Advertising feature
As audiences continue to evolve and organisers become more inundated with new demands and trends , Carlo Zoccali , venue and event portfolio director at Farnborough International , shares insight into producing high quality , attendee-centric exhibitions as a venue and organiser that puts attendee experience at the heart of its organisation and operations .
As an industry , we have established that large-scale exhibitions have well and truly returned , with confi dence increasing from organisers , exhibitors and attendees , but how are organisers and brands adapting to the new demands of attendees ?
Over the last nine months we have seen the industry organise and host globally watched forums , such as the G7 Summit and COP26 , and to niche customerfocused events .
At Farnborough International , we have organised and hosted both B2B and B2C exhibitions focusing on everything from angling and large yachts to homebuilding and electric and commercial transport vehicles , seeing more than 95,000 attendees walk through the venue .
During each event we have generated attendee insight and identifi ed some new dos and don ’ ts for exhibiting at your brand ’ s best :
Think like an attendee While events are evolving at an exponential rate through introducing new technologies and platforms , as exhibition organisers , we need to ensure that our experience does not overlook two main goals of attendees : to easily gain insight and / or connections . Through introducing too much brand engagement-driven activity we are in danger of losing site of the key objectives , as well as interest from the attendees . Brand engagement experiences should provide value , not added layers of admin and annoyance .
The early bird doesn ’ t necessarily get the worm Perhaps it ’ s a developed behaviour from the constant changing measures during the pandemic or just that people are not looking ahead further than a few weeks in advance , but attendees are booking and registering for events later and later .
During recent events we have seen bookings increase by more than 100 % in
the seven days leading up to the exhibition and on-the-day bookings increase by more than 120 %, so it is important that organisers and event marketers work with these late bookers in mind and communicate availability throughout their channels .
Data is ( still ) king With keeping attendee value in mind , a recent study conducted by Hopin shared that almost 85 % of event professionals say access to attendee engagement insights is vital to their success , and I ’ d agree . We have relied heavily on generating data , and therefore knowledge , on exhibition attendees to gauge their focuses and areas they value to drive authentic engagement . Attendees are very aware of data collection and the ability to set communication and management preferences , so it ’ s even more important to create hyper-personalised experiences .
For more information on Farnborough International and how we can bring your vision to life , visit : www . farnborough . com / organiser
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