Meet Gary, Key Account Manager

What was your first week like?

My first week was like being back at university. The studying was intense, learning all about Easyfairs’ culture, systems and values, as well as the bespoke training. And everyone has made me feel really welcome.

What are you most looking forward to whilst working with us?

Meeting with people and developing meaningful relationships with customers. I like to think of our exhibitors not as customers, but as partners with whom we travel together on a journey. In order to travel on the journey, I want to meet with the industry and learn where they want to go.

What do you do in your free time?

I love to travel. For me to travel is not just to see new places or cultures, it really offers a new sense of perspective, and challenges your presumptions. I am addicted.

Are you excited to be on-site? What are you looking forward to when we go?

Wow, where do I start? The new product launches, the presentations, the crowds that generate when one stand has a party near the end of day, the industry news, the industry gossip, the satisfaction from an exhibitor that they smashed the expectations of how many leads they would collect, the rebooking floor plan getting fuller and fuller onsite, the carpet going down at the end of build-up day when for the first time you get a near total perspective of how the show will look, and of course taking selfies by the entrance signage so you can look back and think “I was a small part of this amazing event”.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

As part of my MBA course back in the 1990s, while on exchange at the University of Miami, I completed a market research module. As part of this, I helped with the marketing launch for Reality, the US licensee of the Danish company Femidom (the manufacturer of the female condom) – not something I was expecting as an assignment!

I stood outside a shopping mall in Miami for the market research with free samples and pre-paid envelopes containing “user response forms”. Over five afternoons, I handed out nearly 600 forms with free samples, and got back over 80 answers. If you can hand out contraceptives and ask for feedback to be sent, you can do anything.