Let’s examine the key challenges facing today’s industry professionals and explore the strategic approaches needed to navigate political protests, staffing shortages, crowd scares, and the evolving threat landscape while building resilient response systems that protect both attendees and event success.

The Rising Tide of Event Disruptions

Today’s exhibition professionals face an unprecedented array of challenges that extend far beyond traditional security concerns. Political protests have surged dramatically, often appearing at events regardless of their connection to the demonstration’s cause. These disruptions can transform a carefully planned event into a chaotic situation, drawing attention away from intended activities and creating safety concerns that ripple through entire venues.

Labor disputes have emerged as another significant factor, creating tensions that extend beyond the immediate workplace into surrounding communities. When hotel workers or transportation staff engage in strikes, the effects cascade directly to event attendees, complicating logistics and potentially compromising the overall experience. These disputes can affect everything from accommodation availability to transportation access, forcing event organizers to develop contingency plans for scenarios previously considered peripheral concerns.

Perhaps most concerning is the rise of crowd scares fueled by social media and misinformation. A single loud noise or minor disturbance can trigger panic that spreads instantaneously through connected crowds, leading to rapid evacuations that may be entirely unnecessary but nonetheless dangerous. The speed at which misinformation travels through social platforms means that perceived threats can become real emergencies in moments, regardless of their actual validity.

Compounding Challenges: The Staffing Crisis

Current staffing shortages have created a perfect storm for event security vulnerabilities. Security and cleaning sectors, already experiencing high turnover rates, now face critical personnel gaps that directly impact event safety and quality. When experienced security professionals are unavailable, venues must rely on less trained staff who may lack the expertise to recognize threats early or respond effectively to emerging situations.

This staffing crisis extends beyond mere numbers to fundamental capability gaps. Slower response times to potential threats become inevitable when teams are understaffed or undertrained. The quality of service suffers, affecting not only immediate security concerns but also attendee satisfaction and the overall success of events. Exhibition organizers must now factor these limitations into their planning, often requiring additional oversight and backup systems to compensate for reduced personnel capacity.

Strategic Risk Assessment: Beyond Traditional Threats

Effective event security now requires comprehensive risk assessments that consider factors previously overlooked in traditional planning. Location characteristics have become critical, with seemingly minor details like train crossings, public parking arrangements and nearby sports events now requiring careful evaluation. These venue-specific risks can create hazardous conditions for attendees, particularly when combined with high-stress situations or crowd dynamics.

The assessment process must examine concurrent events, controversial program elements, participant profiles and transportation logistics as interconnected factors that influence overall risk levels. A sports event occurring nearby might seem unrelated to a business conference, but the combined crowd dynamics and infrastructure strain can create unexpected challenges that require proactive management.

Prevention Through Proactive Management

Success in event security depends heavily on prevention rather than reaction. Access controls and credential verification have become fundamental requirements, not optional enhancements. Comprehensive crowd monitoring systems enable early detection of potential disruptions, allowing intervention before situations escalate into emergencies.

The coordination between venue and event security teams requires unprecedented clarity in roles and responsibilities. Regular training and rehearsals ensure both teams understand their specific duties and can work seamlessly together during high-pressure situations. This coordination extends to communication systems, where clear protocols and direct contact channels between teams can mean the difference between controlled management and chaotic response.

Service provider accountability has emerged as a critical component of prevention strategies. Organizations must audit their providers for staff training protocols, deployment plans, and service standards, ensuring that expectations are clearly documented and regularly reviewed. Proactive communication with providers helps identify potential gaps before they become problems during events.

Building Resilient Response Systems

Emergency response plans must be accessible, actionable, and regularly updated with input from all stakeholders. Staff require practical tools including resource cards, reliable communication systems, and clear protocols that can be executed under pressure. The coordination between event public address systems and building alarm systems requires careful planning to prevent unnecessary disruptions that could trigger crowd scares.

The path forward requires continuous improvement and industry-wide sharing of best practices. As threats evolve and new challenges emerge, the event industry must maintain collaborative approaches to security, emphasizing shared goals of creating safe environments for all participants while fostering cultures of proactive risk management rather than reactive problem-solving.

The post Is Your Event Security Playbook Up to Date? appeared first on IAEE.

Our industry connects people. We connect people to learn from each other, to buy and sell from each other, and to have fun with like-minded peers.

COVID has highlighted how many different ways this value of connection can be offered.

There are two spectrums we think about: 1) From fully in-person with no digital components, to fully virtual with no physical components 2) From highly curated connections like a 1-1 meeting or a 10 person roundtable to mass marketed multi-thousand person events.

As an event organizer, deciding which variables to toggle up and down isn’t so obvious. I’ll share a few ways we make sense of these options.

Virtual, In-Person, Both, or Hybrid?

As you might expect, there is no one-size-fits all answer. It’s unlikely you’ll arrive at a “this is our format strategy for all of our events” conclusion. At my company, our main show is a cross-industry technology event focused on helping Fortune 500 companies adopt artificial intelligence. The dynamics of that event are different from the dynamics of our real estate technology conference, which are different from the dynamics of a banking transformation event series, which will be different still from our new crypto show launches serving the DeFi and NFT Art communities. 

Each group of people has different connection needs at different times, and seeks to fulfill those needs in different ways. 

For example, our AI conferences translated well to a fully-digital format during COVID because most of our attendees are tech savvy people who already self-learn online, and AI is not something you need to touch and feel to understand, so experiencing our events digitally wasn’t a major leap. We’ve been able to hold successful fully digital events in late Q1 2022 for our AI community, whereas our real estate community is less interested in convening virtually in 2022 and wants to be fully physical. So we’re not hosting fully-digital events for our real estate tech series and are adding more physical events.

So the first question to ask is “does the community I serve prefer physical or digital connection experiences?” For our real estate tech series, it’s a resounding “physical!” while for our AI event series it’s “some of us want digital and some of us want physical,” so we’re going to continue providing them with both.

Then when it comes to mixing physical and digital experiences, or “hybrid,” we do not have plans to build a robust virtual event at the exact same time as our physical events, which is some people’s definition of hybrid. For us, providing many digital connection opportunities at a physical event is critical, and makes all the physical events we do “hybrid.” For example, our largest show is our AI event taking place this August at the MGM Grand in Vegas. It’s a 2,000-3,000 person event, and we have a variety of digital connection experiences that we feel are table stakes for any physical event today:

• Provide a networking app to let people set meetings in-person. Then we go a step further by setting permissions within the app so that certain attendee types have more networking access than others, adding additional value to special groups to help them cut through the noise.
• Track attendee movement using bluetooth. At both our AI event in Vegas and our real estate tech event this July in NYC, we’ll be using bluetooth beacons to track where attendees go. This allows us to understand our product better to know which types of people like which portions of the event, and it allows us to provide sponsors with a data offering that they’ve become accustomed to through fully digital events.

