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Explori Blog
Updates, announcements and articles you need from the Explori—all in one place.
Global study on the future of virtual and hybrid events
Dec 11, 2020
Today, the second part of findings are released from an extensive global study on the the future of virtual and hybrid events. The study was conducted by live events research specialists, Explori in partnership with UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry and supported by SISO, the Society for Independent Show Organizers. This second part of this global study, comprising over 9,000 responses from 30 countries, follows on the first part which was published in October and looked at how visitors and exhibitors and visitors were feeling the impact of the lack of live events, and their experiences of and comparisons with hybrid or digital events. This report focusses on the experience of visitors and exhibitors at virtual events; how they perceive the current digital offerings, their views on future spend and what role they think hybrid will play in the visitor journey. The findings demonstrate an overwhelming preference for live but indicate growing interest in the use of virtual/hybrid events. One in four respondents who had sponsored/exhibited at a 3rd party digital event say digital events are better for ROI. However, the overwhelming majority still prefer live events when it comes to ROI, generating leads, representing their brand and networking. The study also found that for new events 38% prefer to attend in person vs 68% who would at least consider attending digitally. “The second part of this global survey delivers key insights to the industry as we plan for 2021 and the reopening of our shows and venues. Although it is clear, thankfully, that our customers are keen to return to face to face when possible, the landscape has changed dramatically in the last 9 months, and the path ahead is far from certain. As we emerge from the pandemic we should see digital as an opportunity not a threat,” said Kai Hattendorf, UFI CEO. Sophie Holt, Managing Director, Explori added: “Part two of the global survey provides useful insight into what the digital event of the future may look like. Future digital events will not seek to replicate the in-person experience, but instead leverage their strength at delivering against singular objectives. They will contribute to engaging communities, guide audiences through unfamiliar territory and meet customers where they are. Despite the resounding preference for live events there are strong reasons to consider the importance digital will play as restrictions begin to ease moving into 2021.” Register your interest here.
New data reveals visitor and exhibitor sentiment towards virtual events
Dec 4, 2020
Explori today announced the release of its virtual events benchmarks. Since March 2020 the customer experience experts have been gathering attendee and exhibitor experience metrics for virtual events. The benchmarks include Overall Satisfaction and Net Promoter Score. These benchmarks have been compared to the 3 million plus customer experience data points the event feedback company already holds on the in-person event experience. Explori’s benchmarks reveal that attendee sentiment for virtual events is positive. Overall Satisfaction amongst attendees is higher for virtual events and webinars. The current Net Promoter Score for in-person trade shows currently sits at +11 compared to +10 for virtual events and +46 for webinars. In contrast, Explori’s benchmarks show that exhibitor sentiment for virtual events is not so positive. The Net Promoter Score for in-person trade shows is -17, for virtual events this figure has dropped to -48. Exhibitors also indicate that they are struggling to prove the return on investment for their participation in virtual events. “What we are seeing from our virtual benchmarks and global research, paint quite an interesting picture for the virtual event experience,” says Sophie Holt, Managing Director at Explori. “The research tells us that attendees believe virtual events are as good as in-person events for delivering content. However for both attendees and exhibitors there is an overwhelming preference for face-to-face events when it comes to networking, overall experience and doing business. This is particularly pronounced for exhibitors whose main objective for participating is to generate new leads.This isn’t to say that virtual events cannot work for exhibitors. We’ve found that those who have been offered a dedicated sponsorship experience tend to view virtual events more favourably” The full suite of Explori benchmarks including Overall Satisfaction, Likelihood of Return, Net Promoter Score & Value for Time are available by industry to clients only. To find out more about how to benchmark visitor and exhibitor experience for your virtual events click here. About Explori: Explori is an event feedback platform which provides customer/attendee event experience insights for thousands of clients including exhibition organisers, conference organisers, corporate event professionals, and venues. Explori’s exhibitor and attendee feedback tools are built to measure both live and virtual events. With an in-house team of expert event researchers, measuring the impact of your events has never been so powerful, or so easy.
