The exhibition industry is indeed thriving today, thanks to the many advancements in tech through which companies can engage better with their consumers.
There is no better way to interact with your clients and customers face-to-face and simultaneously build your brand as well. However, a very common mistake every exhibition company makes is believing that “bigger is better” when it comes to exhibitions, they believe that bigger events, exhibition stands, stall design, etc. mean that it will be more profitable. When it comes to exhibitions, both smaller and bigger ones are successful when they can meet the experiential needs and perform well in scoring the overall value.
The maxim “the bigger, the better” does not apply in every situation.
In smaller exhibitions or even mid-sized ones, visitors seek a more impactful experience that provides them with valuable knowledge. Hence, they pay more attention and focus to each booth, placing importance on all aspects of attending a exhibition. On the other hand, at bigger shows, the importance of several shopping objectives increases as well, causing visitors to pay lesser attention as there are too many booths to visit.
At a smaller show, attendees come more pre-planned and prepared, with their objectives and needs specifically defined. They are super-active in prepping about the exhibition, how to go about it, how to subject and track the event, how to scan booths, and see what they want. At larger events, attendees usually focus their pre-planning based on their shopping-related activities only.
One of the biggest factors behind larger exhibitions not being the ultimatum is the fact that smaller exhibitions, in terms of square footage, have been found to record the highest Net Promoter Scores (NPS). In simpler words, this means that there is more probability at smaller shows of attendees recommending the show to their friends and colleagues.
Thus, these shows may be smaller in size but they’re usually under a bigger microscope, and hence, get a higher number of visitors and attendee interactions