Nearly three-quarters of the average health care company’s budget to exhibit at tradeshows is consumed by three items: showfloor space, logistics and labor and material handling. That is one conclusion of a recent research survey conducted by the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association.

At the same time, the study revealed that metrics measuring potential leads and sales were those most often used by health care exhibitors. The results of the survey were released during the HCEA Marketing Summit held last month in Baltimore.

According to HCEA Executive Director Frank Skinner, the five most significant points made by the study are:

• The top three cost categories and the percentage of the average total exhibiting budget they represent are: showfloor space (30 percent), logistics (23 percent) and labor and materials handling (18 percent).

• While all survey respondents included those three costs in their budgets, only 81 percent included booth design and construction, indicating that they are the responsibility of other divisions, like marketing, in some companies.

• The top three metrics that exhibitors use to justify their exhibit programs are number of qualified leads, meetings with key opinion leaders and sales orders.

• The metric most often used to measure success is number of “qualified” leads.

• The metric most often used as a benchmark is number of leads.

According to Skinner, the study surveyed 40 companies with annual health care exhibiting budgets from $250,000 to more than $10 million. The surveyed companies ranged from medical device makers to pharmaceutical, biotech and technology companies. The entire report is available to HCEA members at hcea.org.

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