How to measure the success of your virtual events
Nov 26, 2020
We recently conducted a study on behalf of ICE, the International Corporate Event Planners association. Two-thirds of respondents said a top challenge for them over the next three years is using metrics to effectively measure performance. However, despite these perceived challenges the research found that organisers are less likely to measure the performance of their virtual events compared to their live events. Respondents agree that measuring metrics such as the impact of the event on future behaviour, sales, and brand awareness is just as useful for virtual events as it is for live. However, 23% fewer organisers are measuring customer feedback for virtual events relative to in-person events. This suggests that organisers are missing out on a golden opportunity. There are three different types of data available to organisers to measure how their events are performing. Access to those three types of data is made even easier through virtual event platforms. But not all of them can tell you about the output of your event. What are these different data types and what role do they play in helping organisers understand the impact of their virtual events? I like to think of them as building a car... 1. Demographic data - Who are your attendees? The body of your car is your demographic data normally collected via your registration form. In ICEINSIGHTS’ report 2020, we found that over 90% of event organisers think registration data is useful for virtual events, however only 3 in 4 were measuring attendance for their virtual events. Demographic data takes your feedback from being a tangled mess to clear lines of activity. Person A did X. Person B did Z. In order to gather individualised feedback from other tools like your event app or matchmaking technology the registration data needs to be available. For your employee events which don’t require a registration tool, this information could be collected from your HR system. 2. Engagement data - What are your attendees doing and when? Engagement data provides the wheels for your car. Your engagement data builds a profile of what your attendee did at your event including: which sessions they attended, who they organised meetings with, poll responses, Q&A data and more. At an in-person event this is typically the data that is hard to come by. It requires investment in tracking technology to understand how attendees have moved around the venue and dwell time. For virtual events this data is usually built into the platform. Event organisers can see how traffic flows from one session or activity to another to establish patterns and unlock what engagement really means for their events. 3. Sentiment data - Why did your attendees engage and what do they intend to do next? So you’ve got the body of the car and the wheels, but a car without an engine isn’t much use to anyone. This is where your sentiment data comes in. Sentiment data is collected through feedback surveys and plays a crucial role in driving the event strategy forward. Survey data allows you to demonstrate the power of your events relating to impact on brand awareness, future sales and behaviour. Before I go any deeper on this let’s address the elephant in the room. I can bet you, like me, don’t wake up in the morning and think, ‘You know what I’d love to do today? A survey.’ We’d probably love to play with some AI-driven matchmaking apps, facial recognition software and see cool traffic session patterns. But surveys? Blurgh. That’s fine I’m not going to try and sell you on why surveys are the most exciting technology. However, maybe you’ll share in my understanding that they are the only event tech available which makes sense of; why your attendees took time out of their busy schedules to take part, what they got out of it, and why events matter to the business you work in. That being said a survey is only as insightful as the questions you put in it. You can use surveys to quantify attendees intention to purchase, intention to re-engage with the brand or likelihood of recommending your product or service to a colleague or friend. The most useful surveys build questions off the back of key event impact objectives for their virtual events. By asking these questions consistently across your events you’re able to establish a measurement language for the events function. You can compare events internally to see what good really looks like for your events. And if you’re using a tool like Explori you can benchmark your events against your industry. Thanks to technological improvements, feedback surveys have become less time-consuming to collate and analyse. You can easily make cycle-to-cycle comparisons for repeat events. The best survey technology will have built in benchmarking capabilities so you can easily compare how your virtual events today compare to hybrid events in years to come. If you would like to measure and benchmark your virtual events contact our team of experts who will be happy to help, or download the Event Impact Playbook for a do-it-yourself guide.
