Europort Istanbul: Why We Are Absent from a Stand That Was Never Reall

For our friends asking, “Why aren’t you at the fair?”, I would like to explain why we left and share the shortcomings we witnessed.

Our story is simple, but deeply frustrating…

Before the fair, we were allocated stand 3071. We went to the venue to set up, found our space, and left our publications and materials behind the stand.

When we returned the following morning, we found another publication occupying the space allocated to us. Their posters were up, they had settled in, and they looked perfectly comfortable. But how had a space assigned to us ceased to be ours overnight?

Apparently, details such as displaying stand numbers or company names had not been considered particularly necessary at an international exhibition. Working out who belonged where had effectively been left to the participants’ guesswork. I would compare it to a street market, but even market traders know where their pitches are!

Still, we thought, these things happen. Assuming, of course, that this was merely a minor mishap…

We informed the organisers. They showed us another space and offered a solution: “Please make do for now.”

So we did. We put it down to the pressures of opening day, moved to our new spot and put up our posters. On the first day, we managed to welcome our readers, friends and business partners in a manner we could be proud of. After all, that was the purpose of both the exhibition and our presence there. We had come to do our jobs, not to argue over stands.

Little did we know we would be moving again the next morning…

When we arrived on the second day, we discovered that our publications and posters had been gathered up and put aside. Thankfully, we were given a reason: the space we had been shown the previous day was now to be used for a B2B event.

All right, we had not known about it. After all, we were not responsible for planning the exhibition or its programme. But what about you? Had you not known either? I genuinely wonder: was the B2B event planned the night before, or did the idea occur to you when you woke up that morning?

Where else could we go? Straight back to the organisers…

We approached them again. To their credit, they were nothing if not consistent. Once again, they offered the same response: “Please make do. We’ll find you somewhere.”

Making do was how we had managed to get that far. But we could no longer be certain that there would be a place for us on the third day. Frankly, we saw no reason to wait and find out. We packed our belongings and left.

As members of the press, we had gone there to share our publications, meet our readers and industry representatives, catch up with friends and, of course, report the news—not to set up a new stand every morning.

Let Us Hear from Others, Too

We did not spend our time at the fair talking only about our own experience. We also listened to exhibitors. Among those we spoke to were participants who had paid for ready-built stands, only to arrive and discover that their stands had not been assembled. Others were searching for someone responsible, waiting for a response, or having to explain the same problem over and over again.

Missing stand numbers, inadequate signage, difficulty finding someone who could help… These are not problems we expect to encounter at an international exhibition.

Of course, any event can experience difficulties. We do not expect perfection. Problems are hardly surprising at gatherings involving thousands of people and dozens of companies. But there is a serious difference between something going wrong and repeatedly relying on exhibitors’ patience to deal with it. We learned that difference first-hand over those two days.

Making do is an expression of an exhibitor’s goodwill. It is not an organisational model.

The exhibition’s coordinator, Esin Aslıhan, and her team should know better than we do how much preparation, effort and money exhibitors invest.

Those in the exhibition business should understand this better than anyone: participants bring more than posters and brochures. They also bring their time, effort and reputation. What they expect in return is remarkably modest: to arrive in the morning and find their stand where they left it!

I do not believe that is an excessively high standard to expect from an international event. Making changes to the layout without informing the participants affected, and then telling them to “make do”, cannot be considered a solution.

Who Will Return for the Next Exhibition?

Of course, we want an international brand such as Europort Istanbul to deliver strong, successful events in Türkiye. The maritime industry needs these gatherings.

But is it enough to measure an exhibition’s success solely by the floor space sold, the number of participating companies or visitor attendance? I do not think so. One of the most important questions is this: how many of those companies will want to exhibit again?

For some of the exhibitors we spoke to, the answer was quite clear:

“Never again.”

We are certainly not claiming that these words represent every participant. But they clearly reveal a level of dissatisfaction that the organisers need to reflect on.

Moreover, losing an exhibitor means more than a few square metres of empty floor space at the next event. Regaining lost trust is far harder than filling an empty stand. When each edition should build on the previous one, encountering a situation in which even participants’ basic expectations are not met is disappointing—and, frankly, troubling.

We left Europort Istanbul on the second day.

What we left behind was more than an empty stand.

We left our confidence in the next edition there, too.