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What matters is understanding what to do with that data , which data is needed and how to build and monitor the KPIs that can point to the event ’ s success .
The evolution we are observing is the successful exhibition ’ s propensity to place the visitor at the centre of its priorities , to understand their wants and needs and align the decision-making with said wants and needs through qualitative listening . The success factor is doing it in a ‘ structured ’ way and here very special skills are needed .
Listening is a delicate and complicated art , especially listening with the idea of building strategic trajectories .
Translating the needs and requirements of a visitor , understanding their customer experience in order to create value all round is the new challenge .
The visitor experience , articulated through the various contact channels with the exhibition along the customer journey , must be the reference point for all the organiser ’ s processes .
Awareness of the importance of visitor centricity comes through :
• Defining the objective and the metrics to be evaluated
• Identifying a model and an adequate reference method to pursue the listening target , with the aim of defining the strategies , operational policies and investments necessary to engage the visitor .
This listening path needs to go beyond the sometimes disproportionate attention paid to exhibitors , to re-evaluate the exhibition product itself and the solutions aimed at satisfying the needs and desires of visitors .
‘ Multi-channel ’ contact tools and new online formats used to liaise with visitors , mean organisers are able to involve the target of the exhibitions , in addition to those attending the event in person .
The role of the organiser will increasingly coincide with the ability to leverage the potential of data and technology , starting though from a much deeper analysis of this information , leaving behind the pure quantitative logic and moving on to a more complex and refined ‘ qualitative ’ logic .
This means going beyond the demographic , commodity related , economic data , etc . The data must define the new needs and new business interactions that are the true need of the visitors , which both organisers and exhibitors can satisfy together .
For too long , the expo organiser ’ s focus has been the exhibitor , with the aim of expanding their numbers and increasing their investment and this perspective has led to the creation of very refined systems of exhibitor profiling . Today , that same approach is shifting to visitors .
The exhibition industry must increasingly equip itself with ‘ clever ’ tools with which to test , experiment and optimise its business path . And we cannot afford to be shortsighted . New digital formats , the set of interaction and sharing moments with visitors , can lead to the use of these elements of dialogue and comparison as real ‘ test and experimentation ’ platforms , with the idea of implementing new products and new solutions to the needs of its visitors .
Narrating the needs of visitors There must be a holistic integration of the enormous amount of data available .
It is necessary to create control dashboards for top management that , in addition to providing directions and the KPIs of reference , can ‘ narrate ’ the needs of visitors , which then become the new coordinates around which the event must turn .
As with any transformation , there will be a period of adjustment , characterised by the search for new skills .
In the organiser ’ s new control radar new reference KPIs must not only be economic and financial ones . The new KPIs have the aim of observing if and how much this moment of listening and comparison with one ’ s visitors works , for example by carefully controlling the metrics regarding how many newsletters are opened , how many websites are used and which apps are downloaded .
In addition to the fundamental KPIs related to customer experience metrics , such as Net Promoter Score , Likelihood of return , Overall satisfaction and Importance of Events , all the data relating to visitors ’ registration elements will become increasingly indispensable , as well the KPIs regarding the value of the exposition ’ s Brand itself , if we are to understand how visitors can get a better return on their presence at an event .
Organisers must also improve and offer additional services to increase visibility or generate leads during the events , starting with the way exhibitors can interact , pre-expo , with their customers and potential customers . Ultimately , any new strategic vision will be truly focused on visitors .
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 1 2023 45