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What about the market for mo- tor expos in the region?The bigger ones are in Malaysia and Indonesia, which run their own motor expos regularly. The Malaysian one is quite big, but not as good as ours in Bangkok. We have more variety and our venue is much better. Malaysia’s auto industry was monopolized by its own brands for a long time, and once the market opened to international brands, they couldn’t keep up. As for Indonesia, it’s a big market because of the population size but the purchasing power is low. So you have a massive crowd flocking to a motor expo but not a lot of people buying. Also most Indonesian consumers prefer only two types of car, SUV or NGV, with very little interest in others, unlike in Thailand where all cars sell and we have an extensive product range. These are our two main competitors in ASEAN.At the end of the year we willorganize an event in China for Tarsus Group, an international business-to- business media company that has been organizing exhibitions, conferences and expos all over the world. At first we wanted to partner up but the plan was postponed because of the previous political turmoil in Thailand, and then martial law. Now they just want us to organize an expo for them and wait till the political situation in Thailand becomes stable. I’m happy this way, too, because we don’t have to be too involved, which means less risk if things go south.What’s your management style?We try to be sensible and expand when it’s worth the investment. Actually we’ve been keeping our organization lean and responsive, at least for the past 10 years. We have achieved enough to build and extend on, and it’s important to keep that basefirm and well managed. And to do that without hiring an army or becoming a large corporation, you have to train your staff well and manage them well. Look after them so they stay with you for a long time. Now that we’re thinking of expanding the expo and producing a TV programme with Nanmeebooks, we might hire more people. But to be honest I prefer to be small. A big organization is a big headache.What is your vision for Inter- Media Consultant?We want the Thailand Motor Expo to be the hub for ASEAN, and hope- fully for Southeast Asia and beyond in the near future. Considering the size of the venue, ours is almost as big as the Tokyo Motor Show and definitely the biggest in ASEAN. So in terms of size, we’re third after China and Japan.30 Elite+