Convention and exhibition industry mainly includes conference industry, exhibition industry, incentive tourism and various festivals. It is a special service industry, a systematic project and comprehensive economy, and a very huge industry in the world. Under the background of global economic integration, with China's entry into WTO, the convention and exhibition industry has mushroomed in China, and has become an important aspect of the tertiary industry in China, playing an important role in creating employment opportunities, promoting import and export trade, technology introduction and economic cooperation between China and foreign countries.

Convention and exhibition industry is a "sunrise industry", and the convention and exhibition economy that came into being at the historic moment is also a new economic form. Modern exhibition has a history of nearly a hundred years abroad, and some advanced operation processes and management methods have been summarized, but there are few theoretical studies. On the other hand, in China, the convention and exhibition industry is still a brand-new field, with mixed status. The research of exhibition theory and practice is still in the primary stage, and there are basically no direct and complete professional research works. Most of the published research papers remain in the description and analysis of phenomena, lacking systematicness, extensiveness, professionalism and profundity, and some topics are even blank.

1. Development Status and Main Features of International Convention and Exhibition Industry

At present, the convention and exhibition industry has developed into a quite mature industry in Europe, North America, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore in Asia, and has entered the stage of commercial operation. According to the statistics of the International Conference Association (ICCA), the annual output value of international conferences is about 280 billion US dollars. At the same time, according to the authoritative figures of international exhibition industry, the output value of international exhibition industry accounts for about 1% of the total GDP of all countries in the world. In addition, the convention and exhibition industry is also an industry with a long industrial chain, including tourism, transportation, advertising, catering, transportation, construction, urban planning, entertainment and other departments. According to international experience, the ratio of the output value of related industries brought by an exhibition to the income of the exhibition itself is 9: 1, or even more, and the contribution of related industries to the global economy is 8%. At present, the development of international convention and exhibition industry presents the following main characteristics:

1) International trade associations have great influence and coordinate the healthy development of convention and exhibition industry in various countries.

2) Specialization, scale and internationalization have become the mainstream of international convention and exhibition industry.

3) The European market is leading, the international market is growing rapidly, and the China market is promising.

4) The supporting services of convention and exhibition industry are becoming more and more important.

2. Characteristics of talent supply and demand in international convention and exhibition industry

In Europe, the birth and development of modern exhibitions have a history of hundreds of years. Therefore, both the exhibition infrastructure and the exhibition brand are quite mature. At the same time, the healthy and rapid development of the exhibition industry in Germany, the United States and other developed countries is inseparable from having a group of high-quality exhibition organization and management talents. Mr. M.R.Zitzweitz, president of Frankfurt Exhibition Company, Germany, declared that the quality of employees has become one of the three major factors affecting the future development of the exhibition industry.

According to the survey data, 75% employees in the United States have bachelor's degrees, and 1 1% employees have master's degrees. Moreover, the employees are relatively young, with employees aged 30-40 accounting for 10% of the total survey, and employees aged 40-50 accounting for 23. 1%. In Germany, the exhibition business school of Cologne University and the exhibition management department of Rivenburg, Germany have become the most famous exhibition education and training bases. To sum up, the supply and demand of international exhibition talents have the following characteristics:

1) The professional concept is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the exhibition manager market is relatively mature and perfect.

2) Exhibition employees have little mobility and rich work experience.

3) Exhibition employees have strong concept and ability to apply high technology.

4) Exhibition talents have higher academic qualifications and relatively generous salaries.

5) It has close contact with universities and research institutions, established a perfect exhibition talent training system, and accepted the training entrusted by enterprises.

6) The certification system for exhibition professionals is perfect, and the American Convention and Exhibition Management Association exports training methods to foreign countries for transnational certification.

3. The development characteristics of convention and exhibition industry in China.

China's modern convention and exhibition industry started late, and it didn't break the administrative monopoly until the 1990s, and it really flourished, forming a multi-level and multi-channel convention and exhibition pattern, developing into an Asian convention and exhibition power, and gradually becoming a regional "convention and exhibition center" in Asia. According to the forecast of the authoritative economic research department of the country, convention and exhibition industry has become the top ten industries with the greatest development potential in China in the next decade. At present, the development of convention and exhibition industry in China has the following characteristics:

1) The comprehensive national strength is constantly improving and the external environment is good.

2) With the rapid development of the industry, the number, level and venue area of exhibitions have been greatly improved.

3) International convention and exhibition companies drive straight ahead and introduce overseas convention and exhibition economy.

4) Developed cities have obvious advantages, and Shanghai's exhibition revenue accounts for half of China.

Contradictions are still outstanding in the formulation of relevant laws and regulations, exhibition operation management, industrial academic research and other software construction.

4. Characteristics of talent supply and demand in China convention and exhibition industry.

According to the demand forecast and countermeasure analysis of convention and exhibition talents in Shanghai, there are not less than 1 10,000 convention and exhibition employees in China at present, but the level is uneven. This is mainly due to the low degree of marketization of China's convention and exhibition industry for a long time, which leads to unscientific access mode for employees and even enterprises. At present, a considerable number of employees are "half-way monks". The quality of new employees is not satisfactory, and there is no effective training means in the industry. Therefore, the improvement of their level is mainly based on the traditional way of master taking apprentices, which is one of the reasons why exhibition enterprises are eager to attract high-quality talents from college graduates.

How many jobs can the exhibition industry create in the next few years? Experts have analyzed whether the current number of 1 10,000 employees can meet the needs of industry development, but what is certain is that a considerable number of employees are incompetent at present, and real talents are far from enough. Therefore, it is not a matter of "slimming" or "gaining weight" in quantity, but a matter of "fitness" in quality. At present, the supply and demand situation of talents in China's convention and exhibition industry presents the following characteristics:

1) Compared with the rapid expansion of exhibition scale, the scale of exhibition professionals is growing slowly.

2) The gathering effect of exhibition talents in domestic exhibition developed cities is good, but it still lags behind the international advanced level.

3) The human capital investment of international exhibition companies is obviously less than the economic capital investment.

4) Professional exhibition education in colleges and universities is in the ascendant.

5) The level and depth of on-the-job training for exhibitions in the industry are not high.

Therefore, strengthening the development of convention and exhibition industry is of far-reaching significance both in theoretical research and practical application. As a frontier comprehensive discipline involving politics, management, economy, marketing, informatics, urban planning, art design, modern logistics and other disciplines, convention and exhibition industry has rich connotations and broad development prospects. In China, studying the exhibition industry, or even opening up an independent "exhibition science", will certainly help to re-understand the content and function of the exhibition industry under the new situation; It is helpful to establish a scientific index system of China's convention and exhibition industry, carry out scientific quantitative and qualitative research, and make medium and long-term predictions; It is helpful to explore and master the market rules of China's convention and exhibition industry management and improve the theoretical level of the whole industry; It is helpful to fill the gaps in the research of related academic topics at home and abroad, strengthen academic exchanges with international exhibition research institutions, and shorten the gap with international research level. At the same time, the demand forecast and countermeasure analysis of China's convention and exhibition talents will contribute to the healthy development of China's convention and exhibition industry, and provide good countermeasures for the development of China's convention and exhibition industry, especially for the successful hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 20 10 Shanghai World Expo. It is reasonable to believe that the research and contribution of China scholars to the exhibition industry will become the focus of the global exhibition industry and make important contributions to its development.