These types of “digital” components to a physical event represent a “hybrid” experience for participants, enabling more effective connections in-person by leveraging digital tools. 

Highly curated, small format connections or large events?

Similar to the “digital vs. physical” strategy, the type of connection experience you offer depends on the community you are helping connect. “Does the community I serve prefer small format highly curated connections, larger format shows, or a combo?”

As an example, our banking event brand focuses on senior level banking executives. These people are high-level strategy type people who oversee large portions of their banks, and theire ideal connection experience is a highly curated gathering in a peer-to-peer learning environment with a small quality selection of vendors. This series is invite-only, meaning a pass cannot be purchased to that event. It’s very interactive with many roundtable discussions and Q&A based sessions to let attendees get the strategic information they want out of each other. This series will scale to multiple cities, convening smaller groups of about 100 executives in each one. It likely won’t become a multi-thousand person event, and that’s ok.

Our AI event on the other hand does support a large format event. As a space, people are still making sense of AI and don’t even know all of the right questions to ask, so they’re seeking out a wide array of information and people to figure out their way. However, while our Vegas AI event is a larger format with a tradeshow floor and 10 simultaneous stages, it is a combination format in that we host 1-1 hosted buy meetings and 12 person roundtables within the larger format.

Stay true to the connection needs of your community

At the end of the day, if you understand the nuances of the community you serve and honestly think about which connection experience dynamics would be most beneficial, it’s likely you’ll be able to anticipate which format combinations will help the people you serve.

And by intentionally creating thoughtful connection experiences for these communities, you reinforce the value that we add as an industry. 

I can confidently say that there are few people on Earth who have spent as much time learning about the nuanced needs of AI professionals and how to help them connect with each other. And the thing to realize is that there aren’t “AI professionals” doing that. This job is for our industry: the events, tradeshow, “connection experience” industry. 

I hope this short piece provoked some helpful thoughts for you. Architecting connection experiences is a highly valuable service to provide, and while the exact architecture will continue to evolve- through pandemics, new technologies, and the rest- someone will still need to be thoughtful about which experience to create. That is until AI takes it over of course…but that’s for another post :). 

Michael Weiss

Michael co-founded a conference organizer company called Ai4 with his college friend Marcus Jecklin. Ai4 started as a 400 person AI for financial services conference in 2018 in NYC, and has grown into a 2,500 person AI for everything conference in Las Vegas. Beyond the AI event, Ai4 has launched half a dozen other tech-focused brands in other industries. Prior to Ai4, Michael led history’s first privatized effort to organize a Worlds Fair in the United States. Michael resides in Austin, TX and beyond event organizing, his interests include longevity, AI, belief systems, and spending time with his partner Ally and dog Bean.

The post How should we help people connect? appeared first on IAEE.

Like a weather forecast that tells you when to grab an umbrella on your way out the door, our COVID-19 forecasts help you figure out what epidemic mitigation measures make sense in the future. Forecasts are never perfect, but they increase the odds that you will make the right call.

Our Q2 2022 Forecast presents six-month projections of the COVID-19 pandemic across 19 U.S. cities. These cities include major population centers and important travel hubs, offering a representative snapshot of the entire U.S. epidemic. We calculate the forecast for each city using historical data, including previous cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, as well as the number of partially vaccinated, fully vaccinated, and boosted individuals. The timing of these historical infections and vaccinations are important because they determine the level of immunity in each individual and the susceptibility to infection in the population overall at any point in time.

We also use data from COVID-19  seasonal transmission patterns and changes in human behavioral responses. Importantly, we assume that boosters continue at the current rate of adoption in any area, and we assume that mask mandates have been lifted and people are waning on their social distancing and stay-at-home behaviors. As with all forecasts, uncertainty increases the farther you look ahead. When you examine the following graphs, consider not only the median line, but also the shaded region around it. That region represents 95% of the range of output from our simulations—i.e.  the prediction interval—and will give you a sense of the range of possible scenarios. 

We’ve chosen to display hospitalizations rather than cases because we think that hospitalizations are a stronger indicator of the current state of the pandemic. Hospitalizations show not only how high a COVID-19 peak will be, but also show the relative severity of the current dominant strain. 

You can use these forecasts to plan ahead, whether you’re trying to figure out when and where to host an event, booking a vacation, or wondering what mitigations might be required for the next school term. We are projecting a stretch of low COVID-19 levels through the spring and summer for most locations, with rising infection rates as we enter late summer in southern locations and early fall everywhere else. We expect additional waves in southern cities like Atlanta, Orlando, and Nashville around August, with cases starting to rise in July before falling in September. For non-southern large cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, we are forecasting a very gradual fall wave, with cases slowly increasing through August.

This forecast suggests that most Americans will experience a low-COVID spring and summer and return to most pre-pandemic activities with optional masking. Then, depending on your region, you should keep a sharp eye on how things evolve toward the end of the summer and mask for indoor activities if cases increase for two consecutive weeks in your area. 

Scroll down to see COVID-19 forecasts for Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The peaks in hospitalizations forecasted here could turn out to be lower if a new round of vaccinations is implemented, or the peaks could be higher if a new viral variant emerges.

Atlanta

The city of Atlanta  is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to the beginning of April we expect hospitalizations to be decreasing. Starting in April, we expect hospitalizations to stay the same until June, when they begin increasing again through early August. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 20 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Atlanta falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Austin

The city of Austin is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early June we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until late July before decreasing into September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Austin falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Boston

The city of Boston is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to the middle of May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until the fall. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 10 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Boston falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Charlotte

The city of Charlotte is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to the middle of May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June,  we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until late July, before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 2 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Charlotte falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Chicago

The city of Chicago is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to the middle of May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until the fall. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 30 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Chicago falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Dallas

The city of Dallas is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early April we expect hospitalizations to be decreasing. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until late August before decreasing into September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 0.42 per 100,000 individuals per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Dallas falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Denver

The city of Denver is in the west/midwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Denver falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Houston

The city of Houston is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until August before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 15 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Houston falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Las Vegas

The city of Las Vegas is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early June we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until early August before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 2 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Las Vegas falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Nashville

The city of Nashville is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early April we expect hospitalizations to be decreasing then holding steady until early June. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until a peak in late July, before decreasing again through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 8 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Nashville falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

New Orleans

The city of New Orleans is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late May we expect hospitalizations to be gradually increasing. In June we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing sharply until late July before they fall again through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 20 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, New Orleans falls into the medium transmission category for the next three months.

