The exhibitions and large-events industry is coming back strong by many measures, particularly given the pandemic-era proclamations that trade shows would forever be changed by the Covid-driven shutdown. In fact, the annual meeting and trade show for the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, Expo! Expo!, recently took place in Dallas and was deemed a resounding success by organizers. The show drew more than 1,850 industry professionals to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center December 5-7, with 241 exhibitors covering 35,500 net square feet of sold exhibition space.
Event technology providers were well represented among those, including the likes of event management platforms Stova, Swapcard, Cvent, Cadmium and Whova, along with marketing solutions such as Feathr, data specialists Bear Analytics, and more. And while their presence suggests good signs for the overall health of event tech and interest in the sector, I often like to take stock of the smaller tech companies at these events — whether they be in a startup pavilion or smaller tech area — to see what kind of "grassroots" innovation is at work to address planner pain points.
At Expo! Expo! that took the form of the Tech2Grow Collective, a hub produced by DAHLIA+Agency in partnership with IAEE, where tech experts and innovators from nearly a dozen smaller companies had a space to answer attendee questions and spotlight their solutions. I asked each of those exhibitors what challenges they were addressing. Based on their responses, here's a look at seven primary exhibition-industry challenges the next wave of tech is out to solve.
1. Big shows are coming back — but not as big as we'd like.
While many organizers are pleased with their post-pandemic numbers, event stakeholders are still eager to see their attendance expand beyond this rebound phase. This drove a lot of discussion in Northstar's recent, popular "Smart Strategies for Growing Attendance" webinar. Webinar panelist Rachel Stephan was also on-hand in the Tech2Grow Collective, explaining how her company, Snöball, is helping to increase attendance by an average of 13.26 percent on a click-to-conversion rate of nearly 40 percent.
Both Snöball and fellow Tech2Grow exhibitor AnswerStage are helping to grow attendance by leveraging the network and personalities of the attendees who have already committed to participating in the event. Snöball facilitates the quick spread of word-of-mouth marketing via targeted campaigns and social network channels, while AnswerStage provides the framework for easily branded video content that can then be shared and amplified via these same channels.
2. There is more pressure to demonstrate ROI for in-person events.
Exhibition organizers have celebrated the public's overwhelming desire to meet face-to-face, but after the clarity and quantity of data available from virtual events, we are now turning to AI to measure the success of our in-person activations and interactions. Zenus is helping to provide that data by way of its facial analysis solution, delivering anonymized audience sentiment data based on the change in facial expressions over the course of a session, activation or booth interaction. The sentiment can also be broken down by gender, approximate age, and/or race, all without personally identifying anyone.
Conveying exhibitor ROI is particularly important in getting buy-in for future events, a fact SmartConnX is addressing by working with event organizers to maximize exhibitor engagement. The tool's AI-powered follow-up engine is designed to help exhibitors connect with their prospects, turbo-charging the value of that list of leads.
3. Content is key — if anyone remembers it.
The educational content at a given event might be stellar, but if it isn't delivered in the right way it's of little long-term value. NoteAffect by Event-Ace takes its cues from the educational technology universe to make presentations more engaging and interactive by broadcasting digital content to personal devices. Attendees can become participants in the learning experience, boosting knowledge retention by a significant amount.
4. There is much more we should be doing with our data.
Many organizers simply don't have the time, expertise or interdepartmental collaboration required to put show data to its best use. Cobalt Event Studios is providing both technology and consulting expertise to help organizers leverage, monetize and optimize that data.
5. Community-building happens outside of show hours.
Beyond opening receptions and closing-night parties, there remain untapped opportunities to build community through after-hours events. Jampack acts as an intermediary that helps connect trade shows to local venues, finding those opportunities for shoulder days and evening hours and fostering a closer relationship between the show and the host city.
6. Tech integration is still a hassle.
Two event management software providers from the Tech2Grow Collective address the issue of platform integration with their solutions. TWST Events does so by offering a broad range of tools combined with production services, taking the pressure off of the client when it comes to coordinating the disparate technologies and moving parts — particularly relevant for hybrid event requirements. ShowCycle takes a completely different approach, offering a range of event management functionality built entirely on the Salesforce platform — a niche solution, but one that could make sense for organizations heavily reliant on Salesforce and without a cohesive tech stack with sales and marketing integration.
7. We're still looking for ways to streamline collaboration.
Our industry is entirely dependent on effective collaboration, and it's likely your team has discovered one of the many brilliant game-changing collaboration platforms on the market. But the fact there are so many... well, that's also part of the problem. We train ourselves to be highly efficient on a particular communication platform, but every team — every supplier, venue, event stakeholder — has its own preferences. So finding that central hub, that "single source of truth," is an ongoing challenge when it comes to a particular event and remembering how you received those contract edits from that vendor you haven't gotten back to.
Two of the Tech2Grow participants are continuing that good fight: Planning Hub provides a shared event repository for all planner and vendor communication and file-sharing, while Sessionboard is a central management platform geared toward content and speaker management.
Dahlia El Gazzar, the founder and chief tech evangelist of DAHLIA+Agency, underscores the importance of collaboration — not simply among team members but with the event tech providers. "It's high time event pros stop seeing tech companies as just suppliers," she says. "They're your secret sauce, your creative copilots. Together, you're not just throwing events; you're crafting experiences that scream innovation and ooze revenue potential. We should be teaming up with these tech companies as strategic partners to address our biggest challenges."
