Feature
SURVEY SNAPSHOT
“ The silver-lining in the pivot to digital has been the data-rich environment we organisers now find ourselves in . But , we have a huge standardisation job at hand if we ’ re to benefit from this newly found trove of data .”
VSef was designed to tackle , such as the blurred distinctions between attendee and exhibitor data and blurring of interests . “ This can ’ t continue , we need a shared language ,” she said . VSef had emerged from surveying organisers and examining and decoding key metrics . Organiser workshops and one-to-one meetings with the platform providers had also been part of the research process started in January 2020 . Onay added that he had personally “ learned a lot ” from the process . Eighty percent of export problems had been solved by VSef , he said , adding that the plan now was to produce an initial roadmap rather than a finished product . Onay is keen to highlight the need for rigour rather than any quick fix : “ We didn ’ t want to agree on the lowest common denominator ,” he said , noting that VSef needed to provide value for everybody . The team envisages an 18-month development pipeline and extra commitment from organisers will be required , said Holt , who expects golive dates to be agreed soon . A sign that the initial commmitments to bring systems into line can be delivered is illustrated by ExpoPlatform , which managed to be VSef compliant in just five days , according to the company ’ s chief growth officer Luke Bilton . For now , VSef is a product of large organisers taking steps to embed a customer-centric approach and mould disparate silos of data around individual records and points of truth . As Bilton said : “ It is hard to go backwards with all the data points we now have from virtual events . “ We just need a common language to tell the full show story and big steps have been taken towards that with the VSef initiative .”
Research conducted exclusively for EN by Explori and sponsored by EventsCase shows industry professionals are mainly focused on delivering postponed events , understanding changes in customer needs and developing new sources of revenue . The Exhibition Industry Survey , conducted from 27 January to 8 February , was set up to measure the impact of Covid-19 on the events industry and to understand business priorities and reinvention strategies . The research , conducted as part of the 2021 Exhibition Industry Survey , shows that the main priorities for businesses over the next year are delivering postponed events ( 54 %), developing new sources of revenue ( 54 %), and understanding changing customer needs ( 53 %). Less than a fifth of respondents ( 19 %) foresee delivering events virtually as a priority in the next 12 months . For organisers specifically , the main priorities are delivering postponed events ( 61 %), developing new sources of revenue ( 59 %), engaging target audiences ( 58 %) and understanding changing customer needs ( 55 %). Around a third of organisers ( 34 %) are planning to deliver events virtually and almost half ( 46 %) are planning to deliver hybrid events .
Read more on www . exhibitionnews . co . uk
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