Shop window of Brazil

Business and Exhibitions magazine № 2 (68) 2014

Brazil and its largest city São Paulo are known worldwide for its great football clubs and carnivals. But it is also a place where one of the biggest and most foremost exhibition centers of the continent the Expo Center Norte is located.

There is no doubt that convention and exhibition centers of the United States and Europe top any “table of ranks” in the exhibition industry. Lately exhibition centers of Asia began to step out, although there is not much information on fairs and conferences held in South America. Mostly Brazil is associated with legendary carnivals and the great football power that produced such mega stars as Pele, Romario, Garrincha, Ronaldo, Bebeto, Kaka and many others. Meanwhile, Brazil is home to one of the biggest and most foremost exhibition centers of the continent. The Expo Center Norte located in São Paulo, the capital.

The Expo Center Norte sets the pace of all the exhibition industry in South America. A 98,000 square meter area that includes 76,500 square meters of net exhibition space. The center features five modern pavilions which are marked with a certain colour to make it easier for visitors to navigate. A 19,100 square meter Red Hall has the biggest capacity. Others are a little bit smaller: Green Hall – 17,300 square meters, White Hall – 17,000 square meters, Blue Hall – 14,200 square meters. All the halls are linked with each other so the visitors are able to move around not stepping outside. A separately placed Yellow Hall of 8,100 square meters is the smallest one. The rest of the area is intended for back rooms. Besides these, the center’s area includes many conference halls, meeting rooms, service and even health centers. The center can simultaneously host up to five large exhibitions and over twenty other events. The center offers a commodious parking zone for 6,500 cars.

The inside interior of the center is designed like a modern shopping center with the latest in technical equipment: exclusive designer’s solutions, huge halls, comfortable navigation system, electronic boards and plasma display panels, central air conditioning, wireless internet connection, elevators and escalators.

The Expo Center Norte has been operating for twenty years, which is a quite short period of time compared with many American and European centers. Nevertheless the Expo Center Norte has been home to about 2,000 large exhibitions with the participation of over 170,000 exhibitors and more than 30 million visitors. Currently the center hosts over fifty various exhibitions every single year. The center is very popular among big Brazilian and international companies as they tend to hold different corporate events, presentations and press-conferences in the center’s pavilions.

The fact that the Expo Center Norte is a part of a huge entertainment and shopping mall of 600,000 square meters with an advanced infrastructure gives it an extra privilege. Center Norte, the biggest Latin American shopping center, is situated here. Lots of restaurants, entertainment places, 475 shops and many other different services attract to the center a huge amount of people. There is also the Lar Center, a series of 160 stores for household goods located nearby. Especially for those, who came here for several days to participate or visit exhibitions, there is the hotel Novotel São Paulo Center Norte with a capacity of 363 rooms, adjacent to the center’s territory. This is the one and only hotel of such a high class for now that is placed in this part of the city. There are free shuttle buses running between all the buildings of the entertainment and shopping mall Center Norte.

The Expo Center Norte hosts its own exhibitions and upon request of outside companies as well. Events covering any medical subject are the most frequent ones.

The 32nd International Dental Exhibition and Convention CIOSP (Congresso Internacional de Odontologia de São Paulo) will take place in the Green and Red Halls of the Expo Center Norte from January 30th, 2013 – February 2nd, 2014. The event traditionally draws Brazilian experts as well as their colleagues from Germany, Spain, Italy, the U.S., Canada, Argentina, China, South Korea, Japan and many others. The large-scale exhibition attracts the attention of thousands of visitors worldwide. Apart from this dental convention, the Expo Center Norte is home to another large medical fair. Hospitalar, the International Fair of Products, Equipment, Services and Technology for Hospitals, Laboratories, Pharmacies, Health Clinics and Medical Offices traditionally takes place in December. The latest event broke all the records with the attendance of 1,250 exhibitors.

Abrin is the biggest toy fair in Latin America which is usually unveiled on 35,000 square meters of space. Every year, it gathers over 15,000 visitors under one roof. According to the results of 2013, 178 leading manufacturers and traders from Brazil and other countries took part in the event. Within the framework of the event, there is not only an exhibition of toys presented but many interactive presentations of the newest products to be available for sale in all shopping malls right after the exhibition. The event brings billions of revenue making a large influence on the toy industry. The fair’s organizers, i.e. Francal Feiras and the Brazilian Association of Toy Manufacturers ABRINQ (Associação Brasileira dos Fabricantes de Brinquedos), perfectly understand it and use it setting the market’s tendencies during the event in São Paulo. The nearest exhibition will be held from April 1st – 4th, 2014.
The Expo Center Norte located twenty minutes away from São Paulo Guarulhos International Airport and in forty minutes away from São Paulo Congonhas Airport. Moreover, the center is steps away from the bus station and Portuguesa-Tiete metro station.

Over the past few years public conveyance on helicopters is gaining popularity in São Paulo. This seems to be a perfect mean as there are immense traffic jams in the city. For instance, the record-breaking traffic of 266 kilometers was set in 2008. Thus, some of the center’s exhibitors and guests make use of air taxi services. If you are planning a trip to Brazil it is worth contacting the Administration of the Expo Center Norte, to see if it is possible to book a helicopter for the period of your business trip or holiday.

Other centers

Apart from the Expo Center Norte, São Paulo has three other exhibition centers: the Imigrantes Exhibition Center, the Transamerica Expo Center and the Parque Anhembi Exhibition. These centers host a smaller amount of events (20-30 events) compared to the Expo Center Norte. The Imigrantes Exhibition Center has only 50,000 square meters of indoor space, while the 40,000 square meter Transamerica Expo Center could become a serious competitor to the Expo Center Norte soon, as it has signed a contract with the European exhibition company GL Events in order to extend and rebuild the center. GL Events group is to invest around EUR 100 million in the project within 2014-2017. According to the extension plan, the exhibition area is to be increased to 50,000 square meters doubling the size of the indoor pavilions, a 10,000 square meter congress-center and a hotel with 250 rooms are to be erected, plus a huge parking zone for 4,000 vehicles will be built. The Parque Anhembi Exhibition is best known for public events and samba dance competitions held during Brazilian carnival.

São Paulo is the largest city in the southeast of Brazil and in the southern hemisphere. The city is the capital of the state of São Paulo with a population of over 11.5 million people. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second most populous metropolitan area in South America and the largest one in Brazil. In average the passenger traffic in weekdays reaches 2.9 million people. Three of the most famous football clubs Corinthians, Palmeiras and São Paulo as well as many other sports clubs come from this city. The city’s Latin motto written on the emblem says Non ducor, duco, and translates as “I am not led, I lead.”