Jakub Dębczyński and Paweł Adamski: Behind the Booths Powering the Global iGaming Expo Scene

Bartosz Burzyński (Editor-in-Chief, iGaming Express): Gentlemen, let’s start from the beginning. Why the trade fair industry? What attracted you the most to it?

Paweł Adamski (CEO, Excellent Expo): In the case of Excellent Expo, it was a natural consequence of Jakub’s experience. He had previously worked at one of the companies that is now our competitor. At some point, he decided that he already had his own clients, a different philosophy of work, and that it was worth pursuing independence. That’s how Excellent Expo was created, and for seven or eight years now, we’ve been working together in this field.

Kuba, a question for you. You previously worked at a large company in the herbs and tea industry. What made you decide to change your career path and enter iGaming?

Jakub Dębczyński (Founder, Excellent Expo): It was a bit of a coincidence. At the stage when I was already high in the company’s structure, the ownership changed. The new owners brought in different people, so we had to part ways. From one day to the next, I was left without a job, and then I came across a friend who ran a trade fair company. He was facing financial and organizational problems, so I offered to help. I joined the company, and over time, I saw great potential in this industry. That convinced me to start my own business.

At which industry events do you most often carry out your projects? I saw you at SBC, but do you also work with ICE (Clarion Gaming), SiGMA, or other events?

Paweł Adamski: In fact, about half of our projects are in iGaming and Affiliate. We build booths for SiGMA, Clarion, and SBC. We also work as the general contractor for Affiliate World — a sector related to iGaming. Next year, we will be the main contractor for Giga Expo, a new trade show combining iGaming and Affiliate Marketing, which will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria.

After the pandemic, this sector became our main focus, although we also continue to work with tourism — we handle national pavilions for Egypt, Morocco, and Poland. The biggest event in this segment is ITB Berlin, which we carry out every March. We try to diversify our activities, but in reality, iGaming now accounts for at least half of our work.

When it comes to iGaming, do you operate only in Europe or also outside the continent?

Paweł Adamski: Our production is mainly based in Europe, but we also carry out projects outside of it. Often it’s due to the needs of our regular clients, who exhibit on different continents and expect the same quality and punctuality. That’s why we’ve built a global network of partners. We’ve completed projects in São Paulo, Manila, and Dubai, where we work with local contractors.

Jakub Dębczyński: I’ll add that we also operate in Singapore, Africa, Australia, the United States, and South America.

Where is it the most challenging?

Jakub Dębczyński: Definitely in Asia and Brazil. It’s due to work culture: in Asia, precision is often lacking, and in Brazil, everything moves more slowly. The quality standards there are different from Europe, which currently sets the highest level.

Paweł Adamski: Exactly. In many cases, it’s the level Europe had in the early 1990s. Companies are still learning about standards, complex projects, and the quality expected by iGaming clients. These challenges appear constantly, and we address them as they come.

What does your process of working with a client look like, from the first contact to project completion?

Jakub Dębczyński: It starts with marketing, meetings, and recommendations. Then we create a project based on the client’s brief. The project is consulted multiple times; after approval, we sign the contract and hand the implementation over to the project manager. He handles details such as materials, deadlines, payments, assembly, and all operational elements. The key thing is that this process is partnership-based — the client has influence, but also benefits from our experience.

Do you often advise clients by suggesting other solutions than those they initially planned?

Paweł Adamski: Very often. And that’s what distinguishes iGaming from other industries. Many companies are fast-growing startups with reasonable budgets but without extensive marketing departments. That’s when we guide the client “by the hand”: we help with design, formalities, orders, permits. We take care of electricity, passes, merchandise — a full, comprehensive service so the client can focus on meetings and sales.

We send our people overseas to supervise installation and provide backup in case of issues. We handle documentation for organizers, offer element storage, and keep items such as logos or counters, which allows us to prepare better annual offers. Each booth has a dedicated project manager. We’re also in the top 3 preferred contractors at SiGMA, which gives us extra setup days and a real organizational advantage.

So I can come in and say, “I have this budget, I want a premium stand,” and you’ll handle the rest?

Paweł Adamski: Exactly. Often, clients give us full decision-making freedom and show up only on the day of the event. Our experience replaces the need to handle everything on their own.

How does it work logistically — transport, assembly, different continents? How do you coordinate it all?

Paweł Adamski: We partially use our own transport, but largely external shipping, as the locations are spread around the world. Outside Europe, we collaborate with local partners, but we send our own team to oversee production and assembly. Our installers are highly skilled, which serves as an additional “insurance policy” in case of problems on-site.

Which iGaming companies have you worked with?

Paweł Adamski: I prefer not to name names, as many projects are under NDA. You can see many of them on our LinkedIn. They’re market leaders.

Jakub Dębczyński: From earlier projects, we can mention brands like Volkswagen and Porsche — we have references from them. In iGaming, we’ve worked with companies such as Zenit and Wazdan. These are Polish brands, which makes us very proud.

There aren’t many Polish companies at such large trade shows.

Paweł Adamski: That’s true, there are only a few. Most clients are foreign companies.

What are today’s trends in booth design? What’s changing?

Paweł Adamski: In iGaming, AV dominates: lots of LEDs, lighting, screens, and interactivity. Synchronizing effects with screen content is a must — it’s the highest technical level. It’s hard to say “how it used to be” because this sector, at its current scale, is only a few years old. SiGMA from eight years ago and today’s SiGMA are two completely different events. ICE has a longer history, but even there, the leap has been huge.

The pandemic has come up in our conversation. What did it mean for you?

Jakub Dębczyński: It was very difficult for the entire exhibition industry. We managed thanks to vertical diversification — we temporarily entered construction projects, even house building.

Paweł Adamski: We handled, among others, the reconstruction of the Porsche showroom in Poznań, and we won several tenders, for example, for work at the military base in Powidz. Those were “survival” activities to keep the team together. Today, it’s less than 5% of our business — the core of the company is booth construction.

Where is your headquarters located?

Paweł Adamski: For foreign clients, we say Poznań — a city halfway between Berlin and Warsaw. In practice, we operate 30 km outside Poznań. That’s where our projects start. We have offices, production, and a local team here.

What are your plans for the future? Where do you want to be in five years?

Jakub Dębczyński: We want to be the leader in iGaming when it comes to booth and conference construction.

Paweł Adamski: We’re growing fast. For us, iGaming really started after the pandemic — this is our third or maybe fourth active year in the sector. I’d currently place us third or fourth in terms of project value. Next year, we aim for second, and ultimately, first.

We want to further strengthen our overseas network, maintain stable operations outside Europe, and build our position in conferences. We’re the general contractor for Affiliate World, we deliver Conversion Club in Barcelona and Warsaw, and now we’re co-organizing a new conference — GIGA in Sofia.

One last question. How can people contact you if they want to collaborate after reading this interview?

Paweł Adamski: The easiest way is via LinkedIn, WhatsApp, or Telegram. The first contact for new clients is Jakub; I’m responsible for execution and ensuring everything is delivered as the client expects.

Jakub Dębczyński: And an important note: we’re a producer, not an intermediary agency. We have our own factory and full control over the process — we go down to the workshop floor and see how the elements are made.