Are Business Conferences and Exhibitions Making a Return to Popularity.

The entire events industry suffered during the coronavirus pandemic and business conferences and exhibitions were no exception to this. Are these events starting to make a comeback? how are business event organisers managing the current environment and what changes have they had to make to ensure future success.

Business conferences are always great for increasing the knowledge of attendees where they can gain valuable insights from industry experts. They have always been perfect places to conduct business and many conferences also provide networking opportunities and exhibition spaces to relevant vendors. Organisers are reinventing the business event format to gain attendees and if done well seem to be increasingly popular.

In Person Meetings.
The ability to network and do business in an in-person environment is preferred by many when it comes to buying and selling business services. The face-to-face networking conducted at business conferences cannot be underestimated. When building key business links and closing deals the in-person format is the preferred environment for many.

Technological Innovations.
The move to virtual meetings using technology platforms like Zoom and Google Meet enabled the business community to continue to conduct business in a virtual environment during the lockdown period experienced by many throughout the pandemic. This way of meeting to conduct business and the benefit of flexibility for remote working has reduced the need for in-person face-to-face meetings. However, conference and exhibition event organisers have moved some of their activities during the pandemic to digital environments using livestreaming, online networking platforms and virtual exhibition halls. Other improvements in technology have have also resulted in more automation of visitor registration and ticket scanning making the events less reliant on people, this is improving the overall efficiency and reducing costs.

Hybrid Events. 
Business conference and exhibition event organisers have resumed their in-person events this year but with the added twist of providing a virtual visitor option. These hybrid events are very much the norm now giving options to potential visitors to attend in person or through a digital environment. For some organisers the hybrid format has increased registrations and overall attendance as it provides flexibility for those who may not have time to physically travel to an event but they don’t want to miss out on a key speaker at a conference for example.

There is seemingly more and more business conferences and exhibitions being advertised and data from Statista issued in August 2022 suggests that by 2026 the business events sector is expected to surpass pre-pandemic values. Their research indicated that the market size of the global meetings industry was roughly 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019 when the industry's market in Europe was valued at approximately 520 billion U.S. dollars, while the North American market size amounted to 400 billion U.S. dollars. People are eager to resume in-person networking and collaboration opportunities, which are usually key aspects of these types of events.

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Photo by Antonio Jamal Roberson via Pexels

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