Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - “This year we’ve created a new, separate web site for the fair, we’re able to follow the hits and what happens after people receive our newsletter - we have a database with over 1,500 contacts. All of this enables us to promote the fair in a much better fashion. And this year, people know us!” says Jos van Megchelen, one of the two organizers.

The Léman Expat Fair Sunday 9 November celebrates its second year with a more refined approach and strong use of technology and van Megchelen is clearly enthusiastic about how she and partner Melania Quinn have benefited from their experience in 2007 to make it better this year. The two also run an events business and once the fair is over they will be focusing on a series of wine seminars and other projects.

Better means bigger, but not necessarily big. “We’ve had more requests from the Geneva area this year,” she says. The Léman fair is designed primarily to reach out to expats in canton Vaud. “But we choose our exhibitors and we don’t want too many of the same kinds of businesses, so for example we chose a language school in Lausanne, another in Morges and one in Nyon.”

The pair, both of whom came to Switzerland because their husbands were transferred here, decided a couple years ago that they wanted to go into business together. Van Megchelen had previously owned a tourism promotion company in The Netherlands and Melania Quinn was president of the large and active American Women’s International Club in Lausanne. They were acutely aware of the problems expatriates, especially families, face when they arrive in the area and the fair has a strong thread of wanting to meet these needs.

“We don’t sell - we only offer information,” and this is what has prompted many of the multinationals in the area to work with them. “The French language is often a barrier for families” she points out and the fair can help them move past this stage.

The fair is fully booked, with 100 exhibitors this year, up from 75 last year, and van Megchelen promises a wide range of information. The lighting will be better this year, and the traffic flow very good, she says. La Couronne in Apple, which runs the Espace Gourmand in Morges, will be providing snacks and drinks.

Léman Expat Fair, 9 November, 11:00-17:00, Beausobre, Morges, Vaud

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