Nicola Meadows and Alejandra Campos bring 35 years’ trade and consumer show experience
There are two new faces on the Spring & Autumn Fair team, with Nicola Meadows and Alejandra Campos combining their 35 years’ experience to join show organiser Hyve Group.
As the new portfolio director for both shows and the Moda fashion area Nicola said: “I am very excited by my new role – I will bring a deep knowledge on visitor experience and knowledge in the direct-to-consumer sector to these market-leading events.”
Having previously worked on Spring Fair, Nicola brings 15 years’ experience leading world-class brands across multiple channels including ecommerce, digital, sponsorship, publishing, and exhibitions to the trade shows, the UK’s leading seasonal marketplaces for wholesale home, gift, fashion and sourcing.
More recently she has been managing consumer shows at Immediate Media including Country Living Fairs, The Cycle Show, Adventure Travel Show, London e-Bike Festival, Move It, Knitting & Stitching shows, and the Festival Of Quilts, and has also worked at Amazon UK.
Nicola is an active member of the Women In Exhibitions network and is passionate about engaging young talent and empowering women in the industry while helping nurture the next generation of female leaders.
Alejandra joins as event director of Moda, and her most recent role was as event director of Top Drawer London, plus she has high-level experience working on trade exhibitions, consumer shows, conferences, and awards ceremonies across a variety of countries and sectors including giftware, homeware, fashion, wedding, healthcare and automotive.
While heading the National Wedding Show portfolio at Ocean Media, Alejandra launched the Luxury Wedding Show, and conceived and launched White Gallery London before going on to found London Bridal Fashion Week independently.
Over her 20 years in the events industry, Alejandra has developed a strong interest in innovation and the implementation of technology and has spearheaded the development of marketing and learning platforms to improve customer return on investment, and reinforce brand positioning.
Julie Driscoll, divisional managing director at Hyve Group, said: “As the retail industry continues to evolve and undergo transformational change driven by consumer behaviours and new technologies and innovations, so too must our events.
“I am delighted to welcome both Nicola and Alejandra to the Spring & Autumn Fair portfolio who bring many years of invaluable experience in the industry and a combined vision to drive progress, innovate, and develop the shows to ensure they continue to meet the needs of our community and deliver return on time and investment.
“They have joined at a very exciting moment in the history of the shows with the recent launch of Connect @ Autumn Fair that we believe will change the face of trade shows forever.”
The Connect @ Autumn Fair concept is being launched at this year’s Autumn Fair, which opened on Sunday, 4 September and runs through to tomorrow, Wednesday, 7 September, and will actually be in place for the 2023 show with the aim of transforming how the retail community connect and do business via facilitated meetings. All meetings will be double opt-in where both people want to meet each other, held at suppliers’ stands and scheduled based on individual availability.
Set to connect over 3,000 buyers with all 600-plus Autumn Fair suppliers for more than 6,000 high-value onsite meetings, the idea is that buyers discover the brands and products their business needs, and suppliers can create leads, orders and opportunities in an efficient and effective way.