New York

The city of New York is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late June we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In July, we expect hospitalizations to begin moderately increasing through the fall. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 1 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, New York falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Orlando

The city of Orlando is in the southeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early May we expect hospitalizations to be decreasing. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until August, before decreasing again through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 20 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Orlando falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Philadelphia

The city of Philadelphia is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to late May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing through the fall. For the entire projected period, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Philadelphia falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Sacramento

The city of Sacramento is in the west/midwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 2 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Sacramento falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

San Antonio

The city of San Antonio is in the southwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to mid-May we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In June, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until August before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, San Antonio falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

San Diego

The city of San Diego is in the west/midwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to June we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In late-June we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 5 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, San Diego falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

San Francisco

The city of San Francisco is in the west/midwest region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to April we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In mid-April, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing until July before decreasing through September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 40 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, San Francisco falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

Washington, DC

The city of Washington, DC is in the northeast region of our seasonality analysis. From the beginning of March to early April we expect hospitalizations to stay the same. In mid-April, we expect hospitalizations to begin increasing through July then holding steady until September. For the next three months, we expect hospitalizations to average 50 per day. Based on the CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, Washington, DC falls into the low transmission category for the next three months.

The post Q2 2022 COVID-19 Forecast appeared first on IAEE.

I recently attended the CEIR webinar on the Status of the US B2B Exhibition Industry. The research presented in this quarterly series continues to provide valuable insights for my marketing efforts.

I have spoken with many marketers in my circle and we all seem to be struggling with the same things – are we communicating the right way…are we being flexible enough…what’s the next situation that will throw us for a loop. Contingency plans upon contingency plans. I am constantly asking myself – Are we doing the right thing? Are we offering the right type of event? Will attendees show up? What will public sentiment be around the pandemic and meeting in-person when my event happens? It’s exhausting.

This is where data from CEIR has helped. During this recent webinar, I listened to an update on the latest COVID tracker survey and COVID forecast from CEIR’s VP of Research, Nancy Drapeau, IPC, Epistemix CEO John Cordier, and CEIR Economist, Dr. Allen Shaw.

Here are a few [highlights] and my takeaways. My opinions are my own.

[Data points to a shift in the marketplace. Fewer executives expect the Omicron variant to impact their shows. During the October edition of this survey, 61% of executives expected the Delta variant to have a somewhat significant impact vs 39% of executives in January expecting a somewhat significant impact from Omicron.]

This is a significant stat. What will our registration numbers look like and how do I effectively plan our marketing campaigns? It’s this question that keeps me up at night. As a marketer, I am pulled in so many different directions, but since COVID hit the scene, everyday seems to be a new struggle. A plan and messaging that was just created is now no longer relevant. And it happens more often than not. I feel like I am spinning my wheels working harder and not smarter with no end in sight. It’s exhausting because planning is exasperated by the daily news cycle and public sentiment of gathering. We (exhibition industry) are in a battle with public perception regarding the health and safety of shows. Knowing that executives polled in this survey are not as concerned about new variants gives me hope that our “new normal” is actually normalizing.

[Fewer hybrid events are being planned. Many organizers are running virtual content after the in-person event.]

This is not surprising. Hybrid events are complex to produce. They are hard on staff. They cost more money and many times an organization that has historically excelled at in-person events does not get its expected ROI not only for event stakeholders but for their internal staff. This is not to say that virtual events are not valuable, they are – in the right market verticals and environments. Events bring buyers and sellers together. We need that in-person human connection to build relationships and trust. Past CEIR research has shown us that people prefer to attend in-person events for networking and shopping and digital events for learning. You have to decide as an organization where or if digital events fit into your customer journey. For example, at IAEE, the pandemic forced us to offer full-day CEM in-person classes as virtual offering. This has turned out to be a great solution for this program as we can offer more with a more flexible marketing approach and professionals do not have to worry about added travel expenses or comfort levels of attending in-person.  

[The need for mitigation strategies is likely to ebb in H1 2022 according to Epistemix modeling. Unless a number of negative factors converge, the US is projected to reach herd immunity in the first half of 2022. Once that threshold is reached, mitigation procedures at US trade shows can be lifted. After reaching the threshold, US trade show attendees should only expect the minimum procedures required at trade shows during seasonal peaks.]

Out of everything presented, this brings me the most hope for smoother sailing in 2022. When I read that mitigation strategies will ebb, this signals that attendees will start making longer term plans for business travel. That attendees will feel confident in attending shows. And ultimately, I can create a plan, and execute that plan. I have never wanted stability more than now.

At the end of the day, my point is that there is no good answer right now and we all want good answers. Solid answers. Confident answers. CEIR data allows me to benchmark my thoughts, ideas, campaigns, and strategies against a larger group and that lessens the burden.

Want more information and stats from this webinar, visit the CEIR store to purchase the recording and presentation PDF here.

About the author:

Nicole, with over 20 years of experience in event and marketing management, is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for IAEE. She is responsible for developing and managing all marketing functions of IAEE including corporate branding and event marketing as well as creating and executing the comprehensive strategic marketing plan for all IAEE initiatives including chapter relations, membership, councils, events and advocacy initiatives. Nicole also serves as the Executive Director of Exhibitions Mean Business, part of the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance.

The post Using CEIR Data – A Marketer’s Perspective on Planning in 2022 appeared first on IAEE.

Recently, I was approached as past CEO of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) to write a blog on the future of the events industry following the article written by Doug Ducate, my predecessor at CEIR. Having followed Doug as CEO, who was the CEO with CEIR for many years, I was reminded how challenging it is to walk in his shadow after reading the well written article on the future of the B2B exhibition industry in light of the pandemic we are facing.

Trying to predict the future of the U.S. B2B exhibitions in this day and time is impossible due to the global economic impact of COVID-19 coupled with the social unrest resulting from the killing of George Floyd and many other Black Americans. The ongoing protests are part of the appropriate push for change, concerns have arised that this may also fan the flames of future infections. At the same time, states are beginning to reopen giving some individuals a false sense of confidence that they can return to their old normal behavior that lacks regard for safety, such as wearing masks and physical distancing. Recent reports indicate a spike of infections in certain areas of the country and the future only knows how severe the spread will continue until they identify a vaccine. We do understand that the virus will not simply go away on its own. However, following certain safety protocols has shown that it can be managed while allowing the economy to reopen. It certainly would not be good for anyone should this begin to spin out of control.

That said, we also have our eye on the economy, unemployment and performance of the stock market. The recent news of furloughed workers returning to work is great to see, but we know that some may not have a business to return to. Government stimulus has helped, but may not be enough for certain small and medium size businesses, should another tightening occur due to a surge in future infections. We learn more every day and are encouraged that the positive progress continues.

