Recruitment
Future trends are here and now !
Trevor Foley MD , tfconnect , picks out some key trends and is optimistic about opportunity for all
remember reading an
I
UFI prediction back in 2021 that the trade show industry would be back to normal in 2025 . I suspected , however , that it would be much sooner . Pent up demand was a real thing ! For some it was as early as 2022 but for the majority it was last year . And , not just back to normal but , for many , ahead of the last full pre-Covid year of 2019 .
With good forward bookings at 2023 shows , this year should be as good or even better than last year . The impact of growing events means ‘ boom time ’, too , for both venues and the contractors / suppliers .
This is good news because it allows all three sides of the industry to have the confidence to research , plan , take more risks and to develop Capex plans . Of course , on top of this , the major trend for this year , and next , will be the huge amount of M & A activity we can expect .
Established players , who are shaping for a sale , have already spent much of 2023 thinking about the management teams and key functional players that they need in place to present to potential acquirers . A significant number of acquirers are likely to be Private Equity or High Net Worth parties . They will want to see strong management teams with top commercial , marketing and content resources .
A second ‘ right here , right now ’ trend , is that many organisers are on the journey of moving from Conference to Confex ( often with a change of venue type ) or , in the other direction , a move from Exhibition to Confex . The creation of Confexes , that marry commercial and content offerings , is very much what business communities want .
Above : Trevor Foley
“ Established players , who are shaping for a sale , have spent much of 2023 thinking about the management teams and key players that they need in place to present to potential acquirers ”
Launch & disrupt A third trend sees an increase in both event launches and disruptive activities . Many of these are under wraps for now of course !
Fourthly , data , digital and a greater focus on both customer success and customer experience ( attendees , exhibitors and sponsors ) will also continue to drive talent demand into the future .
All of these trends are great news for the best talent in the industry . There is no shortage of candidates for roles in launch , growth and disruptive environments , particularly where the reward includes equity . This is good news for organisers , venues and partners / suppliers who need the right resources to deliver on growth opportunities .
In short , the trends of the creation of more Confex models , launch and disruptive platforms and M & A , leading to the inevitable creation of more PE and privately owned businesses , is good news for those with the right experience , ambition and energy . It ’ s going to be a lively year or three ! Above all , our industry is in great health and is well set for continued growth .
I believe that the serious challenges our industry faced in 2020 and 2021 set us on a course for a brighter future than might otherwise have been the case . There was a view at the time that , because the core business of selling exhibition stands or curating good conference content had been so strong that we , as an industry , had been sleepwalking as regards the delivering of digital channels for our communities . It turns out that ‘ live ’ continues to be the perfect bedfellow in an increasingly digital world .
Moreover , we have the talent base in our industry to keep delivering what we do best . Keep it live !
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 1 2024 47