“Keeping informed of best practices for success and continued learning is necessary to achieve and maintain success,” says Cathy Breden of CEIR.
“We are in an era of rapid change, and consumer behavior will continue change—much of it as a result of advances in technology,” says Cathy Breden, CMP Fellow, CAE, CEM, EVP/COO for the International Association of Exhibitions and Events and CEO of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). “Event organizers will need to consider how these advances can benefit their events, and their organizations will need to continually invest in technology to remain current. Keeping informed of best practices for success and continued learning is necessary to achieve and maintain success.”
You can learn much more from Breden about the latest CEIR research during her presentation on March 30 as part of MPI’s free, 12-hour Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) broadcast.
We spoke with her about some of the trends explored in CEIR’s most recent research, from attendees registering for events less than four weeks in advance to the need for quantifiable data to growing awareness of sustainability’s importance.
Can you give us a brief recap/overview of CEIR’s latest research report?
This was a global study fielded in the Fall of 2022. It looks at the strategies exhibition organizer marketers are deploying to attract attendees to their B2B shows and what is working/not working.
As in-person events have seen a resurgence, can you tell us about a trend that’s either surprising or marks a fairly dramatic change from pre-COVID reporting?
The fact that 90% of registration comes in just four weeks out or closer to the event. We don’t know if this will continue in the long-term or if this is a byproduct of the pandemic.
This is causing a lot of angst and stress for show producers and marketers. Combine that with staffing of the organizer marketing departments not being back to pre-pandemic levels (the study revealed that just 50% of marketing departments have hired back to pre-pandemic levels). Marketers need to be very strategic in their approaches.
CEIR research shows that organizer data reporting was high during the pandemic but has dropped. What problems is that creating for exhibitors?
Exhibitors want quantifiable data. During the pandemic, organizers thought providing the data coming out of the digital event platform would be helpful; unfortunately, the data needed to be cleaned and that was difficult to do. For instance, an attendee might have “visited” a booth for five seconds. The visit would be counted. Another example is an attendee might enter a session room but walk away from their desk and not come back to shut down their computer until 10 hours later. The data was not reliable.
With data privacy laws increasing, it will become more difficult to provide the data unless the attendee opts in for the organizer to share the information. What is easy to provide, however, is the number of attendees, number of registrations, verified check-in numbers, number of exhibit hall visitors, overall demographic information, behavioral data (dwell time), etc. Organizers must be able to provide metrics that demonstrate the value of exhibiting.
With an omnipresent focus on sustainability, can you tell us about an event sustainability practice that is particularly popular these days?
The level of awareness on the importance of producing sustainable events is omnipresent. Organizers are reducing their signage and looking to contractors for environmentally friendly materials. We love our window clings, but they are not considered to be environmentally friendly. They are also doing simple things like not providing bottled water and instead providing a refillable water bottle. In many instances, it is the exhibitors and attendees asking for what’s being done to produce a sustainable event. Exhibitors are working with their exhibit houses on using regenerative materials.
CEIR respondents almost universally appreciate the unique value of exhibitions and F2F marketing. Can you share an example of how/why they experience this value?
There is no other place where a corporate marketer can meet with a large number of prospective customers, and current ones, in one place during a set period of time. The value of meeting face to face to build relationships is not something that can be done in a digital environment.
Why is the mission of GMID so important?
GMID gives the global community of event organizers the opportunity to celebrate the positive impact of events. What we do is important to local, national and global communities.
MPI’s GMID broadcast powered by Webex Events (formerly Socio).
MPI’s GMID broadcast supported by Grit Productions & Expositions and Foster + Fathom.