5 top tips to increase your virtual event survey response rates
Nov 23, 2020
Some organisers are experiencing lower response rates for their virtual event feedback surveys compared to live events. When conducted properly, event surveys can provide a wealth of information about what to keep and what to drop at your next event. They can also provide useful insight on future revenue generating opportunities and how you can add value for your attendees. As event survey and research specialists, we have some tried and true tips for banishing survey blues. Here are our top five: 1. Market your surveys Too often surveys are the last thing mentioned in the last session of the day or as attendees are leaving the event. To increase responses make sure your attendees know it's important. You need to convince attendees that it is worth them spending the 5-10 minutes sharing their feedback with you. Simple ways to market your survey: mention the survey on holding slides that play throughout the event, mention the survey at the end of your content sessions in your pre-event marketing campaign highlight some of the changes/improvements you've made as a result of survey feedback. At the end of this post we have provided three free resources you can use to promote your surveys for your next virtual event. 2. Send out your surveys soon after the event In our 10 years working with clients to improve their feedback processes, we’ve found the most useful responses are delivered post event when attendees and/or exhibitors have had time to reflect on how the event was for them. That being said, you still need to strike while the iron is hot. I suggest you send out your post event survey within a week of your event. If you can send it out sooner then do! The week buffer gives you a chance to add in any last minute questions that may have popped into your mind during the event. Some advocate waiting 2-4 weeks to get exhibitor feedback. This would allow time for the blisters to heal, the hangovers to fade and importantly, for leads gathered at the event to be developed. However, our data shows that the further away from your event you try to collect feedback the more you will cannibalise your response rate. Consider highlighting in the email how long the survey will take to complete. On average respondents complete three questions per minute so you can use this to workout the length of your survey. Your attendees and exhibitors are not going to be happy if you say it will only take 10 minutes and 30 minutes later they still haven’t reached the end. With a well-designed, well-timed survey you can achieve a 20-30% response rate. 3. Bribe them! I mean incentivise them In April, I found myself sat at a table with a gentlemen who asked me, “Why don’t more event organisers offer incentives to fill out a survey? Maybe then I’d actually do it!” It seems he wasn’t wrong. One of our clients organised for all their headline speakers to sign copies of their latest books and offered the set as a prize. In return they achieved a 40% response rate! Decide whether or not you will give a high value reward to a small volume of people, or if you will give a low value incentive to a larger volume of people. Caution - beware of ubiquitous tech prizes that quickly lose their shine. It is sometimes better to give something specific to your event that will really fire up your attendees. Try to conspire with your exhibitors or speakers to offer a money-can’t-buy prize or experience, as demonstrated with the example above. 4. Create clear subject lines and calls to action As most surveys are delivered via email it is important to follow email best practice to maximise your event survey response rate. Make sure your subject line is clear and obvious. Create clear and concise copy which explains the benefits of taking part in the survey Include one clear call to action. Use the post-event survey email template as a guide. 5. Send out reminders A simple and effective way to increase your response rates is by asking your attendees for their feedback more than once. We recommend sending out reminders 3-5 days after the initial launch, followed by a final reminder 3-5 days later. Don't send your reminder emails on the same day of the week or time. It's best to try different dates and times to reach as many attendees as possible. Download these free resources to promote your surveys Video for holding slides Email/Website banner 1 Email/Website banner 2
Optimising the virtual event experience
Nov 16, 2020
This week at Cvent Connect, ICE’s Strategy Director, Anita Howard announced the release of the second ICE Research study supported by Cvent and conducted by Explori. The report shares a number of insights into budgets, reporting structure, measuring sustainability and more. There were two insights which I found particularly interesting: Using metrics to measure the effectiveness of events is still a top challenge for event professionals. Across all key metrics virtual events are being measured less compared to their live event counterparts. In the 2019 study it emerged that one of the top challenges for organisers over the next three years was using metrics to measure the effectiveness of events. The latest report maintains that this is still top of mind for organisers. However, when respondents were asked which metrics they use to measure their live and virtual events, this is what emerged from the data (zoom in to see the details); Across all metrics respondents are measuring their virtual events less than in-person events. When it comes to attendance, customer feedback, social media engagement, app usage and measuring the impact of the event on future behaviour, we can see large decreases in measurement for virtual relative to in-person events. This stood out to me because one question I am hearing a lot from organisers lately is ‘how do I make my virtual events better?’ What the ICE report seems to suggest is that organisers are missing out on crucial insight that would help them optimise the virtual event experience. The upside is with virtual events there is a wealth of data available that organisers can tap into for little or no extra cost. It’s important to note that this data was gathered from May through to August 2020. It’s likely that organisers who had organised a virtual event at this point were early adopters. Earlier on in the year there was a real sense of ‘done’ being the metric of success. The feeling that as long as the event ran with no catastrophic mishaps then it was a success. But as we all get more comfortable with delivering virtual events, and with more people agreeing that the future (of at least some event formats) will be hybrid, there has been a real shift to optimising the virtual experience. How do you optimise the virtual event experience? I’m not going to overstep any boundaries and suggest I have all the answers to this question because I don’t. However from a data-driven perspective what I know is the events that achieve the best results are ones which are plugged into the objectives and desires of their attendees. The way to do that is by developing a robust feedback strategy. We need to close the gap between in-person and virtual events measurement by collecting structured attendee feedback. I asked our Customer Success Manager, Mitch Deeming about how organisers can generate insightful feedback using their surveys to inform event strategy. Here’s what he had to say, “It’s important for organisers to pay attention to the questions they are asking and the insights they will be able to pull from these questions. For example if an organiser wants to know how their event is performing overall they can ask about overall satisfaction and Net Promoter Score which they can benchmark to compare against in-person and other virtual events. To understand attendee experience they can ask attendees about their objectives for participating in the event and how well they were able to meet those objectives. Where it gets really exciting for organisers is asking impact questions. These are questions which get to the heart of how your events are changing how attendees think and feel but also what they intend to do after the event. That's where event profs begin to demonstrate the impact of their events on business goals." As the report highlights, using metrics to measure the effectiveness of events is an ongoing challenge but so too is delivering hybrid and virtual events. As organisers seek to optimise the virtual experience over the coming years measurement will play a crucial role in unpicking exactly what makes a good online experience. The Event Impact Playbook If you are interested in understanding how to demonstrate the impact of your events on business outcomes then download our free Event Impact Playbook. In it you will find information about: how to structure your event objectives, how you can optimise your events by combining your demographic, engagement and sentiment data, and how you better develop insights from your survey data to demonstrate the strategic impact of the events function.
State of the Nation for Exhibition Marketers
Oct 23, 2020
How do our exhibitors and visitors expect events to come back? Are they missing us? What do they really think of virtual events? Explori has the answers. We joined the Exhibition Marketers Masterclass to share a "State of the Nation" with marketers all round the world. Our session covered: The impact of event cancellation on visitors and exhibitors How budgets might fare when events re-started How virtual events were performing from an attendee perspective You can watch further sessions from the Exhibition Marketers Masterclass, organised by 52Eighty3 Events, here
Global study reveals optimism for trade shows
Oct 23, 2020
Having just released the full Global Recovery Insights report, produced in partnership with UFI and supported by SISO, project lead, Sophie Holt, takes us through the key findings of the priorities of our visitors and exhibitors as live events start to return. When we embarked on this project, as lockdown commenced this spring, I was apprehensive as to what we would find. At the end of 2019 we had produced the Global Exhibitor Insights, which made somewhat uncomfortable reading for the industry. It highlighted that some exhibitors were beginning to have concerns about the ROI of live events and question some of the figures that organisers were publishing. Add to that, the biggest disruption that many of us have ever experienced in our careers and some commentators were suggesting that our industry was on a knife edge, facing a fundamental shift away from live events. It was possible that we were about to produce research that could spell dark times for our industry. But as we analysed the results in late August, it was clear that there was much to be positive about. Not only were live events being sorely missed by both visitors and exhibitors, it seems that they have not found alternative channels that can replace the unique aspects of face-to-face networking. Live events support business generation: Two thirds of those who exhibit at trade shows reported their cancellation has had a notable detrimental impact on their business, reducing their ability to build awareness with their target markets. 