Feature
typical tradeshow has a
ratio of ~20-30 attendees per
exhibitor. These densities
rarely generate profitable
events when applied to
an event of 50, 100 or 500
people. Some formats are
far better suited to this
such as 1 to 1 meetings,
panels and matchmaking /
speed-dating at the smaller
end, and conferences
and confexs at the larger
end. These formats often
don’t transition well to
tradeshows, but this is
normally due to lack of
market demand. The crisis
has created an unusual
situation where the demand
exists, but we can’t deliver a
‘normal’ tradeshow.
Solutions to build better
shows
An organiser who is able to
empathise with the needs
of their customers, their
competitors’ customers
and their audience
during this time could do
powerful things to create
a stronger show in the
future. Rather than wait
until restrictions lift, work
out which communities
shape your industry in the
future and invest in them
now. Start building small
jigsaws to solve their unique
problems and knit them into
your existing show when
restrictions lift.
When we applied this
approach to a client’s show,
we made the following
recommendations:
» Pivot the exhibitor sales
team to talk to attendees
for one week to gain
greater empathy and
identify new unmet needs.
» Segment existing data on
exhibitors and attendees
into very fine-grained
clusters. This includes
both consideration of
the company but also
the individual role at the
company to understand
the size and opportunity
of desirable clusters.
» Create lean and low-cost
digital products based on
desirable clusters to drive
engagement and create
new routes for exhibitors
to reach customers.
Examples might include
the repurposing of prior
show video content,
creation of digital buying
guides, or leveraging your
speaker network for fresh
content.
» Roll out a regional 1 to 1
meeting format to focus
on finding domestic
suppliers as soon as
gathering sizes are ~50.
Any recovery is going
to be domestic first,
and many companies
will need to find new
suppliers. Explore the use
of video to run the events
concurrently (i.e. not all
people need to be in the
same room).
» Roll out a thematic ‘On
tour’ one day format for
small scale local events
near to your customers
and competitors shows
when gathering sizes
permit ~500 people. These
are focused on growth
areas for the future show
to establish thought
leadership.
It may be that third parties
are better positioned to offer
some of these services on
your behalf. By positioning
live events as transitional
activities; because you’re
unable to run the “normal”
show, this creates a clear
path for migration of the
attendees and exhibitors to
the show in the future.
What is important is the
need to retain flexibility.
While the future is
unknowable, there are
many states of the world
which might occur as
constraints relax and the
economic reality evolves for
customers. An empathy led,
design thinking approach to
solving customer problems
now, is a roadmap to
building stronger shows in
the future.
About the Authors
Jake Austin has worked
in group strategy and
corporate development
roles at UBM Informa
and Clarion Events
extensively over the
last 10 years. As an
independent consultant
he specialises in
helping organisers
with customer insights,
growth strategy and
delivering effective
M&A. He is currently
studying design
thinking as a post
graduate qualification
at Harvard Business
School.
Mark Parsons runs
Events Intelligence,
a big data business
which uses machine
learning to understand
the similarity between
companies and find new
exhibitors at scale. For
the last four years he
has helped the strategy
and deal teams at major
organisers using data-
led origination tactics.
He is a Chartered
Accountant, holds an
Executive MBA from
London Business
School, and a Masters
in Data Science and
Business Analytics from
NYU Stern.
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