Opinion
and myself described how a data-led
approach can be used to transform the
marketing stack of an organiser. Let us
extend this to how an organiser best
meets the needs of their exhibitors.
Taking a fictional hospitality show
in Europe, let us explore a potential
transformation path. At the present
time they have had to postpone their
2020 edition, and plan to hold their next
edition in spring 2021. To mitigate risk,
they believe this will be some form of
hybrid event. Over the next four months
they should:
» Hold one-to-one calls with all the
exhibitors, which had confirmed for
2020 (and 2019 lapsed) to gather
detailed input on their needs and
expectations of the 2021 show. Old
school, but critical to understand the
landscape
» Use data analytics to identify an
additional cohort of highly relevant
similar companies which have yet
to be exhibitors but are very likely
to have similar needs to existing
exhibitors
» Run a series of online forums
combining a mix of these two groups
where they discuss findings from the
initial one-to-one calls and gather
feedback. Use polls to gather data to
segment forum participants based
on their risk attitude, face-to-face
expectations and views on alternative
ways of doing business if the show has
to be delayed again
» Classify confirmed and potential
exhibitors into distinct clusters for
exhibitor marketing purposes – it
is critical to identify those which
are price sensitive, those which are
loyal and those which are more open
to experimentation. Those which
are very price sensitive should be
steered towards the digital offering,
“It is easy to be fearful of
technology, but the reality is
that once a vision of how to meet
exhibitors’ needs is in place, the
technical components will fall
into place.”
those which are loyal and open to
experimentation steered towards both
live and digital offerings
» In parallel, define the blend of
digital and live components of the
2021 hybrid event. It is critical to
define the touch-points between
the live and online components of
the event, identifying what needs
to happen concurrently, and what
can be provided before and after the
live event. In practice, the quality
of experience will be a function
of driving meaningful interaction
between online audiences and the live
show floor.
Such an exhibitor-led approach is
designed to create data to effectively
build a hybrid event with a mix of
exhibitors with various levels of
openness to exhibit online.
While technology is a key component
of delivery, this can be outsourced or
bought in. It is easy to be fearful of
technology, but the reality is that once a
vision of how to meet exhibitors’ needs
is in place, the technical components
will fall into place.
The hidden component of this
narrative is the effort required to go
beyond the traditional sales process.
Joining up and explaining the value of
both live and digital components to
exhibitors is a significant challenge and
something not to be underestimated.
An effective combination of live and
digital creates a product merchandising
and sales messaging challenge which
is new to a sales team used to selling
sqm and sponsorship packages. Hybrid
events create a diversity of product
opportunities, but also require the
orchestration of multiple touch-points
and a consultative selling style which is
new to many organisers.
How to get started?
One of the few advantages that
organisers have (and should remember
they have, because it is dangerous
to stay in analysis paralysis) is that
the choices they make today aren’t
permanent.
There will be an expectation of
increasing digital and hybrid offering for
the next edition, but also an expectation
that things will not be the same. You
only need to look at education over the
last few months to realise that when
there is no other way, what is offered is
embraced – even if it is not perfect.
Bringing along your own employees
may in some cases be the larger
challenge. Change management will be
required to create a burning platform
to facilitate change. Leadership needs
to explain the way forward, reward
positive role models and advocate the
need to build the data-led exhibitions of
the future.
September — 39