50% of companies reported that the absence of live events was negatively affecting their ability to generate new business. And whilst our current visitors and exhibitors strongly prefer live events across every aspect, there were also intriguing hints as to the future of digital and hybrid events, which I will cover in a future article. What does the future look like? Both visitors and exhibitors reported some drop in how frequently they planned to attend live events in future compared to previous studies we have conducted. But when compared with data from 2019, the drop for exhibitors was very modest. This reduction in frequency seems to be part of a more long term trend where exhibitors in markets where the exhibition industry is very developed are planning to level out their participation. The more pronounced impact on visitor attendance is driven by short term concerns, primarily around safety. Visitors who were planning to reduce their attendance need to be reassured that robust safety measures are in place. They are also more drawn to the option of being able to attend an event digitally, for the time being at least. When will spend return? Possibly the most encouraging aspect of the study was exhibitors still feeling confident about the return of their spend for trade shows. 28% of exhibitors said their spend would return to pre-Covid levels as soon as live events were running again. Only 13% felt the drop in spend could be permanent. On average, exhibitor spending could return to pre-Covid levels within 11 months. This held true across widely differing sectors and countries. Whilst as of August, budgets for other marketing channels remained relatively unaffected, unsurprisingly there has been a big impact on spend planned for live events. Both trade show budgets and in-house event budgets have been cut on average by 50% at this time. It will be interesting to see how this survives contact with CFOs as planning for 2021 crystalises. But will these budget cuts manifest themselves in shows being dropped from a trade show marketer’s plans, or an overall belt-tightening? The picture is complex. Whilst we can definitely see that the more severe the budget cut, the more likely an exhibitor is to reduce the number of shows they support, it is also true that, even for companies experiencing the largest cuts to their trade show budgets (in excess of 50%) they are still equally likely to continue to exhibit as frequently as to start dropping shows. What is drawing audiences back to live? This study has confirmed that building connections by networking is a unique aspect of live events, that has yet to be effectively replicated by other channels. Two thirds of both visitors and exhibitors have experienced fewer networking opportunities whilst there have been no live events. This translated into fewer leads generated for businesses (48%) and ultimately lower sales (45%). Digital events are not currently filling this gap, with “quality of networking” being the area they scored most poorly in comparison to live events with only 8% of exhibitors feeling that digital could compete with live. Whilst our audience is supportive of sensible health and safety measures, they are reluctant to accept any measures that impede their ability to network, telling us that any reduction on social and networking activity reduces their likelihood to attend an event. This presents a challenge for organisers and venues alike. How can we offer high quality interaction whilst still following Covid Secure guidelines? And how can we offer an equivalent networking experience to our visitors who currently want to participate virtually? I’m sure many innovative solutions will emerge. Quality vs. quantity? We wanted to know what factors organisers should prioritise to ensure their show was a “must attend”. Here our respondents were unequivocal. They will be evaluating shows based on the quality of the visitors and exhibitors. Whilst visitor quality has always been an important factor for exhibitors, we can now see that it far exceeds the importance of visitor numbers, with 58% of exhibitors thinking it a priority for organisers vs. only 38% who were concerned about numbers. Exhibitors appreciate that visitor numbers may be restricted for a period of time, so they want to ensure that those they do meet are both relevant and purchase-ready. Interestingly, we also see exhibitor quality emerge for the first time as a critical factor driving visitor attendance. Where previously, we might have seen quality of education and content being the biggest factor, with 34% motivated by exhibitor quality vs only 14% motivated by high quality education, this is an interesting shift. Again we can see the unique aspects of live events at play; the ability to meet the most relevant suppliers in one place, being seen as much more important than education, an objective which can potentially be achieved elsewhere. For the first time, cost of attending has also emerged a decision factor for visitors, with 39% citing it as a priority. This in part may be driven by pressure on travel budgets, but it can also be seen in the context of the availability of digital events, which visitors recognise can now provide them with high quality content at the fraction of the cost of attending in person. Future insight plans As the situation is constantly evolving, both in terms of access to live events and uptake of digital events, we asked participating organisers to reserve a portion of their data to allow for a second phase of research beginning December 2020. The first report is now available for UFI members via gri@ufi.org Other verified trade show organisers and venues can request a copy here Sophie Holt, Managing Director, Explori This article first appeared in Exhibition World
Are your virtual events fulfilling their objectives?
