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November/December 2007
Benchmarking your show
Compare your 2007 show stats with industry averages from EXPO’s monthly Marketwatch research reports
By Oren Gamble
Celebrity speakers are hot. Attendees are spending more than eight hours on the show floor. The majority of show organizers report that their hotel room rates are topping $175 a night. And the median charge per square foot for booth space is $17.
Can you relate to all this? Would your show be considered “average,” or are you breaking records this year? And do you know how your show compares with others in the industry? As 2007 comes to a close, EXPO distills a year of our exclusive Marketwatch reports into a series of industry averages against which you can benchmark your show. A monthly department in EXPO, Marketwatch presents original data on various industry issues from research conducted by EXPO and Exhibit Surveys, Inc.
How did your show rank against your peers in 2007?
Facility rental
Most shows (83 percent) do pay exhibit hall rental fees – and for 43 percent, rental rates are rising. Fiftyeight percent pay 60 cents or less per square foot for exhibit hall rental for show days. Convention centers were taking 8 percent of the gate for consumer shows in 2006, and that number grew in 2007 for 36 percent of show organizers.
Exhibit space
Renewing exhibitors outnumber new exhibitors three to one. Most show organizers (53 percent) use a system of priority points to determine exhibit space selection. Of those, 95 percent offer points based on the number of years exhibiting. Fifty-eight percent of show organizers reported an increase of exhibit space, with the average increase at 12 percent. The average number of exhibitors is 585, while the average number of companies in an exhibitor database is 3,983.
Booth Sales Revenue
Most show organizers reported a double-digit increase in booth sales. Three-quarters (76 percent) said that booth sales would increase an average of 12 percent. Sixty percent of show organizers expected an increase in 2007 in sponsorship revenues over the $440,000 average for all shows in 2006.
Conference content
Educational conferences remain a significant part of most shows. Sixty percent of shows use celebrity and/or professional speakers. Seventy-five percent of shows have a speaker budget, which averages $57,100. Despite the education offered, only 29 percent of attendees go to conferences, while 71 percent only attend for the exhibits.
Attendee benchmarks
Attendees spent an average of 8.5 hours on the show floor in 2006, compared with 7.8 hours in 2005. Attendees spent an average of 2.3 days visiting exhibits in 2006, compared with 2.4 in 2005. Thirty percent of attendees are from a surrounding state. Twenty-eight percent come from within 200 miles and 62 percent from more than 400 miles. First-timers represented 36 percent of total attendance, 37 percent attended previously, and 28 percent were regular attendees.
Source: Exhibit Survey’s 2006 Trade Show Trends report, May 2007
Food & beverage
In 2007, show organizers plan to continue to spend 16 percent of their budget on food and beverage expenses. Forty percent of show organizers, though, say it’s getting more difficult to sell F&B sponsorships. The average show can have as many as 18 F&B functions. Eightyseven percent of show organizers host cocktail receptions, 71 percent hold lunches, 65 percent provide breakfast, 55 percent host breaks, 45 percent offer dinner and 17 percent hold other F&B functions.
International Attendees
More than a third of shows expect international attendance to grow in 2007. However, only 43 percent of shows have up to 5 percent international attendees. Sixty-nine percent of shows have attendees from Europe and 55 percent have attendees from Asia. While 71 percent of show organizers believe revenue from international attendees will remain the same, 28 percent expect an increase.
International exhibitors
Half of shows report that international exhibitors represent up to 5 percent of their exhibitors. For 31 percent, international exhibitors represent 6 to 10 percent of all exhibitors. Nearly a quarter of show organizers reported that revenue from international exhibitors increased an average of 20 percent from 2006 to 2007, while 73 percent said that revenue stayed the same.
Housing
Eighty-seven percent of show organizers expect room rates to continue to increase in 2008. Only 6 percent of show organizers paid $100 or less for rooms, while 17 percent paid more than $200. More than half (53 percent) utilize a third-party housing company. Twenty-five percent of respondents saw an increase in the number of attendees booking outside the block at their last event.
Booth space fees
The median charge per net square foot for exhibit space is $17. Corporate shows charge the highest median rates at $24 per net square foot. Larger shows set higher rates for booth space than smaller shows. However, the “mid-size” gap is 25,000 square feet to 200,000 square feet – with a booth space rate of $17 per net square foot. By region, shows in the Western Central region have the lowest median cost per square foot at $12, while shows in the South Atlantic region charge the highest median rate per net square foot at $24. When calculated by industry, shows serving the communications or information technology industries charge the most for exhibit space, at a median of $33 per net square foot.
Click here to download a PDF of this story with results
Oren Gamble is Editorial Assistant for EXPO Magazine. He can be reached at (913) 344-1345 or ogamble@ascendmedia.com.
Biggest frustrations about convention center pricing: Exclusive contractors and inconsistency in pricing from center to center.
Biggest complaints show organizers hear from exhibitors: Not enough traffic. Last day is slow.
Biggest challenges with growing shows: Attracting more attendees. Exhibitor retention. Passing on increased costs.
Biggest challenges with conference programming: Finding interesting new speakers. Coordinating schedules.
Biggest challenges with F&B: Rising costs. Lack of variety. Finding sponsorships.
Biggest challenges attracting international attendees: Competition from other shows. Cost-effective ways to promote to them.
Biggest challenges in attracting international exhibitors: Cost of travel. Cost of shipping. Visa challenges.
Biggest frustrations with housing: Negotiating rates. Booking the right number of rooms. Getting attendees to book within the block. |
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