Since Talk2 Media and Events took over the organisation of AIME in 2018 on behalf of its owner Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB), the show has more than doubled in size. The 2024 show was proclaimed the largest AIME in a decade and the 2025 show was even larger – 4,586 attendees, including 675 exhibitors and 640 hosted buyers.
But AIME’s event director, Silke Calder, from Talk2 Media, and MCB’s chief executive, Julia Swanson, both told micenet, separately, that growth isn’t the most important thing for the show.
“Fundamentally we feel like we’ve got the show foundations well and truly where they need to be,” Swanson told micenet on the show floor.
“The growth’s great. We’re not trying to be the biggest in the world. We’re working to be the best for our region. But, you know, growth is also good so we’re certainly not going to shy away from that.
“It’s really just listening to all the different customer groups, what do the buyers want, what do the sellers want.”
Swanson sees a number of elements being important to AIME: the return on investment for buyers and sellers, being a “broad church” to the businesses large and small which make up the industry, bringing the business events community together and drawing international industry associations and stakeholders to Australia.
This year, leaders from the likes of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC) and IMEX were all in Melbourne in and around AIME.
“We’ve definitely dialled that up,” said Swanson.
“We are a long way from the rest of the world, so having those bodies here on the stage…the international ones, having them here and participating, I think it’s important because it also then helps us plug into…the international insights about what’s happening in Europe and North America.”
Having grown by one exhibition bay between 2024 and 2025, Calder is expecting some additional growth for 2026.
“Will there be growth? Yes. But not massive growth,” she told micenet.
“However, this is not, to us, not the most important thing.
“For us, we need to deliver a high-quality show…flying in the best buyers we can find, having a great exhibitor selection.”
Talking to Calder, there is a definite sense of giving the participants what they want, as far as is practical, balancing both the interests of the buyers and sellers.
Based on feedback after the 2024 show, the show hours were extended for 2025, to give buyers more of an opportunity to explore the show floor, around their pre-scheduled and free flow appointments. This year the floor featured everything from live drawing to a Hobbit Hole and Fijian warriors. The upcoming New Zealand International Convention Centre also brought the cuisine of the new venue to the hosted buyer lunch on day one of the show, accompanied by a cultural performance, giving the centre a chance to prove itself a year out from opening.
The number of sessions increased in the Knowledge Program, taking place the day before the show floor opens. And the number of boutique offerings in the exhibition increased, to give buyers more choice. Boutique spots are sold at a different price point with a reduced diary of pre-scheduled appointments to lower the barriers to entry in terms of cost for smaller players.
For exhibitors, the number of pre-scheduled buyer appointments remained in their favour, with more compulsory buyer meetings than available slots in paid exhibitor appointment streams.
Calder also told micenet that one of the members of AIME’s hosted buyer team has a sole focus on finding and securing new buyers, ensuring there are always new business opportunities for exhibitors.
And with 100 more exhibitors on the floor and 200 of the exhibitors attending AIME for the first time in 2025, there were also plenty of new options for buyers to consider.
GRIP, the AI-powered meeting matching tool AIME is using, appears to be working well too. While there is still some improvements that can be made, anecdotal evidence micenet heard from buyers suggests that their pre-scheduled appointments this year were largely well-matched and better than previous years.
As AIME seems to be hitting its stride, there is competition emerging in Asia, although the quiet cancellation of the inaugural IBTM Asia Pacific – which was scheduled for March 2025 – in the second half of 2024 has dialled down the intensity somewhat: prior to that, there was a line-up of three major business events trade shows from February to April in Asia Pacific, starting with AIME and wrapping up with The Meetings Show Asia Pacific, before IMEX Frankfurt in Germany in May.
“The world’s big and we know there’s competition out there,” says Swanson.
“And in many ways, it’s good…because it makes us really reflect on our customer, what they need, what are we doing well, where do we need to pick up our act, so we don’t shy away from competition.
“We’re happy to be challenged, [it] keep us on our toes, keeps us fresh and motivated as well.”
Calder also doesn’t see The MEETINGS Show Asia Pacific as a threat.
“We are the longest running show in Asia Pacific,” she says.
“And apart from the longest running, I think the last four years have proven that what we’re doing, we’re doing right and that there’s a need for this show here in Australia.”