Sep 25, 2020
At the beginning of the pandemic, event profs were in firefighting mode and worried about the impact it would have on their jobs.Though in some parts of the world live events have returned, many other countries are still stunted by government and travel restrictions. The ‘pivot’ to virtual was a swift one with many rising to the occasion. Planners were forced to learn by doing. Whilst some of these early experiments failed the result has been the creation of some exceptional online events which demonstrate the core value of events; delivering unforgettable experiences. I attended my first hybrid event in July. An event I have been desperate to attend for years but could never quite stump up the money to go. They were going hybrid with a 4-day, 12-hour long conference and I was not going to miss it. What made that experience so engaging that I stayed glued to my laptop for the entire conference? The energy of the presenters was palpable, the interaction with the audience, and seeing everyone’s videos on those curved IMAX screens. Every hour we got up and jumped up and down to some music so our bodies and brains didn’t fall asleep (sorry downstairs neighbours). And just like that a 4-day, 12-hour long conference came and went and I closed my laptop feeling energised (said no one ever after a 4-day conference!) Being the event nerd that I am, I left that event wondering... What purpose/goal/mission were the organisers pursuing when they decided to take the risk of running this event? Were they looking to drive sales, raise brand awareness, increase brand affinity? I felt I had met my objectives but how could they, or any other organiser, measure my energy and excitement to understand whether or not the event had fulfilled its stated purpose? They did some up-selling where they provided an opportunity for attendees to purchase another course. This could have been the main objective for putting on the event. But not signing up for the upgrade doesn’t mean I had a bad experience. Therefore the organiser might look to my willingness to refer. They can measure my likelihood to recommend the event to family and friends using the popular Net Promoter Score. But again it doesn’t give the organiser a complete picture of my experience and the overall impact of the event. So what will? Here are 3 ways you can distil the experience of your attendees into metrics from Explori’s free Event Impact Playbook. If you want to get to the heart of your attendee’s experience you should try to measure these three things in your feedback survey: Cognitive impact Impact on sentiment Behavioural intention Cognitive impact What is the change in knowledge and understanding we would like to happen as a result of our event? Cognitive feedback questions will help you understand if your event succeeded in delivering the main communication points ie. the new features of a product. Did the necessary knowledge transfer occur? Impact on sentiment How should attendees feel after they leave our event? Sentiment feedback questions provide the perfect opportunity to learn how your event has impacted brand perception. Do attendees feel like your company cares about the needs of its customers and employees? Or do they agree that your brand embodies the core values it promotes? Behavioural intention What is the behaviour we intend attendees to take as a result of attending our event? This is particularly important for events which are part of a long communications/sales cycle. Within a week of the event you’re able to understand what behaviours your event has influenced. Are attendees more likely to purchase, remain employed or recommend your product/service? Behavioural intention is where you see the tangible value of your events for your business. Let’s look at this in the context of my first virtual/hybrid event experience. Just because I didn’t upgrade to the next course doesn’t mean the organiser failed in their objective. If they measured my behavioural intention they would be able to see that I intend to participate in their next live event. Through my sentiment score they would discover that I absolutely agree the company helps individuals and businesses succeed. And my cognitive score would highlight they had successfully communicated the message that ‘everything you need to succeed is already within.’ There is so much more when it comes to measuring attendee experience that I haven’t shared here. And if you’ve read so far into this article, please tag a friend or colleague who you think would find it interesting/useful. For a full list of attendee experience metrics you can measure for your next virtual/hybrid event, download the free Event Impact Playbook
Latest trade show stats shared via UFI Connects Webinar
Sep 9, 2020
