New Year, New Name - Like every year, the 2012 trade show season will kick off with the Informex in the States. But this year, a few things will be different:

The show is being launched Feb. 14-17 in New Orleans with a new name and new features. What was once known as Informex USA is now being called Informex Global, which organizers say reflects the fact that the event is no-longer limited to the U.S.

Brandi Schuster spoke to Caitlin Devlin, UBM's marketing manager for the Informex, about her ambitions for the future of the show, what's new in 2012 and how she sees the competition from the Chemspec USA.

CHEManager Europe: This year's Informex will be in New Orleans for the first time since 2008. What brings the show back to the Big Easy?

Caitlin Devlin: New Orleans has often been called the "spiritual home" of Informex, and we are excited to return for the 2012 event. The event is being hosted in New Orleans as part of our scheduled rotation of the show, which we have expanded. Where it was once a rotating East and West Coast event, we will now offer venues going through the East, Middle and West of the U.S. moving forward. The first step in this expansion was seen last year when we hosted Informex in Charlotte, NC, for the first time. The ultimate goal of the rotation is to offer exhibitors and visitors with access to new markets and to facilitate business relationships in specialty industries across the country.

What are your expectations for the 2012 show?

Caitlin Devlin: We are pleased that Informex Global 2012 is looking very positive and numbers are up across the board. As of early December, we
had an 11% increase in attendee registration, 30 new exhibitors and more than 24 countries represented.

Our event program has been tailored to provide a plethora of resources for each unique visitor's needs and will once again kick off with a welcome reception hosted by Dixie Chemical Company. From there, Informex Global will feature a full line-up of both new and returning educational and networking events to complement the exhibition throughout the four days onsite. Particularly, the breakfast briefing format will come back with a new focus on popular buyer markets within the show. And the Speed Networking Sessions, which debuted to exceptional feedback last year, will also return in an expanded format for 2012.

New educational introductions include Tech Talks, hosted by Elsevier, which will feature Informex Global exhibitors highlighting the most cutting edge technologies in the industry. Global quality consortium Rx-360 will also host a new morning session on how to address risks in the supply chain. On the networking side, an invite-only Buyer's Reception has been introduced on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and on Monday, Feb. 14, a culinary walking tour of New Orleans has been added to the line-up as a unique networking opportunity offsite from the event.

The Informex Asia, which was to take place in November, was canceled. What do you consider to be the main hurdles when trying to establish a show in new markets?

Caitlin Devlin: Any time you approach a new market, you are taking a risk. The Informex Asia offering was a very new one for us, and many factors contributed to the cancellation of the event. Overall, as a brand we prefer to take the action of calling off an event if we do not feel that we will be delivering a top-line program to our attendees. We believe that our exhibitors and visitors can appreciate that approach because it shows that we really do have their experience and ROI for each event in mind as our first priority.

Will there be another attempt to launch the show in Asia? What other regions are of interest?

Caitlin Devlin: Of course we are still looking at expanding into the Asia market, as well as other areas across the globe, but it will be key for us to continue researching in order to make strategic event introductions. Each market has different requirements, and it is important to learn how to most effectively work within them. As we move forward, South East Asia has become a prime target because of the strong chemicals market seen there; however, we are still in planning mode and will proceed with caution as we look to expand the brand globally.

The Informex brand is also branching out into conferences, such as the Global Pharma Sourcing in December and Specialty and Performance Chemical Forum. What was the inspiration behind this?

Caitlin Devlin: The Global Pharma Sourcing and Specialty Chemicals Conference are both part of the extended Informex Conference portfolio that was introduced in order to continue to offer educational content across the various sectors throughout the whole year. The introduction of the conference program was based on demand for events that provide players in unique sectors within the wider fine and specialty chemical and pharma industry with a targeted platform to learn and network around focused subject areas. The conferences complement the Informex Global offering and have received positive feedback from attendees to date.

The Global Pharma Sourcing conference topics were similar to ones that can be found at the Pharma ChemOutsourcing. Are you looking to compete with that show?

Caitlin Devlin: There is bound to be cross over between the various shows and events in the chemical and pharma industries, but we do not introduce events to specifically compete with another event. The Global Pharma Sourcing event was added to the Informex and UBM conference portfolios in order to offer a unique platform for guests to address key issues within the changing global chemical and pharmaceutical markets. It was held in a two day conference format in early December in Philadelphia, Pa., and had an exceptional line-up of top-level players in the industry including SAFC, Eli Lilly, Aptuit, PwC, Teva, Arch and Catalent. The event went very well.

The show is facing competition from Chemspec USA, which will be taking place in Philadelphia in May. Has this had any impact on your exhibitor numbers? Is it possible for both shows to co-exist in the U.S.?

Caitlin Devlin: Based on how Informex Global 2012 has been tracking so far, it is safe to say that we have not had any impact on our numbers. In fact, we are pleased to report that our show is growing. Our registration is tracking solidly and the addition of 30 new exhibitors is encouraging to us as we move into another year of Informex. All markets thrive based on competition, and it is definitely possible for us to co-exist in the same market.

How would you describe the evolution of the Informex brand? In other words, what are your ambitions for the brand?

Caitlin Devlin: Exhibitors and attendees may notice that Informex has had as "soft rebrand" from InformexUSA to Informex Global for 2012. This reflects the event's expansion from serving just the fine and specialty chemicals markets into serving the global chemical marketplace as a whole. It also reflects the fact that this is not a United States only event. Informex Global is a full-scale chemical spectrum event with an ever-increasing amount of global attendees. Our ambitions are simply to tailor each event in the Informex portfolio to what the industry needs and offer exceptional experiences and return on investment to our guests.