AN HONEST REVIEW
AN HONEST REVIEW: STAY AWAY
Two of my colleagues travelled all the way from London to attend the 2018 Abu Dhabi International real estate investment show (IREIS) in November 2018. The show is run by “Dome exhibitions” who on the face, look like a genuine and respectable company but this is far from the truth.
IREIS is branded as an “indispensable business platform for the international real estate industry and investors” which is certainly not the case. The event was completely false advertised, with Dome exhibitions stating in their brochure that visitor numbers had been well in excess of 8,000 in previous years when in fact the turn out did not reflect this at all.
As you can see from the attached photos and videos, which were taken in the shows “busiest periods”, the exhibition hall was EMPTY every day, from start to finish. Realistically there was less than 400 attendees throughout the whole 3 days in which the show was running and other exhibitors will reiterate this.
It was evident that other exhibitors felt the same as we did, since many LEFT EARLY, deciding that their resources were better spent elsewhere, which was correct. This left the exhibition hall looking unprofessional with many empty stands which would reduce any potential investors confidence in the remaining companies.
Another factor which shows the complete unorganised nature of the show and “Dome Exhibitions” was the fact that we chose a stand which was located in the centre of the exhibition hall expecting this to get the most traffic. But, when my colleagues arrived, they discovered our designated stand had been moved right to the outer edge of the hall by a dead end, with even less traffic than the centre.
As a company we go to many UK and international shows throughout the year and without doubt this is by far the WORST SHOW we have attended regarding visitor numbers, cost, organisation and advertisement. It was clear that “Dome Exhibitions” did not spend enough money on marketing the show to residents of Abu Dhabi and the surrounding areas.
Furthermore, all previous shows we have attended has resulted in there being a post-show media push by the organisers - showing images, videos and success stories over the events duration. There was none of this from “Dome Exhibitions” which reiterates how much of a con IREIS really is.
We have been in contact with both the marketing manager and the managing director of “Dome exhibitions” who simply offered us a discount on a furture, exhibition – as if we would ever contemplate that.
This whole trip was an utter waste of my colleague’s time as well as a considerate amount of business capital wasted, which could have been spent better elsewhere.
IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT ATTENDING THIS SHOW, DON’T AS IT WILL BE A WASTE OF YOUR TIME.