WHITE PAPERS
Exhibitions Must Deliver (even more) Value to Exhibitors in the Post Recession World
Authored by Jonathan “Skip” Cox
June 2010
Four Questions Show Organizers Need to Ask Themselves
Last year we discussed interim strategies as we looked ahead to when the recession would bottom out and begin its ascent into recovery. That time is now here, as GDP and other economic activity has trended up in Q1 2010 and most projections point to modest, but sustained economic growth ahead.
While this is encouraging news, the negative effects of the past recession also revealed industry vulnerabilities remaining to be addressed. Going forward, the new reality for our industry is that the post recession world of exhibitions will probably evolve to be quite a bit different in scale and scope from the business-as-usual world of the past, presenting us with new challenges to solve, as well as the need to prove, new and more relevant levels of value to our exhibiting constituency.
Not only that, but to some degree we must actually lead exhibitors into the process of understanding – and exploiting – the unique value components that exhibitions offer. Ultimately, we must learn the language, and relate to the mindsets, of our ultimate customers – the CMOs who allocate the budgets that represent our revenue streams. To that end, we propose four questions that organizers should be asking themselves in a recovering economy and the new challenges it brings.
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