Today, 03 August 2020, the findings are released from an extensive global study on the recovery of the trade show industry.

The study was conducted by live events research specialists, Explori in partnership with UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry and supported by SISO, the Society for Independent Show Organizers.

The interim findings, comprising over 9,000 responses from 30 countries, have shown that the absence of business events is having a significant negative impact on companies who rely on them.

Two thirds of those who exhibit at business events reported their cancellation has had a notable detrimental impact on their business, reducing their ability to build brand awareness with their target markets. Half of businesses expressed this impact as being “very large”.

50% of companies told researchers that the absence of live events was negatively affecting their ability to generate new business.

Of those who come to business events as delegates, 90% felt they had been negatively impacted as a result of not being able to attend events. Nine out of ten felt that alternative solutions such as virtual events were not as effective in meeting their professional needs as live events.

“With trade shows running safely in more markets around the world, we are starting to feel more positive as an industry. These results support that optimism, showing that the businesses who participate in our shows are missing the value that face-to-face brings and trade shows play a key role in driving economic recovery,” says Kai Hattendorf, UFI CEO.

Sophie Holt, Global Strategy Director, Explori added: “When we embarked on this project, most markets were in lockdown and the outlook for the industry was uncertain. Some commentators felt that a shift away from live to virtual events would be a long-term outcome of the pandemic.

Continues… UFI Global Recovery topline findings AAXO

Explori Media Ltd

Corinthian House, 17 Lansdowne Road, Croydon CR0 2BX www.explori.com | Reg No: 07723321

However these results suggest that whilst virtual events have an important role to play, especially in bringing events to new audiences, our customers are eager for the return of in-person events.We will be conducting a further phase of research in the near future to further understand the sentiments of visitors and exhibitors round the world as more markets open.”

Further results from the study will be released in the coming weeks via the industry press and the UFI Connects webinar series.

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About Explori
Explori is a uniquely scalable platform allowing event organizers to capture high-quality visitor and exhibitor feedback from any market, in any language.Combining an online survey platform designed for the live event industry, with research support and consultancy from event experts, Explori allows organizers to easily and cost-effectively create robust audience insight year after year.With offices and support partners in London, Dubai and Italy, Explori serves exhibition organizers in every market in the world.They currently support events in 50 countries in 30 languages with more being added all the time. Explori has grown to become the industry’s biggest source of event benchmarking data and insight with over 2,700 shows participating and3 million responses conducted globally.

Press Contact:Natalie Campbell Reid, Communications Lead n.campbellreid@explori.com
www.explori.com

About UFI
UFI is the global trade association of the world’s tradeshow organisers and exhibition centre operators, as well as the major national and international exhibition associations, and selected partners of the exhibition industry. UFI’s main goal is to represent, promote and support the business interests of its members and the exhibition industry. UFI directly represents more than 50,000 exhibition industry employees globally, and also works closely with its 60 national and regional association members. More than 800 member organisations in 89 countries around the world are presently signed up as members. Around 1,000 international trade fairs proudly bear the UFI approved label, a quality guarantee for visitors and exhibitors alike.UFI members continue to provide the international business community with a unique marketing media aimed at developing outstanding face-to-face business opportunities.

For more information, please contact: UFI Headquarters, Email: media@ufi.org
Tel: +33 (0)1 46 39 75 00
www.ufi.org

Explori Media Ltd

Corinthian House, 17 Lansdowne Road, Croydon CR0 2BX www.explori.com | Reg No: 07723321