Explori have shared the results of their latest study into the recovery of business events, via the UFI Connects Webinar Series. Global Strategy Director, Sophie Holt led the session, sharing the views of over 9,000 trade show visitors and exhibitors on the recovery of live events. Topics covered included: The business impact of event cancellation on visitors and exhibitors The importance of social interaction for attracting people back to events How exhibitors might make decisions around where to spend and where to save In addition to the study insights, the session turned all the participants into a live "expert panel" drawing on expertise from round the world to share best practice as business events begin to re-open. A recording of the webinar is now available on-demand here: The full report will be released at the end of September, you can register to receive it here:
Positive findings released from global industry study
Aug 3, 2020
Today, the findings are released from an extensive global study on the recovery of the trade show industry. The study was conducted by live events research specialists, Explori in partnership with UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry and supported by SISO, the Society for Independent Show Organizers. The interim findings, comprising over 9,000 responses from 30 countries, have shown that the absence of business events is having a significant negative impact on companies who rely on them. Two thirds of those who exhibit at business events reported their cancellation has had a notable detrimental impact on their business, reducing their ability to build brand awareness with their target markets. Half of businesses expressed this impact as being “very large”. 50% of companies told researchers that the absence of live events was negatively affecting their ability to generate new business. Of those who come to business events as delegates, 90% felt they had been negatively impacted as a result of not being able to attend events. Nine out of ten felt that alternative solutions such as virtual events were not as effective in meeting their professional needs as live events. “With trade shows running safely in more markets around the world, we are starting to feel more positive as an industry. These results support that optimism, showing that the businesses who participate in our shows are missing the value that face-to-face brings and trade shows play a key role in driving economic recovery,” says Kai Hattendorf, UFI CEO. Sophie Holt, Global Strategy Director, Explori added: “When we embarked on this project, most markets were in lockdown and the outlook for the industry was uncertain. Some commentators felt that a shift away from live to virtual events would be a long-term outcome of the pandemic. However these results suggest that whilst virtual events have an important role to play, especially in bringing events to new audiences, our customers are eager for the return of in-person events. We will be conducting a further phase of research in the near future to further understand the sentiments of visitors and exhibitors round the world as more markets open.” Further results from the study will be released in the coming weeks via the industry press and the UFI Connects webinar series. To register your interest in receiving a full copy of the report on release in September, please provide your details:
What is NPS and why should event professionals care?
Jun 12, 2020
So what exactly is a Net Promoter Score (NPS)? Developed by Bain & Company and Satmatrix, Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a way to understand a customer’s perception of your product or service. It’s widely used across many industries and allows different sectors to benchmark themselves against each other – for example event planners could use it to compare their performance to other events, or even to other service sectors like hospitality or banking. It is one of the most important questions we ask our clients to include in every post-event survey they conduct. It leverages advocacy – the likelihood to recommend to a friend or colleague – as a way of understanding many different drivers of perception including satisfaction, ease of customer journey and return on investment in a single question. Respondents, in this case event attendees or sponsors, are asked to rate how likely they are to recommend the event to a friend or colleague in the industry. This graph is an example of how respondents are categorised based on their response as Promoters, Passives or Detractors. Net Promoter Score is then calculated as the difference between the promoters and the detractors and is expressed on a scale from -100 to 100. So an event with a plus score has relatively more promoters than detractors, whilst an event with a negative score has more detractors. So why does this matter? The impact of NPS has been extensively researched across many industries. With a finite number of potential attendees and sponsors in most sectors, when advocacy is low, it will get harder and harder to attract new attendees and sponsors and the existing customers will be increasingly sensitive to any price rise and over time may even withdraw their support. It is an important “leading indicator” as to how your event might perform commercially in the future. Explori has