The world champion at trade fairs

Elmia AB is one of the Nordic countries’ leading trade fair companies. It annually arranges various trade fairs in several business areas, including conferences, congresses, and events. As a digital and physical meeting place, Elmia has an offensive position—in the middle of people and companies who either have or are looking for new ideas, products, and services.

Elmia.se and My Pages

At Elmia.se, exhibitors and visitors can find the right activities to participate in. Each fair has its own “site within the site,” and for exhibitors, Elmia’s My Pages facilitates planning, implementation, and follow-up.

Quick facts

  • Elmia is based on Optimizely’s CMS platform with integrations such as several external systems.
  • Elmia.se meets hundreds of thousands of visitors and has a well-thought-out information architecture.
  • Jönköping Municipality owns Elmia and is a central player in the city and its tourism industry.
  • Elmia offers a total exhibition space of 34,000 square meters.

Challenge

Elmia needed a website that not only marketed Elmia on a general level but could also effectively market each specific fair. (And there are many!) Elmia wanted to be able to set up a site within the site for each new fair and also give it its look based on specific given UX frameworks. The need to communicate more effectively and offer an even better customer journey—regardless of the target group—made our joint research and needs assessment extra important.

In addition, Elmia needed a modern My Pages concept to facilitate the planning, implementation, and follow-up of a trade fair for all exhibitors.

Solution

The solution was a user-friendly visual concept with a precise general level for Elmia and a clear structure for each trade fair. Through a flexible design concept and a “multi-site” concept within Optimizely CMS, we created the foundation for an elmia.se that can grow in breadth and depth without sacrificing clarity for visitors. With the help of editorial rights and workflows, we have ensured that this large website maintains its style over time.

The My Pages concept, launched shortly after the new elmia.se, is also based on Optimizely CMS and applications from Microsoft Azure and has several integrations. Elmia’s My Pages contains lots of functionality and information, making the entire trade fair experience even better for the exhibitor.

“It feels great that we are now entering the third year of collaboration with Ninetech, where we are moving Elmia further forward in the digital world.“ Lars Persson, Elmia

Result

The editorial organization and all target groups received the new elmia.se very well. In connection with the COVID-19COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly developed a Digital Fairs concept for elmia.se that allowed the business to adjust instead of canceling altogether.

My Pages functions make it easier before, during, and after a fair.

The rollout of Elmira’s My Pages has resulted in exhibitors being able to prepare their fair calmly and structured. Examples of functions offered are:

  • Book fair and stand products in a webshop and have control over all information presented to visitors.
  • A new ticket system, integrated with Trickster, enables you, as an exhibitor, to purchase tickets and other services via My Pages.
  • The exhibitor can do all this for all their stands and partners in one place through a login.
  • The exhibitor can also manage and administer all personnel involved.
  • Through integration with the municipality’s parking system, the exhibitor can book their parking ticket and include it in the order of the entire exhibition package.
  • The solution is mobile-friendly, increasing flexibility for both exhibitors and visitors. An exhibitor can adjust the information presented digitally before and during the exhibition.

Elmia’s Mina Sidor concept will continue to develop in the future to optimize the overall experience for exhibitors and visitors and strengthen Jönköping’s position as Sweden’s number one exhibition city.