Insight
How to create a trade show that people actually want to return to
Catherine McNeil, director of operations at Ice Cream Alliance, serves up lessons from the association ' s own The Ice Cream & Artisan Food Show
or exhibition organisers,
F repeat attendance is one of the clearest indications that a show is doing its job. A busy exhibition hall looks visually great, but footfall alone doesn’ t tell you whether exhibitors made worthwhile connections, or if visitors found their attendance good value. So, how do we make sure they return next year?
For a sector-specific event, relevance is the main tell for if a trade show would be successful.
At the Ice Cream Alliance, we organise the Ice Cream & Artisan Food Show, the UK’ s only dedicated trade show for the ice cream sector. Our 2026 event at Birmingham’ s NEC welcomed more than 7,000 trade visitors, but the figure that matters more is who those visitors were. More than 86 % had purchasing authority, while over 80 % went on to place an order following the show. The average order value placed at the event was £ 32,000.
For organisers, these metrics are immensely valuable, and is key to selling stands and tickets for the next year. The objective should should be to create the conditions in which business can actually happen.
How did we do it? First, we understood exactly who the audience is. At our last show, parlour operators represented 35 % of attendees, manufacturers 20 % and mobile ice cream operators 15 %, alongside wholesalers, hospitality businesses, cafés, chefs, suppliers and importers. A successful specialist exhibition
“ Food exhibitions have a particular advantage: people can see machinery operating, taste products, and speak directly to the people behind them” has to serve that ecosystem rather than concentrating just on one type of buyer.
We also need to understand the challenges those businesses are facing. In ice cream, as in many food sectors internationally, operators are navigating rising costs, shifting consumer tastes, and staffing pressures. An exhibition should reflect those realities. We did this by hosting seminars, demonstrations and competitions that give attendees ideas and skills that they can take back to their businesses. Food exhibitions have a particular advantage here: people can see machinery operating, taste products, and speak directly to the people behind them.
Exhibitor curation also matters and every exhibitor needs a clear reason for being there. A smaller, highly relevant audience can be considerably more valuable than a larger but less focused crowd. Exhibiting represents a considerable investment of money and staff time and clear communication, simple logistics, marketing support and opportunities to meet genuine decision-makers all contribute to whether that investment feels worthwhile.
Some of the most valuable conversations happen between people facing the same commercial challenges and the enduring advantage of an in-person trade show is concentrated access to the right people, products, ideas and conversations.
For organisers everywhere, the ultimate measure of success is therefore not how many people come through the doors. It is how many leave having done something useful for their business, and having found a reason to come back. EW
n The Ice Cream & Artisan Food Show 2027 runs 9-10 February at the NEC.
Register to attend here: https:// ice-cream. org / ice-cream-andartisan-food-show / www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 5 2026 57