Those that follow the CEIR Index know that the B2B exhibition industry’s health is directly correlated to the performance of our economy. The CEIR Index tracks the performance of 14 business sectors of the exhibition industry and provides a historical report on how they perform against the macro economy in those sectors. It will be interesting to learn which sectors are most impacted by our economic performance. Unfortunately, with the exhibition industry temporarily being disrupted, data on net square footage, revenue, attendance, and number of exhibitors simply will not be readily available. If you do have data available, please consider using the Event Performance Analyzer, which will greatly contribute to the next edition of the CEIR Index and help the industry truly understand the impact of COVID-19. I would suggest that it will still be very important to stay close to the reports and projections of our economy as much as possible. The economy is always a leading indicator along with unemployment reports.

It’s interesting to monitor how states and cities are managing reopening plans. Las Vegas and Orlando among other cities are reopening exhibition centers and preparing to host exhibitions very soon. The governor of Illinois, however is restricting any exhibitions from opening until phase 5 is reached, which won’t happen until a vaccine is found. The governor’s guidelines have led to the cancellation of International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS), the massive machine tool show which was scheduled to take place in September at McCormick Place.  Which cities open their exhibition centers or not play an important role in the future health of our industry and yet the obvious issue with the safety and security of your exhibitors, their customers, your staff and your industry partners must be at the forefront of any and all future planning. While safety is paramount, being too conservative will stifle business which can also be damaging. North Carolina pretty much lost the Republican Convention because the governor insisted on some strict social distancing and mask requirements. No one knows if the governor was correct or just being too conservative. Time will tell, but there is simply no definitive playbook for any of us.

I’ve watched with interest how most businesses have shifted to the work at home model to keep employees safe. Eliminating the commute and the use of Zoom or similar technology for meetings has changed how business will be conducted in the future. There are companies of all sizes that plan to continue with this operating model. Many have realized that for some workers, working from home has increased productivity. Some executives who have travelled extensively in the past may find that future travel may not be as necessary as it once was.  Certainly, they will need to get on planes to see customers, but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal quoted numerous road warriors saying that zoom meetings have worked as well, if not better, and save an inordinate amount of time normally invested in travel for their meetings. Some are predicting they will not require as much plane travel as in the past using technology to sufficiently replace the need to travel.

However, I honestly doubt this trend will reduce the importance of exhibitions, as the efficiency it brings with numerous face-to-face meetings over a short period of time remains far more effective than any technology. It’s still important to monitor this shift in business behavior as we seek the new normal whatever that may be.

Safety and security for our events are the primary areas of focus for organizers requiring collaboration with exhibition industry partners, facilities and organizers. Training will be paramount. If staff is well trained and feels safe, they will help present the same sense of confidence of safety to the attendees and their customers. Effective communication of all safety measures will make the difference between decisions to attend or not. From what I have read, facilities throughout the country have been preparing for this and those with exhibitions during the early stage of reopening will teach us quite a bit of what works well and what is no longer necessary. Recently, IAEE has released a white paper, Essential Considerations for Reopening Exhibitions and Events, that has many useful ideas that could be implemented for future shows. Physical distancing will be paramount for the foreseeable future and structuring appointment-based models, wider aisles, touchless registration among numerous other practices are already in play. This will not go away for some time and while the need for all of this eventually will, some of it will remain part of our industry for years to come.

I echo Doug Ducate’s message that the exhibition industry has been a sharing industry that borrows great ideas from one another. We are a collegial industry that is happy to share those great ideas and we have always learned best practices outside of our industry from retail, sporting events and other large gatherings.

While I cannot predict the future, I can say is this… we will continue to be supportive of one another by sharing ideas and solutions that work. It is the way that it has always worked and it is how we have all managed to successfully grow in our jobs. You will not have to figure this out on your own. There is always someone willing to share with you and help. There is no doubt that we will learn more tomorrow than we know today. Staying informed should be a daily occurrence and staying connected with industry organizations such as IAEE, CEIR, SISO, PCMA and others that continue to provide education, networking and advocacy are always solid resources. Yes, this is a challenging environment but exhibitions are here to stay. We are all in this together and together we will find the best way to our new normal.

The post What’s Next for the B2B Exhibitions Industry? appeared first on IAEE.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, brand marketers have an opportunity to reflect on their exhibiting approaches, how they can be enhanced to maximize the value of these investments in preparation for when face-to-face marketing resumes. One area of critical importance to successfully exhibit is having the right staff in a booth.

CEIR research consistently documents, most recently in the Attendee ROI report series, that business professionals place high value on the information they glean from attending business-to-business (B2B) exhibitions in supporting their business information and purchasing decision needs. Most attendees come to achieve both shopping and learning objectives. As well, learning is found to be nourished, supported not only by attending education sessions at an event, but also via the face-to-face engagement, interactions they enjoy with peers, industry experts and staff in exhibit booths.

And so, this raises a central question for exhibitors to consider, “Do you have the right staff in the booth?” In the CEIR report,  The Role and Value of Face-to-Face Interaction Study, Exhibition Staff Practice Summaries, it is documented that there is a gap between who typically staffs a booth and who attendees want to see. In a later study, 2017 Attendee Floor Engagement Study, this gap is found to continue to persist.

In the recently published academic article in Industrial Marketing Management, Disconnect in trade show staffing: A comparison of exhibitor emphasis and attendee preferences, this gap, as documented in the Role and Value of Face-to-Face Interaction Study is analyzed extensively, affirming its authenticity, profiles of attendees where the gaps are the greatest, and where it is most apparent by type of event. The article also discusses lost opportunities given these unmet needs.  As well, it raises questions on whether brand marketers are systematically ignoring invaluable feedback from customers and prospects that could lead to product innovations and enhancements.

This article is of relevance to practitioners, exhibitors and organizers, and academics. For the academic community, CEIR encourages reviewing this article and consider undertaking future research opportunities it delineates.

To reach the professors who undertook the analyses that resulted in this academic article, go to the following link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019850116302036?via%3Dihub

The post B2B Exhibition Attendees Seek Engagement with Product Technical Experts – How Does Your Exhibit Booth Fare in Meeting This Need? appeared first on IAEE.

A recent CEIR survey showed that 69% of show organizer executives who have cancelled their event are considering one or more virtual offerings in delivering content.  Numerous webinars, articles and discussions have shared platforms, revenue-generating ideas and tips and tricks to make the switch successful.

But what if your event relies on seeing, touching, or even smelling product prior to purchasing? A virtual event simply does not meet the demands of your target audience – so the question these show organizers face is whether they cancel or move forward with their 2020 and 2021 events.

I am currently working with a client moving forward with an event in late August 2020. The decision was made with a board majority vote and member support. The biggest challenge we have faced thus far is the lack of best practices and guidance from a government, facility, and industry standpoint.

