Episode description

Ep. 44 – RX Group Vice President Sarin Bachmann: Taking Luxe to the Next Level

RX Group VP Sarin Bachmann shares her experience as a member of senior leadership team at RX, a public company that produces more than 400 events covering 43 sectors in 22 countries. She shines a light on the RX jewelry portfolio that she oversees — one of the few at RX that includes several events like JCK, Luxury and JIS, as well as digital and print media products for the JCK brand — JCKonline.com and JCK Magazine.

We talked about:

• Her recent appearance as a speaker on the stage at the recent UFI Global Congress in Las Vegas where she talked about risk management and her experience with events during hurricane season in Miami, home of JIS

• How her team was able to achieve an impressive 24% increase in attendance at the JIS Fall Show in October in Miami Beach: Marketing the destination and capitalizing on the bleisure trend

• Bringing back in person: How she led the team that produced the first show for RX US in March 2021 in the jewelry sector that soared during Covid

• What’s hot in digital in her portfolio: Everything, but especially the launch of a holiday gift guide

• The theme for the 2024 JCK show at the Venetian in Las Vegas: Love … she revealed

• What she’s looking forward to in 2024: Adding a sustainability summit at JCK, which is on pace to sell out again 

• Giving back to the industry through the JCK Industry Fund, which has awarded more than $300,000 in grants this year 

Our Guest

Sarin Block Bachmann, Group Vice President of RX, is a member of RX’s Senior Leadership Team and oversees RX’s jewelry portfolio including JCK, Luxury, and JIS events along with the digital and print elements of the JCK brand—JCKonline.com and JCK Magazine. 

One of RX’s largest and most important events globally, JCK has thrived under Bachmann's leadership. Bachmann directly manages JCK while overseeing Event Leaders on both Luxury and JIS and has steered JCK to become an industry leading, award-winning event in the trade show industry, and the most important jewelry buying and educational event globally for the jewelry industry. Luxury, the curated, invitation-only event taking place alongside JCK has also been reimagined under Bachmann’s portfolio as the event for the luxury jewelry community.  JCK and Luxury bring over 30,000 industry professionals together, including 18,000+ vetted attendees from over 100 countries and 2,000 exhibitors, ranging from designers, manufacturers, and gemstone wholesalers to packaging companies and technology service providers. The show covers 1.2 million square feet of exhibition space at the iconic Venetian Expo and The Venetian Las Vegas. 

Under her leadership in event strategy, planning, execution, sales, attendance, acquisition, marketing, public relations, operations and special events, Bachmann has achieved all-time high ratings for both exhibitor and attendee satisfaction, loyalty and net promotion for both JCK and Luxury, increasing scores between 15 to 20% and over 30 points in NPS overall.  Furthermore, under her strategic and creative direction, JCK has led the way in becoming a top experiential event that attendees not only consider necessary for their business but also eagerly anticipate attending. In the digital realm, Bachmann led the team in bringing JCK to the industry virtually in 2020, with the JCK Virtual show being a pioneer in launching digital offers in light of the pandemic limiting face-to-face events.

In March of 2021, Bachmann led the team to bring back the first show for RX US, JIS, and continued to forge the team ahead in bringing back in-person JCK and Luxury events in August as some of the first large scale trade shows returning to face-to-face, all to great success.  New to Bachmann’s achievements are leading the JCK team in exceeding pre-pandemic 2019 show levels before most shows, in both sales revenue, attendance, and much higher NPS and customer satisfaction scores, with the 2022 edition marking a milestone year in the event’s history and winning Trade Show Executives Gold 100 “Greatest Trade Show” of the year award. This was then followed up under Bachmann’s leadership with the 2023 edition continuing to grow to a sold out show floor and increasing attendance once again.

As a member of RX’s senior leadership team, Bachmann plays a critical role in shaping event leaders across RX US, leading bi-monthly Event Leader meetings where key issues are discussed and best practices are shared across the division leaders.  Bachmann also leads the way with activations and experiences, playing a crucial part of JCK and serving as a model for other B2B events, along with increasing the focus on DE&I in all the industries she serves forging partnerships with key members of diverse groups including the Black in Jewelry Coalition and leading by example at her shows and RX.  Bachmann utilizes her experience in change management by serving as the Executive Sponsor and liaison for the show teams with the digital team during RX’s roll out of a new registration system across RX US.

Bachmann currently serves on the executive boards of the American Gem Society, Jewelers’ Security Alliance, 24 Karat Club of New York, Women’s Jewelry Association and UFI Global Congress Advisory, as well as on the GEM Awards committee and chair of the JCK Industry Fund committee. 

Ms. Bachmann holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Albany and the prestigious honor of having been invited to participate in the GE Management Development Course. She was also one of a select few to be chosen for the Reed Elsevier Business University.  Her career trajectory began in consulting as a Process Design Consultant with Andersen Consulting (Accenture). She expanded into communications as a Six Sigma certified Master Black Belt for General Electric at NBC and later became the Director of E-Business for NBC’s Broadcast and Network Operations Division.  Now serving close to two decades in show management, Bachmann is a well-rounded and well-known professional, highly regarded throughout the jewelry and trade show industries.

When she is not achieving record breaking results in the industry, Bachmann is spending time with her husband, visiting her two sons in college, taking a workout class, or relaxing on a beautiful beach.

Awards & Accolades for JCK and Luxury under Bachmann’s Leadership (Present – 2019):

• Trade Show Executive – 2023 Gold 100 Grand Award “The Greatest Trade Show” of 2022 

• RX GLOBAL – Building Business Awards: 2022 Show of the Year 

• RX USA – Team of the Year Award 2022

• Trade Show Executive – 2022 Fastest 50 in all three categories for JCK – Attendance, Exhibitors, Square Feet, and all three shows JCK, Luxury & JIS receiving Fastest 50 Awards

• AEO Excellence Awards (UK) Short List Finalist for 2022 Best International Show – Americas 

• Trade Show Executive – 2022 Gold 100 Grand Award “The Show Must Go On” for 2021 event

• Tradeshow News Network (TSNN) 2022 Comeback Award, Outstanding Attendance for 2021 event

• Trade Show Executive – Grand Award Gold 100 “Return to Normal” for 2020 event

• Tradeshow News Network (TSNN) Best of Technology Award for JCK Match program 2019

Podcast Host: Danica Tormohlen

 An award-winning journalist who has covered the trade show industry since 1994, Danica Tormohlen is VP of Content for Tarsus Group, which was recently acquired by Informa for $940 million. In her role, she oversees content for Trade Show News Network, Corporate Event News and Exhibit News Now. These leading media brands publish websites, newsletters, social media channels, video, podcasts and online and in-person programming for the trade show, corporate event and exhibition industries.

Tormohlen currently serves as a board member for Women in Exhibitions Network North America chapter. She has been a speaker and moderator at major industry events, including the TSNN Awards, IMEX, IAEE, SISO, UFI, ESCA and Large Show Roundtable — to name a few.

Thank you to our sponsor! 

Zenus

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