As customer expectations shift toward more personalised and mixed-genre events, exhibition organisers are actively thinking of ways to redesign traditional exhibitions.
During the Future-first: How Leading Organisers Are Redesigning the Exhibition Experience session at the 92nd UFI Global Congress last month, panellists discussed changes in event composition.
Helen Woodbridge, group head of European M&A at Easyfairs International, indicated that more events are moving away from the traditional B2B tradeshow model.
She said: “We’re seeing much more kind of mixed genre now in our events… Technology also enables us to personalise the visitor and exhibitors experience.”
According to Stefan Rummel, managing director and CEO of Messe München, shows must be relevant and grasp the business value, while also being creative about the emotional experience.
He agreed that AI and data can be used to enhance an event’s future business value while pushing for more creative approaches to both experience and content.
Rummel also emphasised the creative use of venues, sharing an example: “We had a 400,000m2 outdoor area which was every three years for our construction equipment show. Other than that, it’s just dust. But it was (converted into a) temporary venue for Adele’s summer concert residency by Live Nation.”
Peter Hall, president of Middle East, India, Türkiye and Africa for Informa Markets, also highlighted the need for partnerships to spur market penetration and create scale.
“We are seeing an increasing trend toward needing to partner an association, industry organisation, or government when it comes to product development. This marks a departure from a previous “100 percent ownership model,” Hall elaborated.
He also shared that “nearly all of our big events are moving quite fast towards become more festival-like”. However, this new model is “less efficient than the tradeshow model” and is not as profitable, and Hall advised planners to rethink their pricing strategies so that good returns can still be created for stakeholders.
Looking ahead, exhibitions are looking into content-first design, which replaces the traditional floor plan approach. Hall explained that Informa now sells around the “content, purpose and impact of that event is going to have on the industry” rather than the physical layout.