Here is what I learned during the process of making these decisions and what I think we will see in the future of events.

Exhibitor and Attendee Confidence

Whether you are a member-driven association or corporate show organizer, it is crucial to have the support and confidence of your stakeholders, exhibitors, and attendees.

A big factor in gaining the confidence of stakeholders is taking into consideration the buying trends and economic impact of your industry as a whole. Evaluation of the current state of your attendees and gauging their eagerness to get back to business is essential.  More than ever, developing a robust and quality attendance list will drive companies to exhibit at your show and result in strong support from your members and shareholders.

Entering the Unknown

So, you have the support, now it’s time to execute. The most challenging factor of moving forward with your event is the lack of guidelines available from a government, facility, and industry level. The best example we have seen thus far as to safety and health standards implemented in a live event is South Korea’s KINTEX.

It is crucial that show organizers work in collaboration with vendors (facilities, decorators, a/v and beyond) to develop a strong, strategic plan.

Consider what we have seen thus far

• Requiring all attendees, exhibitors, staff and vendors to wear face masks
• Swapping buffets for pre-packaged meals
• Implementing temperature checks upon entering the exhibit hall, keynotes and receptions
• Providing plexi shields for exhibitors to rent for their booth
• Increasing the size and implement one-way aisles to allow for social distancing
• Requiring appointment only meetings to reduce the number of attendees on the show floor at one time
• Arranging for hand sanitizer stations throughout your exhibit hall and education sessions
• Creating incentives to drive pre-registration to reduce lines onsite

The Future

The conversation of how to make events safe will happen over the course of time and will evolve as we come out of this crisis. Different industries will decide to resume their live events sooner than others. For instance, we will likely see the recovery of manufacturing events far sooner than events in the health care industry. There will be safeguards that have emerged during this pandemic that will have either a temporary or permanent place in future events. A frequent review and adjustment of those regulations will be required.

Changing the mindset

Live events will recover, but it’s the mentality of our people that will take the longest to transition.  We have essentially lived in a lockdown state for over 60 days. If we take into consideration that any habitual change takes 30 days to create, the fear of travel and large crowds has been established. We need to allow a recovery period for businesses and people to feel safe in resuming business again.

Zoning in on sanitation standards

We will see facilities establish and implement sanitation and cleaning protocols to minimize risks associated with current and potential infectious disease agents. The Global Biorisk Advisory Council, a division of ISSA, a worldwide cleaning association, has launched the GBAC Star Accreditation program, our industry’s only outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation for facilities to drive forth these efforts. We will see levels of these standards executed in hotels, airlines, and transportation companies as well.

Implementation of technology

As we live through this pandemic, we have truly realized the convenience and necessity of technology. Through a system of trial and error, we have found successes and failures in virtual events. Most notably, we have learned how to create an additional revenue stream through virtual event components.

While I predict virtual events as a temporary answer to the current economic state of live events, there will be an increase in show organizers that implement an element of technology in their event, whether it be pre-recorded education tracks or live streamed general sessions, and from that, we will inevitably see an increase in hybrid events.

In the end

Our primary focus at Jacoby Expo & Events has been to be proactive on industry standards and share with our clients what our partners are doing to recover from this crisis and prevent current and potential health threats. We feel optimistic that live events will recover sooner than expected and will thrive with the eagerness we have felt throughout our industry to get back to what we do best – events.

Betsy Jacoby-Greenleaf, CEM  is the president of Jacoby Expo & Events, where she specializes in strategic event growth by developing both personal and professional relationships with show managers and associations to best understand their event’s demographics and forecasted industry trends.

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The coronavirus outbreak created – and continues to cause – economic disruption and cancellation of many events. As events slowly return, they will be different. Organizers and participants willing to innovate can emerge from this downturn stronger than before. 

“Innovate or die!” That’s the simple but powerful mantra I use to present the philosophy behind ninja innovation. Ninja innovators work with – rather than against – disruptive industry trends to build stronger, more resilient and more efficient businesses. On an organizational level, it’s often easier to stick to business as usual than it is to take the risks that spark innovative change. But the coronavirus is a powerful enemy of business as usual. Now as we return to live events, we must innovate to survive.

Change is hard, especially so during uncertainty. But successful ninja innovators aren’t the ones who know the most and make the safest plays. Rather, ninja innovators are the ones who adapt the best to the unknown. If business leaders adopt a ninja mindset and lean into the disruption and uncertainty brought by this pandemic, they have an opportunity to break free of the past and build future-forward businesses like never before. But what sort of future can ninja innovators expect? 

We have to start with the assumption that we will live in a lengthy transition period before a vaccine is fully available or herd immunity can be reached. Either or both of these occurrences can take years, and neither is a certainty. Before the “new normal” of a post-pandemic world we have to deal with and survive a lengthy transition.  

We must adopt social distancing and other pandemic protocols, and confront real tradeoffs between privacy and security, just as the flying public did after 9/11. If you ignore the extremists on both sides, we may see a more nuanced view on use of private information to increase public safety as the pandemic continues. Indeed, participating in public events may be like driving a car where you must accept certain conditions to be a participant in what is clearly a situation with some risks to others.

Many of us love and thrive on events. Even the best technology cannot replace their face-to-face human contact, serendipity, exchange of ideas and five sense experiences. They fuel a better society, drive innovation, create business and fuel the economy. Governments around the world are recognizing that they are an economic priority and not optional entertainment.  

But to my fellow event ninjas, we have to be realistic and recognize that with the introduction of COVID-19 all public gatherings present health risks. Our job is to recognize and mitigate these risks as much as practicable.

In his recent CEIR article on “The Exhibition Industry’s New Normal,” industry veteran and former CEIR head Doug Ducate advises us to look to professional sports, Disney and large tourist cities including Las Vegas as we contemplate the future of large gatherings. The decisions and innovations these “giants” make in the coming months can serve as guides for other organizers and event planners. Sharing ideas about elements such as floor plan design, crowd dispersion and food services will be key to hosting safe exhibitions. We need an ongoing dialogue about safe and best practices.

Once we get past today’s cancellations and delays, we must move forward. As we plan for CES® 2021, we will continue to expand the show’s digital reach, with more livestreamed content and opportunities to participate virtually. For those coming on-site to Las Vegas, we are committed to honest communication beforehand and sharing information about what to expect.

On-site we are making physical changes. We must screen as best we can for those that are sick, have fevers or present health and safety risks. We are looking at thermal scanning at key entry points and reducing touch points at registration. We are widening aisles. We will suggest protocols to exhibitors. We are trying to minimize the touching of doors and keep handrails clean. We are studying best practices and working with the facilities and asking about air circulation, density control and looking at best practices as they emerge from China, Europe and prior shows in the U.S. We also plan to highlight technologies that help provide solutions for some of the day-to-day challenges created by the pandemic. 

