Education of the visitors was an important objective of the show. A stage with a seating area was setup for talks given by four speakers from the US, one South African expat and one local geologist. The unifying approach of the American talks was to give the local audience an understanding of Western mineral collecting philosophies in order to appreciate the specimens the dealers had on display. Photographer Mark Mauthner’s well illustrated talk was on “Collecting Nature’s Finest Rarities: A North American Perspective”, Bryan Lees’ professional presentation was on “Collecting Gems and Minerals: Why are they so rare and valuable?”, Wayne Leicht invited the audience to “Step Into the World of Collecting Gold Specimens” and Monica Kitt, standing in for Rob Lavinsky, spoke on “Mineral Collecting: Chinese Minerals, collected in the Western Style”. Local collector Dougal Pitt, from Hong Kong, introduced the audience to “Mineral Collecting by Hong Kong Hobbyists” which was, in my opinion, a great lesson for Western mineral dealers about the possibilities of the local market. Geologist and gemologist Edward Liu’s talk, held in Cantonese language drew the biggest crowd. However, it must be said that in general, all talks followed by lively discussions, were very well attended.
Which brings me to a concern about the show. The attendance of the show was not as high as expected and business was not as brisk as one would have wished. So what were the causes? I think it is fair to say that for a first-time show it was reasonably well attended. The local Mineralogy Society of Hong Kong has been organizing a small mineral show for almost a decade, but Mineral & Gem Asia was the first big mineral and fossil show with International attendance in Hong Kong. Some alleged the less-than-expected attendance was the distance of the show venue to the city, others spoke of the ongoing anti-corruption campaigns in Mainland China that cautions potential buyers from there to travel to Hong Kong and spend their money—a sentiment that, by the way, is shared with the local luxury goods retail industry.
So what are the lessons to take home?
For the dealers: The dealers who participated in this first show have to be commended for their pioneering spirit. It is expensive to send staff and merchandise around the world to a new show with an unknown outcome. So I was very pleased to hear from the major mineral and gem dealers that they plan to come back next year and support this show, maybe even at the expense of mainland shows. I also heard some dealers contemplating about bringing a different, bigger variety of specimens to the next show.
For the organizer: We must support UBM to convince more foreign mineral dealers to participate in the show. UBM is actively building up a database of customers and has offered to share the data with dealers for marketing purposes. The cooperation with the local mineral society and collectors should be intensified to spread the word of the show.
There is always room for improvement, at any show in any country, and I am very optimistic about the future of the Mineral & Gem Asia. The staff of UBM was always around to address problems when they occurred. Thanks to UBM’s proven track record of organizing trade shows, the logistics, the setup of the show and the marketing was very professional. Their staff was eager to hear feedback and opinions and I look forward not only to next year’s show but also to how they will have implemented the suggestions and recommendations to improve the show in 2016.