The fourth fact sheet was released from The 2011 Changing Environment of Exhibitions Study which explores how the exhibition industry is evolving and provides key market insights on opportunities and threats. In this series, the results reveals that attendance quality of an exhibition is the most prevalent factor driving the decision to exhibit (84 percent).
Study findings also uncover that favorable ROI (54 percent) and positive past performance (50 percent) are the next most common factors considered when deciding whether to participate in an event.
Nancy Drapeau, CEIR Research Director provides further insight to the research findings:
“There’s a lot of great information in the most recently released fact sheet on the factors that drive the decision to exhibit. If anything, I believe the results trigger a call to action to organizers to shore up visitor acquisition and retention strategies. Executing such a strategy requires input from attendees and exhibitors. Actions to acquire and retain the right attendee audience impacts all aspects of an exhibition.
The first priority action is to make sure an exhibition is attracting the right audience relative to exhibitor wants and needs. Do organizers poll their exhibitors regularly on who their key buyers are? How about exhibitor target customers by business sector and target title – is the mix of attendees on the floor in alignment with these needs? Are exhibitors looking to reach out to new target markets that are complementary to the event in question? Could this add new attendee segments to attract?
Once the core attendee target audience is defined from the context of exhibitor wants and needs, organizers need to check in with target attendees to assess how well their event is faring in serving them. Is the content, exhibitor mix in line with what they’re hoping to see? Are products and services missing? Could this present new exhibit sales opportunities? What are their most important objectives and did the show deliver? How about the content of an event beyond the show floor – are target attendees looking for education, on which topics? How about networking – are the offerings attractive to them? How about the ways attendees can access information about what is available – do they want information online, what information, where do they want it (e.g. on the event website, text messages, etc.) or do they still value the paper version? What other offerings are missing that would enhance the value that will keep them coming back?
I am sure most organizers conduct a formal, post-show review process. The finding that the quality of attendance is the most prevalent factor considered when deciding whether to exhibit helps provide instruction to organizers on where to prioritize allocating scarce resources for the next edition of a show. Quality attendance is essential to cultivate and maintain.”
The fact sheet, Factors that Drive the Decision to Exhibit, is the fourth of 10 separate fact sheets that will be released with actionable suggestions on how organizers and exhibitors can use the results to enhance their business objectives.
