IstanbulLight, 12. International Lighting & Electrical Materials Fair and Congress will be held on 18-21 September 2019 at Istanbul Exhibition Center. The Turkish Lighting industry will meet with the players of the global Lighting sector at the fair, which was organized in partnership with the Association of Lighting Equipment Manufacturers (AGİd) and the Turkish National Committee for Lighting (ATMK). We talked to Mustafa ÇELEN, Coordinator of Istanbul Light 2019 Fair, about the fair and their work.
Can you briefly talk about yourself so that our readers will get to know you?
I have been in the exhibition industry for 16 years. I have been involved in different positions in many projects to date. For 2 years, I have been continuing my career as IstanbulLight Fair Project Manager.
Can you evaluate the domestic and international reflection of Istanbul Light fair?
Istanbul Light is the only international fair of the Turkish lighting industry and will be organized 12.si this year. IstanbulLight, which has entered the upward trend with the innovations and change made with the strategy we carried out in 2018, aims to gather the lighting sector under one roof in 2019.
Our country, which is among the important producing countries in the field of lighting with its quality production, also receives attention from the near-environment geography with this feature. Within the scope of istanbullight promotion for 2019, we have 45 main target countries from the Middle East, Russia and Africa market. In these designated countries, production is low in terms of lighting and dependence on the outside is high. Again, the annual imports of lighting products of these countries reach 5 billion DOLLARS. Due to our geographical proximity to these destination countries, being within one nonstop flight distance, cultural affinities and ease of visas; Turkey is the choice of countries in terms of supply. We made good use of this existing opportunity as a foreign visitor at our 2018 fair and we will continue to put it on top of last year in 2019.
What innovations will you offer to our companies participating in Istanbul Light 2019?
As IstanbulLight team, we actually offer new cooperation and export opportunities to our companies that will take part in our fair with the stand. This year, we carry out our visitor studies in 45 different countries. The annual import figures for lighting products of these countries total $5 billion. Therefore, export customers from middle east, Africa, Eastern Europe, Balkans, CIS countries where our target countries are located will meet with the Turkish lighting sector and discuss new business opportunities. The fair will support the work carried out in line with the lighting sector's goal of growing the pie, especially in marketing engineering and R&D studies on turkey's production, where the sector is strongest. We offer this opportunity to all companies operating in the Turkish lighting industry. Therefore, this year, we have prepared a special pavilion for the companies that will participate in IstanbulLight Fair for the first time. Their stands will be set up by us and they will be able to take part in the fair with special pricing.
In addition, this year IstanbulLight will host the events the industry needs. 12. The National Lighting Congress will take place on the main theme of Qualified Lighting in Turkey under the organization of the Turkish National Committee of Lighting, one of our strategic partners. Again, the Lighting Design Summit will be a platform for important figures in the field to give speeches this year. On the trade stage, our companies and important associations will talk about the lighting industry on the trade stage.
How do you evaluate the lighting industry's view of lighting fairs?
We see that companies in the lighting sector are timid and inadequate in participating in the fair. We know that Istanbul Light, the only fair of the Turkish lighting industry, normally has the potential to be a size in the range of 10,000 – 15,000 m2 by gathering the entire sector under one roof. However, especially manufacturers in the Turkish lighting sector see the fair organized in Istanbul as a local fair and are timid about participation. In changing world trade, the exhibition sector in Turkey has also changed and continues to change.
IstanbulLight Fair organized by Informa, the world's largest exhibition organizer company, with Agid (Lighting Equipment Manufacturers Association), the leading association of the lighting industry, and ATMK (Lighting Turkish National Committee), the leading institution of the sector, is the only international fair held in turkey, whose primary target is export and brings the Turkish lighting industry together under one roof in the international arena. For this reason, we have done our work with all our team and other stakeholders of the Turkish lighting industry; First, we invite you to trust and then to own IstanbulLight, which will be the most powerful lighting fair in the region.
The National Lighting Congress is of great interest to visitors. What kind of work and innovations will you have for Congress this year??
As we have always said, IstanbulLight Fair is an international platform that embraces the Turkish lighting sector, both for commercial collaborations and for increasing the awareness and awareness of the sector and increasing the level of competition with the outside world. Therefore, we attach great importance to our events that will take place simultaneously with the fair. One of these events is the Lighting Congress, which will be held 12.si this year. The congress will be held simultaneously with the fair on September 18-19 by the Turkish National Committee of Lighting, one of our start-up partners. The main theme of this year's congress is Qualified Lighting in Turkey. Under this main heading, Education and Human Resources in Lighting, Design for Qualified Lighting, World-Class Designed Production and Sales and Consumption Awareness in Lighting will be discussed with expert speakers and presentations.
It is stated that foreign visitors have decreased in the fairs held in our country in recent years. What's the most obvious reason for this? What studies should be done in this regard. What are your activities regarding overseas visitors?!
In recent years, the Turkish exhibition sector has also had its share of global capital coming to Turkey. We now see the brand companies of the sector that have a say in this new structure in the world in Turkey. The capital structures, market sizes and current data of these companies have started to move the Turkish exhibition sector to its rightful place on the world stage.
In the fairs held with the right strategies, teams and budgets under the umbrella of these global brands; Contrary to what you mentioned, we see an increase in the number of foreign visitors in official figures.
Informa supports this in the significant increases in the number of foreign visitors in all our fairs that we have organized so far in 2019. The important thing here is to determine the strategy correctly and to accurately describe the needs of the sector. Our main goal is to bring the Turkish lighting industry together with global players and contribute to the increase of exports. Therefore, we build our entire marketing strategy on foreign visitors. In important markets where our lighting sector is located as we have in our target countries, our teams distribute invitations while carrying out target-oriented visitor studies with digital marketing with the changing world.
In addition, our close work with foreign associations, the invitation of the officials of important government institutions that can make purchases to our fair, important publications in the regions and advertisements and news studies are among the activities we do for foreign visitors. In summary, we use face-to-face communication techniques with 360 degree marketing methods and reach our target audience with the digital world.
Right now, our companies have time to participate in the fair. Do you want to tell the companies that are thinking of participating?
Istanbul Light Lighting Fair will be organized for the 12th time between 18-21 September 2019 by Informa, the world's largest exhibition organizer.
As I mentioned earlier, Istanbul Light, whose primary purpose is exports, aims to bring together the lighting sector with visitors from 47 countries with an annual import of $5 billion.
In addition, the Lighting Design Summit to be organized within the scope of Istanbul Light and the congress to be held under the umbrella of the Turkish National Committee of Lighting; valuable lighting designers and architects of the sector will also follow.
In addition, istanbulLight fair will continue to be the only international meeting point of the sector this year, together with public and private sector investors, contracting firms, municipalities, contractors, wholesalers, electrical engineers and technicians coming from home and abroad.
As I mentioned earlier, IstanbulLight Fair is the gateway to the target markets of the Turkish lighting industry. We believe that all our companies that want to develop and keep up with the change should take part in the fair with their stands. That is why we have prepared a special pavilion for the companies that will participate in the fair for the first time. We want everyone to have that experience. In addition, IstanbulLight Fair is supported by KOSGEB. Our companies can benefit from this support by reducing their costs and participating in the fair. The lighting industry meets at istanbul exhibition center on September 18-21. We are waiting for all stakeholders of the sector…