DALLAS – The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) announced the release of Part Two: Exhibitor In-booth Tactics – Use of Exhibition Organizer Digital Tactics and Other Services, the second report in its newest series on attendee floor engagement.
Exhibitors are the core of any exhibition and they are what draws attendees to the exhibition floor. The ability of exhibitors to attract qualified attendees to their booths and deliver attendees the engagement they seek can make or break the success of an event. To support exhibitor success in this area, issues to consider are:
- Which digital tactics do organizers make available to exhibitors to help them achieve in-booth engagement goals?
- Do exhibitors use them?
- Which of these digital tactics enjoy high attendee use?
- Which other organizer services are offered to exhibitors and used by them to help maximize attendee engagement?
This report provides answers to these questions, providing insight into what is offered and which are most popular.
“Attendee engagement in an exhibit booth is a moment of truth,” said CEIR CEO Cathy Breden, CMP, CAE. “The ability for exhibitors and attendees to fulfill their engagement expectations influences interest in participating again in the future. It is critical that organizers partner with their exhibitors and provide tools to help them succeed in this area. This report provides guidance for both organizers and exhibitors.”
Results in this report indicate a gap between organizer digital tactic offerings and exhibitor usage. Is this gap a missed opportunity to maximize outcomes for exhibitors and attendees? Ninety-four percent of exhibition organizers offer an array of digital tactics while only 62 percent of exhibitors use one or more of these offerings.
Exhibitor training is offered by a minority of organizers. It is a long-standing challenge for organizers to persuade exhibitors to participate and this study affirms low exhibitor usage. Given the critical role exhibitors play in impacting attendee satisfaction, experimenting with offering a variety of exhibitor training options is key.
CEIR Senior Research Director Nancy Drapeau, PRC advocates, “Given that this research finds most exhibitors, 74 percent, train booth staff in-house, organizers need to think about creating exhibitor training tools that in-house trainers will want to integrate into their internal training activities. Perhaps incentives for exhibitors that take up the training opportunity is another way to increase participation.”
This 22-page report inventories the most popular exhibition organizer digital tactics, which are most commonly offered, used by exhibitors and which of these are found to enjoy high attendee use. It also inventories the array of other organizer services that help support exhibitor in-booth attendee engagement efforts.
In addition to total results, this report identifies unique differences by exhibitor by industry sector, the extent of exhibition activity and other key demographics. Exhibition organizer differences are also reported by exhibition size and regional scope of exhibition participation.
