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2016 Attendee Retention Insights

Attendee Retention Insights

The Attendee Retention Insights series reveals findings on why attendees become loyal visitors to a specific exhibition and what organizers do to motivate attendees to return on a regular basis. They offer readers a road map for bench marking attendee retention strategy practices with industry norms; an understanding of commonly held characteristics of professionals who attend a given event regularly which can help guide marketing and event development. Lastly, these reports offer charts that compare repeat attendee wants and preferences to trade show offerings, which enable organizers to assess where repeat attendee needs are typically served well, and where gaps exist in offerings – suggesting potential areas of improvements to better serve their needs.

See the collection of reports in this series on the CEIR Store.

Part One: Basics for Creating Your Attendee Retention Strategy: Tracking, Profiling and Why They Come Back

Part One includes an overview of attendee tracking efforts engaged in by top ranked organizers of U.S. trade shows and how they build attendee retention strategies. It includes key profile characteristics of repeat attendees, who they are and why they become loyal visitors to an exhibition.

Part Two: Exhibition Floor Features that Build a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience

Part Two profiles exhibition floor features that drive repeat attendance. In addition to reporting total results, unique repeat attendee preferences are identified by key attendee demographics (gender, age, role in purchasing decisions, job level, organizational size, annual purchases of show-related products and services and profile of event attended). Additionally, exhibition organizer results that differ from total results are identified as well, including by: whether association-run or independently-run; size of exhibition by Net Square Feet and number of attendees; whether an event rotates locations and whether an event occurs during the business week only or includes a weekend day.

Part Three: Education Content that Builds a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience

Part Three profiles education offerings that drive repeat attendance, including education formats, topics and speakers.

Part Four: Special Activities and Amenities that Build a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience

Part Four identifies special amenities and activities made available by exhibition organizers that motivate attendees to frequent an exhibition regularly. In addition to total results, this report identifies unique preferences by attendee demographics, including by gender, age, job level, role in purchasing decisions, annual volume of purchases of showcased products and services, organizational size, and profile of event attended. Additionally, exhibition organizer results that differ from total results are reported as well, including by: whether association-run or independently-run; size of exhibition; and whether an exhibition rotates locations.

Part Five: 11 Real-world Business-to-Business Exhibition Organizer Approaches to Attendee Retention Efforts

The report series reveals findings on why attendees become loyal visitors to a specific exhibition and what organizers do to motivate attendees to return on a regular basis. They offer readers a road map for bench marking attendee retention strategy practices with industry norms; an understanding of commonly held characteristics of professionals who attend a given event regularly which can help guide marketing and event development. Lastly, these reports offer charts that compare repeat attendee wants and preferences to trade show offerings, which enable organizers to assess where repeat attendee needs are typically served well, and where gaps exist in offerings – suggesting potential areas of improvements to better serve their needs.