Meetings and incentives industry associations
spend a lot of time and money organizing trade shows highlighting
destinations, products and services. To gauge planner interest in
these events, M&C conducted an online poll in October.
Of the 367 people who answered, more than half (57 percent) attend
industry trade shows.
Among the 209 respondents who participate in shows,
the most popular are the Hospitality Sales and Marketing
Association International’s Affordable Meetings (50 percent),
Meeting Professionals
International’s annual trade shows (39 percent) and The Motivation
Show (25 percent).
On average, 4.1 exhibitors contact planners about scheduling a
meeting during the show, but only 12 percent of these conversations
actually turn into a face-to-face meeting. This does not mean,
however, that planners are averse to making appointments. In fact,
91 percent of those polled take the initiative to call up to five
exhibitors to arrange a meeting on the exhibit floor.
In terms of visiting booths, most planners surveyed
walk the entire hall, stopping at the vendors that interest them
(83 percent); 16 percent visit just booths they target beforehand,
and 1 percent take a quick look around the floor and then use the
rest of the show’s hours as free time.
Making new contacts with suppliers (84 percent) is the top
trade show objective of planners, followed by finding new
destinations for future meetings (78 percent) and connecting with
familiar contacts to discuss business (64 percent).
By Art Pfenning, director, M&C Research; [email protected]