conducted research with events around the world that shows a positive NPS from exhibitors and sponsors means an event is more likely to experience commercial growth in three key areas: Attendee numbers Exhibitor numbers Exhibitor revenue Interestingly events with a positive exhibitor NPS are growing their sponsor and exhibitor revenue faster than their exhibitor numbers, indicating they may also be finding it easier to up-sell their existing customers to new and higher value services. Want to know more about NPS and other aspects of event exhibitor and sponsor experience? You can download our full report here, covering the experience of exhibitors all round the world. NPS for virtual vs live events At Explori, we have been benchmarking attendee experience metrics including NPS for virtual events since March 2020 and the results are clear. Advocacy is higher for virtual events than for live events. The data indicates that attendees are more likely to recommend virtual events to their colleagues and friends. But we have to ask why that is? Are virtual events delivering a better experience than face-to-face events? It is highly likely that the reason virtual events are seeing a boost in their recommendations relative to live events is because of ease of access. There is much less heavy lifting involved with making a virtual recommendation. If you’re recommending an event halfway across the world that would require flying to another country, booking accommodation and taking time away from family and friends, you’ll probably want to make sure that is a must-attend event before making that recommendation. However if you are sending a colleague or friend a link that they can access from their computer in the comfort of their home it doesn’t require as much consideration past the point of the event providing good content. And this is just the tip of the iceberg with what we have been seeing in the data regarding virtual events experience. >>> Download our latest research on virtual events How to improve your event Net Promoter Score In some circles NPS is viewed as the holy grail of measuring attendee experience. Oftentimes it is the single metric monitored by event organisers to understand if their event is doing well. Though NPS is an important metric to measure, it is often better understood in the context of other key metrics, such as Overall Satisfaction. Overall satisfaction is highly correlated with NPS. If you measure attendee objectives and Overall Satisfaction in your post-event survey you can run a correlation analysis to discover which objectives are driving satisfaction at your event. By focusing attention on how to improve your satisfaction score you should see higher Net Promoter Scores for your events.
Talking Exhibitor ROI
Jun 12, 2020
How can trade show sales teams build trust and de-risk the exhibitor experience to give higher exhibitor ROI - new video... Explori joined Raoul from media sales training specialists, Flume Training to share some of our insights on what drives high exhibitor ROI and what event sales people can do to drive trust. This clip also includes one of the most surprising stats to emerge from Explori's global trade show insights... You can see more of Flume Training's courses and tips for event sales teams here.
Webinar:UFI Connects on Exhibitor Experience
May 28, 2020
The UFI Connect series of webinars draws together trade show experts from organisers and venues all round the world. This week, Sophie Holt, our Global Strategy Director joined the panel to share insights on trade show exhibitor experience... Focus on the exhibitor experience will be a key part of the live event industry's recovery. And of course ensure its future success. Explori's Global Strategy Director, Sophie Holt joined panellists from Clarion Events and Exhibit Media to share insights about exhibitor needs during the current crisis and in the wider context. This included data from our major Global Exhibitor Insights projects - the largest studies of exhibitor sentiment ever undertaken in the trade show industry. You can watch the full webinar on demand now.
Webinar: Leveraging data for digital revenue
May 22, 2020
How to use data to generate unique insight and high value sponsorship opportunities - webinar now on-demand... Audience data might be the most under-utilised resource available to trade show organisers. It has the potential to generate unique insight, compelling content and high value sponsorship opportunities. In partnership with sales training specialists, Flume, Explori are hosting this webinar to explore using data to drive revenue and add value throughout the sales process. This webinar is now available on-demand Aimed at strategic and commercial leads looking to maximise all the revenue available to them, this interactive session will discuss: Pounds or pennies - the components of a high value campaign Creating lead generation wins for sponsors Using insight to make every sales relationship more successful Transitioning shows from market serving to market making