As organizers, we must empathize with our exhibitors, sponsors and attendees. They want to get back to business as usual and want to see their colleagues and get more business. But they want to minimize their financial risk and ensure their employees are in the safest environment possible. They may give their employees leeway in participating and younger employees may soon dominate our events. 

We all need to give a little to get through this phase. For CES 2021, we extended the date for full refund cancellations, allowed downgrades at no charge and eased the payment timetables. This cost us but we understand our customers need for flexibility and the difficult economy we face. We are hopeful hotels and other venues will recognize that during this transition period events are precarious and will give cancellation flexibility to companies trying to make decisions. If we all show some flexibility then we all have a better chance of events coming off successfully. 

No one can say what the future holds. But as ninja innovators, we must adapt to overcome uncertainty. Only then can we emerge from this crisis more strategically positioned – and more resilient – than before.  

Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, the U.S. trade association representing more than 2000 consumer technology companies, and a New York Times best-selling author. He is the author of Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation. His views are his own.

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We are navigating in uncharted waters. While there is always an element of unknown when planning an event, the current levels of uncertainty are beyond anything we have ever experienced. So how in the world do you plan a large-scale event for November when you aren’t even sure what next week will look like?

The Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) is held annually in Las Vegas, NV and typically hosts more than 2,500 exhibitors and almost 50,000 attendees. At five and a half months out, we are currently in a critical planning period, and we are moving forward with all systems go. Happily, the auto care industry is a robust one and early indicators have all been positive. Our industry is ready to get back to business, and it is apparent that they see the value at AAPEX.

AAPEX’s exhibitor commitment is strong. Despite tightened budgets and an uncertain future, we have already surpassed 2019’s total booth count by close to 200 booths. Additionally, we are seeing companies signing on to participate in some of the new spaces and initiatives for 2020. I attribute much of this success to our communication, transparency and adaptability. Show management has been relentless in working with our exhibitors to ensure that they feel their investment is protected. We reworked and extended our cancellation policy so that companies can contract with confidence and have worked with our vendors to ensure minimal risk for placing service orders. When we received some concerned feedback regarding an existing policy we listened and adjusted accordingly. We have also provided constant communications and updates. Our website and email communications have contained language addressing the situation since it began. And just this past week, we released our first AAPEX Exhibitor Town Hall video, where AAPEX ownership answered crowd-sourced questions about the show.

On the attendee side of the spectrum, we are also seeing positive indicators. Our registration opened a week later than normal and without the usual big marketing push that would normally accompany it. Despite that, we had over a thousand registrants find the site on their own within the first week and that number is continuing to climb. While the numbers are a far cry from our usual showing at this time, it’s still very encouraging to see attendees engaging this far out (and without financial motivation since our early bird pricing extends through October). And, similar as to our exhibitors, we are working to ensure that attendees feel safe and secure – both with their investment and with their health. We are looking at ways to offer cost-savings where possible. And we are closely monitoring the best practices and safety guidelines that are just now starting to be put into place within the industry and will be enforcing them rigorously.

As we look ahead to the coming months, our plan is to just continue with these efforts. We have a second Exhibitor Town Hall broadcast scheduled for the beginning of summer and are still planning on hosting our Exhibitor Booth Camp, a free event for our exhibitors which provides show updates and education. Communication and transparency will continue to be key. And no matter what happens, we will continue to look for new ways to ensure safety, quell fears and provide value for everyone who is placing their trust in us.

Here’s hoping that these positive trends continue, both for our show and for all of yours’. In the meantime, stay safe – looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

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Carrie: I know this research was done in April hot off the presses and we owe a big shout out to IAEE and TSNN for sponsoring this research. Let’s start with a little bit of optimism, right? Tell us about how folks are feeling about the future and getting ready to go back to in-person events.

Nancy: Well people I think have a bit of cabin fever and are just quite anxious to get back to normal and go back to face-to-face events. According to another survey, over 80% of those who’ve gone to trade shows in the past have said that. So, we’re just waiting for the pandemic to simmer down so we can get back [to business].

Carrie: I miss our events so I know that is absolutely true. Let’s dig in a little bit talking about specifically the organizing companies here for business-to-business events and how this has impacted their staff. I know your research had some specific results. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Nancy: Yes, well luckily to-date the impact is not substantial. The biggest impact is that 77 percent of show organizers have their staff working remotely and there’s a hiring freeze. You wouldn’t be surprised about that, but only 10 percent of organizers have imposed pay cuts to date. So, organizers are basically doing all they can to keep their staff in place so that’s good news.

For the complete conversation, watch the video below.

CEIR recently held a webinar that delves further into the survey findings. You can watch the webinar recording and download the slide deck. These resources are complimentary to all industry professionals.

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While the global pandemic persists, many in the industry wonder what to do to assure B2B exhibitions will resurge once the crisis is over. Last week’s blog discussed historical CEIR Index data which suggests that the industry will recover. Its resilience is explained by the value these events deliver to participants, attendees and exhibitors. This will happen, question is, when. A recent poll by APCO Worldwide with Americans affirms the industry will re-emerge:

The poll finds that  83% of Americans currently forced to work from home say they miss attending in-person meetings and conventions. 78% say they plan to attend as many or more when the threat of COVID-19 passes.

In last week’s blog, I promised to write about leveraging digital if an event is forced to cancel. As I have thought about this topic further, it seemed too narrow. While the industry is paused, B2B exhibition organizers are wise to inventory how they have integrated digital into all aspects of their events:

• communications with exhibitors and attendees,
• how participants can access event content digitally while an event is in progress, and
• how engagement is supported, nurtured outside the event lifecycle throughout the year.

A robust integration of digital may make it easier to pivot to digital solutions if a catastrophic event like we are facing today happens again. Even so, when B2B exhibitions happen, digital can make participation even more impactful. It can be a powerful driver for attendee acquisition and exhibit booth and sponsorship sales.

B2B exhibitions are communities. They may be extensions of an association or they may be a community in their own right, run by an independent organizer. Those that attend and exhibit spend time and money to participate. This is a major commitment. So how can organizers leverage this connection, nurture it throughout the year, build on the community it is privileged to have and grow it via digital activities?

In this blog I do not point to specific solutions. Instead I offer general ideas for B2B exhibition organizer executives to discuss with their show teams and am sure many are doing this already. As well, I am supporting ideas with relevant CEIR data.

Digital Should Be an Integral Part of Any B2B Exhibition

Today, digital is likely and should be an integral part of a B2B exhibition’s offerings and communications. Events by their nature are temporary, they can last from one day to a week. To maintain relevance, connection with communities served, engagement with communities is likely and should be year-round. This may be done in part via face-to-face events, meetings, phone calls, print media and other outlets, though for most, digital engagement is the primary method used by B2B exhibition organizers.

