In my experience, most large conferences this year are realizing about 80 percent of their 2019 revenue performance. For some of the major annual meetings we’re tracking, sponsorship revenue has been a bright spot when compared to exhibit revenue performance. The textbook outcome of a successful sponsorship is improved attitudes and behavior for that brand. But that’s about affecting emotions — difficult, if not impossible — to measure. In other words, a sponsor’s ROI is subjective in nature, … [Read more...]
Will Use-It-or-Lose-It Budgeting Negatively Impact Expo and Sponsor Revenue?
Our crystal balls are pretty foggy when it comes to predicting the return of in-person expo and sponsor revenue. Three of the big questions are: With the advancement of digital demos, will exhibitors opt for smaller booth spaces? If marketing budgets intended for show participation in 2020 or 2021 were reallocated, or not spent, will corporations recall the good days and include your show in the 2022 marketing budget? Will poor ROI from virtual shows negatively impact future spend … [Read more...]
Expos Don’t Work Well in a Virtual Environment
Virtual Expo Truths Nearly every conference and trade show professional is searching for that perfect virtual platform or pricing model for replacing lost expo revenue. I’ve got bad news for you. Virtual expos will never be able to come close to replacing the revenue generated from your face-to-face expo. Here’s some of our learnings: 1. Corporate Booth In the good ole days, companies would hire a booth builder to design, build and maintain their displays. In the virtual world, we ask … [Read more...]
Teach Your Sponsors Well
If you, as a conference organizer or meeting owner, think selling sponsorships at your event is just about those four to five days when thousands gather face-to-face, think again. You are worth so much more than that. It’s time to stop devaluing your events, said Kim Skildum-Reid, owner of Power Sponsorship, a firm that specializes in advising corporations and sponsor seekers about effective sponsorship, at a recent workshop. Skildum-Reid calls sponsor seekers, “rightsholders,” and there’s a … [Read more...]
Sponsorship Needs to Be More Than Banners and Clings
Sponsorship is the most powerful form of marketing. When done well, it can change participants’ attitudes and behaviors about a brand. Banners, ads, signs and enhanced listings shouldn’t be lumped into the same category — they don’t make that emotional connection. Recently I’ve received invitations to attend webinars and download industry research reports and articles all aimed to help conference and show organizers grow sponsorship revenue. Problem is, when you dig into these resources, you … [Read more...]
How to Turn Around Your Sponsorship Revenue
If your conference is like most, sponsorship revenue is underperforming. There are two benchmarks we like to use to identify healthy conference revenue business models: Industry revenue — 30 percent or more of a conference’s total revenue should come from the combination of sponsor, exhibit and advertising revenue. Expo/sponsor revenue ratio — for every $3 in expo revenue, a thriving sponsor program will generate $1 of revenue or more (a 3-to-1 or better ratio). If your conference … [Read more...]
Transform Your Expo into a Networking and Learning Destination
Expos are the most disrupted element of association conferences today. If you’re still using “tradeshow,” “market place” or “exhibit hall” as names for the area where you feature solution providers—who are there to help your attendees deal with the problems and challenges they’re facing—it’s time for a rebrand. Attendees make buying decisions so differently now, doing most of their purchasing research online before they attend your live event, that they don’t see the value in going into an … [Read more...]
Expo Decisions: Attendee Preferences over Exhibitors—Always
For those of you who organize large annual conferences and trade shows, there undoubtedly is a chicken-vs.-egg debate. On the one hand, your organization might receive as much as 50 percent (or more) of your event’s revenue from supplier investments in exhibits, sponsorship and advertising categories, making it a priority. On the other hand, you have the attendees or customers — the currency we use to get suppliers to invest in our events in the first place. Attract a smaller or a lower-quality … [Read more...]
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