Research
Channel Insights: organisers pick up on key takeaway of the importance of show meetings with existing customers
Paul Colston dives into the big issue to emerge from Explori’ s latest Channel Insights research on exhibitor satisfaction and sentiment
ighlights of the‘ 2025
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Channel Insights’, the latest report from UFI Research Partner Explori and supported by industry association SISO, was presented by Explori CEO Mark Brewster on stage at UFI’ s recent European Conference in Thessaloniki. The report is currently available exclusively to UFI & SISO members but the team has shared some of the results that point to a standout takeaway: that is the importance of the ROI from meeting at trade show with existing customers.
These latest Channel Insights offer a robust, data-led insight into exhibitor sentiment across nearly a decade of B2B events.
The results are extrapolated from over 3,245 exhibitions, and include interviews with senior industry stakeholders.
It is clear from the research that while confidence in the exhibition channel remain high, exhibitors’ expectations are shifting.
The Explori report looked at exhibitor KPIs, including four key questions: Satisfaction; Net Promoter Score; Likelihood
Below: Chart shows the standard distribution curve of exhibitor NPS scores across the total sample of events comparing 2017-2019( dark blue curve) vs 2022-2024( light blue curve) and visualises the shift in the median scores between the two periods. of Return, and Event Importance. It also explored how successfully exhibitors are achieving their core business objectives.
In addition to quantitative analysis of the data, Explori interviewed 15 industry leaders to build a broader understanding of industry trends.
Key findings include exhibitors getting more value from events post-pandemic and event objectives being met more successfully, and it is clear economic pressure is driving smarter exhibiting strategy and in-person connection is more important than ever.
Technologies, especially AI can, of course unlock greater efficiencies, the research shows.
The NPS confirm that most events post 2022 receive positive scores and CEO Mark Brewster tells EW there has been a positive shift of 27 points from pre- to post-pandemic and confirms that the most striking result in terms of achievement of objective by exhibitors is that‘ Meeting with www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 4 2025 13