Omnichannel Marketing Is Here Now – Has Been for a Number of Years

CEIR research has consistently documented that we live in an omnichannel marketing world. First documented in the 2014 Marketing Spend Study and again in the 2018 report, 68% of brand marketers that exhibit also use one or more digital channels in their marketing mix.

Attendees are looking for digital engagement from exhibitors whose booths they visited. CEIR’s Digital Toolkit series documents their digital preferences for these post-show communications.

Given this reality that exhibiting companies are already active using digital channels and that attendees are interested in engaging with exhibitors via digital outlets, how can B2B exhibition organizers harness these behaviors and preferences into content, opportunities made available via a B2B exhibition?

Ideas, thoughts on this below:

• When an event takes place, B2B exhibition organizers might consider how to help exhibitors get the best bang for the buck – enable them to maximize the broadcast, propagation impact of exhibiting; ways to get the word out to the broader communities served who may be looking in remotely via digital outlets. If an organizer is not harnessing these activities, don’t be surprised if exhibitors are doing it on their own via YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and other social media outlets. The opportunity is for organizers to find ways to be the purveyors or distributors of all this great content. And since it is done digitally, it is measurable, e.g. number of shares, likes, number of outlets, etc. Use that data to make the case for the value of making the investment. This would deepen the marketing/sales value/impact to exhibiting companies and provision of data demonstrates its value, helps exhibitors make the case to invest in the opportunity again.
• When a B2B exhibition does not happen, or for digital only events, the opportunities are the same. Though to complement a physical event, content of the digital event could be positioned to create buzz for products that will be featured at a show, a way to create FOMO on the chance to engage with these new products at the actual physical show.
• In the absence of a F2F event, a bigger challenge for an organizer is supporting the ongoing needs of its exhibitors to generate leads, connect with qualified attendees and achieve customer/prospect or product engagement goals. Matchmaking programming could be a solution, or concierge services or a combination of the two. Other solutions may be uncovered in brainstorming with a show team or partners that provide services to an event.
• It will be very interesting to see which digital, virtual solutions being promoted now will take hold in the market place. There was a wave of virtual event offerings post-2008 economic collapse. Many vendors came and went, a few remain. The biggest winners in that iteration of innovation have been video conferencing solutions such as WebEx, Zoom, and other free options such as Google Hangout, etc. Solutions that support one-on-one and one-to-many engagements such as webinars, webcasts, etc. Vendors that strove to replicate the offerings of a physical trade show floor, e.g. virtual exhibit booths, have largely fallen flat. Online education has gained traction. Those winners make sense to me. They align with key values of digital. Efforts to replicate a physical, three-dimensional experience does not make sense to me. Look what happened to 3D television. Few households own them. People didn’t want to buy the glasses, they were expensive. It limited the viewing experience. How many own Oculus rift headsets? They too are quite expensive. Holographic technology is still nascent. Perhaps one day it will work well as it does on Star Wars (though even there, people’s images flicker in and out sometimes, J). But until that moment, I think the solutions that will do best take advantage of the two-dimensional aspects digital. Powerful broadcasts of speakers, sessions important, valued by target communities. TED Talks are wildly successful at doing this well. If there is engagement, interaction, make it user-friendly, glitch free.
• Here it will take courage and willingness to experiment. A willingness to fail in the quest to enhance the digital aspects that are a companion to a show.
• The best first step is to ask your exhibitors what they believe would be the best solutions to support their urgent marketing and sales goals. Based on that feedback, build from there.

Business Professionals Are Likely Aching to Connect with Their Peers and B2B Exhibitions They Value in These Challenging Times

This is a very big opportunity for event marketers to leverage. By making these overtures, establishing meaningful connections and nurturing them, you are building the ground work for attendee acquisition for your next, physical event.

CEIR’s 2016 Digital Toolkit Series documents attendee digital communication preferences with organizers. They want to engage with the events they have attended. Pick the digital outlets that match your communities’ media consumption habits.

Post-Event Communications with Organizers

Think of the most valued content and offer it on a digital channel where a community goes regularly:

• For example, education is likely to be popular. Cover topics addressing a community’s most urgent educational needs or that relate to the hottest trends. These digital events are exhibitor sponsorship opportunities, perhaps a way to retain lost sponsorship dollars. For some exhibitors, thought leadership is an important reason why they exhibit at your show. Convert this to sponsorships for virtual education running during the COVID-19 crisis.
• Think of a format that works in a digital setting. Forcing attendees to sit through a program that lasts multiple hours is apt to fail. Digital likely requires shorter formats. FMI go to: https://work.chron.com/optimal-length-webinar-14635.html
• Networking is another important objective for attending an event. As with exhibitors, consider using a matchmaking program to help attendees find other business professionals with whom they may want to connect.
• Besides one-on-one networking, online engagement opportunities are another way to keep connections alive with specific communities that attend a show: group chats on topics of relevance to a community via an online bulletin board format or via Google hangouts or some other setting help like-minded professionals find each other, commiserate or discuss issues of importance. These too are events offering opportunities to sell sponsorships.

CEIR’s How to Grow Attendance report series offers insights relating to the messaging approach among B2B exhibition organizers who are more successful in growing attendance. Though the results relate to attendee acquisition, the messaging approach applies to marketing a digital event as well.

Personalized content is critical. Think of the primary categories of professionals who attend that can be serviced with online education, webcasts or networking sessions. How can any new products be promoted in a way that speaks to them, is specific to the different communities that would walk a show floor? Same is true if offering opportunities to have a look at new, hot products. Consider offering online product reveals or showcases to separate audiences. Perhaps fun, peoples choice awards can be the engagement opportunity. Think about how to make the opportunity alluring, attractive to a specific community that attends a show. For example, what will catch the interest of an automotive engineer compared to technicians servicing the needs of car racers will result in different messaging and as well different experiences.

I know these recommendations are generalized. They are offered again to help stimulate thought, ideas, discussions among a B2B exhibition organizer team. We are facing an historic challenge. Now is the time to innovate!

Engaging efforts to keep the connection going with professionals who would have attended is worthwhile. CEIR research indicates that engaging online is an effective attendee marketing vehicle. This has been documented seven years ago by CEIR in the 2012 Role and Value of F2F Study. It was found that the younger a professional, the more likely that an attendee answered that engaging online was more apt to prompt participating in F2F events. That result portended that digital would be an effective attendee marketing tactic. Today, it is THE primary way to draw attendance to a physical, F2F event. Keep that connection going, feed them content digitally now and many will be chomping to attend your next physical event!

