Recruitment
We’ re in the platform business now
Above
Miranda Martin, managing director, tfconnect, explains why the exhibitions industry is evolving far beyond the traditional trade show model.
here is a movement
T happening across our industry.
The most forwardthinking organisers are no longer defining themselves simply as trade show or conference businesses. Increasingly, they see themselves as platform businesses – serving their ecosystems through a mix of events, media, content, data, marketing services, and, in some cases, membership and subscription models.
At tfconnect, this is one of the clearest strategic shifts we’ re seeing among our most active clients globally. Events still generate the majority of revenues today, but businesses are thinking much more broadly about how they create value for their communities year-round.
And why wouldn’ t they? Why serve your market in just one way when you can deliver multiple touchpoints, deeper engagement, and more meaningful commercial opportunities across an entire ecosystem?
This evolution is reshaping portfolios at pace. Over the last few years, we’ ve seen consolidation across many organiser businesses. Some have halved the number of events they run annually. Others have gone from operating more than 300 events a year to fewer than 10. Yet in many cases, those businesses are becoming more profitable, more knowledgeable about their markets, and more valuable to their customers as a result.
Depth is replacing breadth.
The focus is shifting toward building stronger communities, deeper client relationships, and more curated experiences that deliver measurable commercial outcomes. Deal-making increasingly sits at the heart of that strategy. Serendipity on an exhibition floor is no longer enough in a market where customers are spoilt for choice and attending fewer events more selectively.
This is where mixed-format experiences come into play.
Some call them confexes. Others refer to them as large-scale events. In reality, the terminology often depends on which side of the industry you grew up in – trade show people say confex, conference people say largescale event. But whatever the label, the direction of travel is clear: organisers are blending content, networking, hosted meetings, exhibitions, and curated experiences into more dynamic event platforms.
Even some of the industry’ s largest exhibition businesses are now exploring how content can sit on top of their already powerful commercial machines. If they layer premium content, curated networking, and executive-level engagement onto a successful stand-sales model, what does that unlock? More diverse revenue streams? Highervalue sponsorship? Premium delegate fees? Greater SPEX
: Miranda Martin
opportunities? Better access to C-suite audiences?
Increasingly, the answer appears to be yes.
And when it comes to scaling and ultimately selling a business, those with strong proprietary data-rich platform models are capturing the imagination of the PE buyers and likely to command significantly higher multiples than businesses built solely around traditional events. Naturally, this evolution is also transforming talent strategies.
Many scaling businesses are hiring outside of their traditional lanes. They’ re recruiting senior leaders not for what the business has historically been, but for what it wants to become. That means trade show organisers hiring media executives. Conference businesses bringing in marketing services, community and subscription specialists. Content-led businesses hiring commercial exhibition talent. And, more often than not, experience of events at scale is key.
The makeup of leadership teams is changing too. Businesses need broader perspectives to navigate this transformation successfully. Increasingly, organisers need people who understand audience development, content monetisation, data strategy, community building, and platform thinking.
New roles are emerging. Traditional career paths are evolving. And the most exciting businesses are those willing to challenge long-held assumptions about what an events or media company actually is.
Because increasingly, we’ re not just in the events business anymore.
We’ re in the platform business now. EW
50 Issue 3 2026 www. exhibitionworld. co. uk