhibitions brought together over seven million event participants from around the world, generating billions of dollars in business for its customers. Reed Exhibitions is a division of RELX Group plc., a world leading provider of professional information solutions as well as a FTSE–100 company.

After over three decades of rapid growth, Reed Exhibitions Greater China is the country's leading organizer of definitive trade events. It is made up of nine outstanding member companies: Reed Exhibitions China, Reed Sinopharm Exhibitions, Reed Huabo Exhibitions, Reed Huaqun Exhibitions, Reed Exhibitions (Shanghai), Reed Guanghe Exhibitions, Reed Huabai Exhibitions, Reed Hongda Exhibitions and Reed Exhibitions Kuozhan.

Currently, over 500 staff help Reed Exhibitions Greater China to serve 12 specialized sectors: Electronics Manufacturing & Assembly • Machine Tools, Metalworking & Industrial Materials • Converting • Life Sciences & Pharmaceuticals, Health Care, Beauty & Cosmetics, Sports & Recreation • Gifts & Homeware • Auto Aftermarket • Lifestyle • Gaming • Publishing • Property & Travel• Marine, Energy, Oil & Gas; Broadcasting, TV, Music & Entertainment.

In 2014, Reed Exhibitions Greater China held over 50 events and brought together over 1 million visitors and nearly 40,000 conference delegates. Our events hosted more than 30,000 suppliers whose stands occupied more than 1.6 million sqm of show floor space. www.reedexpo.com.cn