Nancy Drapeau, PRC, is a 24-year market research veteran and is CEIR’s VP of Research. She conducts industry-wide studies and reports on current trends in the exhibition industry. She holds a Bachelors from Georgetown University and a Masters from l’Institut Européen des Hautes Études Internationales.

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A SPECIAL SECTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY MEETING PROFESSIONALS INTERNATIONAL

The American Physical Society (APS) cancelled its March Denver meeting due to novel coronavirus concerns—36 hours before the first sessions were to begin. The group explained this was done “out of an abundance of caution and in line with the public health strategy of containment,” noting that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had increased its risk assessment for China, Italy and South Korea. Of the event’s 10,285 original registrants, approximately 700 were to be coming from one of those countries.

“Even more [attendees] were coming from countries where the virus appears to be establishing itself in the general population, so that the warning level could rise during the course of the meeting, which might significantly delay their return travel or even lead to quarantines,” APS said in a statement elucidating its decision. “APS leadership and planners determined the risk of transmission and infection among closely interacting meeting attendees, staff, vendors and the Denver community was too great to ignore. At a meeting with many thousands of participants, some will inevitably fall ill. Had the meeting proceeded as scheduled, it would take time to establish whether an illness is seasonal flu or COVID-19, and many attendees who have come into contact might need to be quarantined during the testing. Many conference sessions and social events would have had to be canceled out of caution.”

Dr. Michael Biercuk, director of the Quantum Control Laboratory at the University of Sydney and founder and CEO of Q-CTRL, was at the airport, ready to begin the 8,300-mile trek to Denver, when he learned that the APS meeting was off.

“I managed to cancel my flight 10 minutes prior to boarding from Australia,” he said.

The last-minute cancellation of this event meant that some of the 10,000-plus registered—students, educators and physicists from all over the world—were already in Denver or on their way when the meeting was axed. The APS says 83 attendees had checked in onsite by the time the event was officially cancelled; 671 attendees had cancelled individually prior to the official cancellation.

Meanwhile, a group of would-be attendees, including Biercuk, took it upon themselves to ensure the valuable information that would have been shared at the APS meeting could still be dispersed.

“We started virtualmarchmeeting.com as a way to support the community as it tried to figure out how to cope with the cancellation,” he said.

Partnering with a webinar service that supports live recording, that site went live with a small selection of presentations that were to be delivered at the APS meeting, the day after the meeting was originally scheduled to begin.

“The move is community driven,” he said. “We’re in consultation with APS leadership, but [virtualmarchmeeting.com] is not, at this time, a formally ‘sanctioned’ event.”

Luckily, APS didn’t appear to take offense at this grassroots effort or view it as an adversarial move by the community to wrest control away from the society. All parties instead focused on fostering the exchange of information important to the physics landscape.

“The cancellation of the meeting has left a substantial hole within the broad physics community,” an APS statement explained. “APS will be providing an option for presenters to share their research online. Many spontaneous initiatives are also forming.”

Biercuk has been pleased with the quantum tech community’s response to the last-minute virtual sharing alternative.

“Hopefully, this initiative will help mitigate the impacts of the cancellation of APS,” he said.

No one can justifiably fault the APS for making a bold move that it felt was necessary to safeguard its member base and the community of Denver, but the timing was unfortunate.

“While APS regrets that the timing of this decision has significantly inconvenienced many members of the physics community, it firmly believes it was necessary to avoid a potential incident that could have led to widespread quarantine in Denver for up to 14 days,” the APS statement said.

Earlier and more extensive communication with the entire community could potentially have resulted in a less disruptively timed final decision—though some circumstances are simply unavoidable.

To limit disruption and stakeholder blowback, meeting and event professionals must excel at crisis communications. Following are some best practices worth implementing into your communications strategies as a result of the novel coronavirus—but applicable across the board.

Communicate Across Multiple Platforms

Utilize every way in which you typically communicate with your attendees—email, Facebook, WhatsApp, SMS, Twitter, etc.—to ensure everyone hears your important messages. You need to lead the conversation and be the source for information related to your event. If you’re unable to do that, the community will step in to fill the void and you won’t be able to control the messaging.

Be Clear and Consistent

Because you’re leveraging multiple platforms when getting out the word about the status of your event, it’s essential that the information provided is consistent. This is nothing new for planners, but when dealing with things that may change on a daily basis, consistency can become more of a challenge.

Share Updates Early, Regularly

Communicate important updates to all stakeholders as soon as possible. Overall, this will make things easier and less hectic for both you and attendees. As much as you can, avoid making last-minute proclamations that may upend attendees’ plans. As evidenced in the APS example, this isn’t always something that you can control, but be mindful of the timing when evaluating major decisions, such as cancellation or postponement.

Explain Changes to Norms

Inform attendees how the social norms at your event may have changed. Want to discourage handshakes and other forms of casual social contact that can spread germs? Don’t be afraid to tell attendees—if everyone is on the same page, they won’t feel as strange when avoiding the out-stretched hand of a professional peer. The same applies to norms related to using sterilizing gel and avoiding touching your face.

Tell the Truth

Sometimes the reality of a spreading contagion can mean a financial loss for your organization’s events. Do not, under any circumstances, mislead your stakeholders as to the associated risks. Based on the available data, this novel coronavirus has a case fatality rate that is significantly higher than that of the seasonal flu, although it’s not yet as widespread. You’ve got a duty of care responsibility when it comes to the safety of your attendees and staff—communicating false or misleading information could make your organization liable should an outbreak manifest onsite.

Have Compassion

If attendees do not feel comfortable traveling or spending time at densely populated venues due to a rise in communicable disease transmission, consider offering no-penalty refunds. Sure, this is an inconvenience and may cost your organization when it comes to F&B guarantees, room blocks, etc., but if attendees wishing to cancel feel they’re being punished for something out of their control, your brand reputation could take a hit—and there’s certainly a cost to that.

Explain Contingency Plans

First off, you should make it clear in no uncertain terms that anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms should not attend. Explain the processes in place should someone start exhibiting such symptoms while onsite.

Be Available to Answer Questions

Endeavor to have staff available online and onsite to answer attendee questions and concerns. If this necessitates expanding the team that fields such communications, look inside your organization to gauge if staff can appropriately be re-assigned to handle such outreach; perhaps trusted volunteers from your attendee base can help as well.

Provide Resources

No one expects your organization to reinvent the wheel and attempt to be the clearing house for novel coronavirus information, but you should provide clear, relevant guidance from trusted sources, such as the CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO) and local health officials at the intended destination.

Michael Pinchera is an award-winning writer and editor for The Meeting Professional as well as a speaker, technologist and contributor to business, academic and pop culture publications since 1997. Read more of his work at www.whatmemeworry.com.

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