Analysis
The greatest
show on earth?
What do the world’s highest rated shows have in common?
Sophie Holt, global strategy director at Explori, reveals all
on stands and sponsorship, their presence is
a critical factor in driving visitor experience.
Shows which actively encourage new product
launches at their events see much higher
levels of visitor and exhibitor satisfaction than
those that don’t. The opposite is true where
organisers focus on the cosmetic look and
feel of the event – this actually has a negative
impact on visitor and exhibitor satisfaction.
There is a close match between the
exhibitor and visitor
T
he team at Explori often get asked what
makes a great show.
While organisers might quite rightly
respond: “the one that drives the most profit”,
I’d argue this doesn’t give the full picture.
In isolation, profit is a lagging metric: it only
tells us about the historical performance
of the show. The Explori data set offers us
something particularly interesting here as it
focuses on leading metrics – the customer-
centric measures that suggest whether
or not a show will continue to deliver top
performance in future cycles.
Looking at a longer-term perspective,
perhaps ‘great shows’ are the ones that
consistently satisfy their visitors and
exhibitors, and so benefit from high levels
of loyalty and advocacy? Our data suggests
these shows are more likely to experience
growth in visitor numbers, exhibitor numbers
and exhibitor revenue.
How to satisfy visitors and exhibitors is
a huge topic – so let’s focus on trade shows
in particular. While the market varies by
sector and region, we do see some universal
areas where successful shows outperform the
rest. The elusive ‘great show’ is the one that
can consistently satisfy the most important
objectives of both its visitors and exhibitors at
the same time.
I can see some notable common factors
between these high performing shows:
Impact of organiser strategy
on visitor satisfaction
3.65
3.81
3.97
There is no correlation between exhibitor
satisfaction and the number of visitors; shows
with 50,000 visitors don’t have happier
exhibitors than shows with 1,000. Perceived
quality of visitors is a more important
factor, which presents a challenge as quality
is subjective. Shows that perform well are
likely to have spent time gaining a detailed
understanding the objectives of each exhibitor
and have been transparent about the audience
they are capable of delivering.
The organiser has de-risked the exhibitor
experience
We actively encourage exhibitors
to launch products at the event
72% Agree strongly
19% Agree slightly
7% Disagree slightly
2% Disagree strongly
4.06
3.84
3.89
We often redesign the look
and feel of the event
34% Agree strongly
50% Agree slightly
The organiser focuses on innovation 14% Disagree slightly
The organiser will have a clear strategy
in place to identify innovation within the
sector it serves and will incorporate this into
the show. While some of the newer, more
innovative companies may have less to spend 2% Disagree strongly
As part of our Global Exhibitor Insights
report, in partnership with UFI, Explori
interviewed 60 senior commercial team
members from organisers all round the world.
We asked them how their team approached
the exhibitor relationship and compared their
responses with the levels of advocacy amongst
the exhibitors at their shows.
Certain traits among commercial teams
were more common among shows that had
high levels of advocacy from their exhibitors
(measured by NPS). One trait that really
stood out was teams that de-risked the
exhibitor experience by offering consistent
and comprehensive exhibitor training.
Whatever format it takes, exhibitor training
is a critical way of improving the exhibitor
experience. In the study, we found trade
shows that offered training to all or most of
their exhibitors saw a 23-point boost in NPS
vs those who did not. Exhibit marketing is a
real skill. Successful organisers support and
educate their exhibitors as much as they can.
So, who does run the greatest trade show?
Professional discretion (and a hefty NDA)
prevents me from naming names, but the
answer might just surprise you! EN
March — 13