The business events industry must respond to the changing needs of attendees and organisers post-pandemic, according to a new report commissioned by ExCeL London.
‘Event with Intent’, includes insights gathered from 300 delegates, event organisers and agencies, exploring event visitor behaviours and factors influencing attendance.
The report, launched at IBTM in Barcelona this week, calls for the industry to redefine ROI as ‘Return on Intent’ in order to measure and match event demands with outcomes.
Key findings
Networking is now the highest priority for event attendees according to the survey. Over 60% cited this as their primary reason for attending.
There is also an emerging need for the industry to better recognise and respond to the changing beliefs which delegates have around social and environmental impacts to ensure that the event activity aligns with these new values and intentions.
The report also suggests environmental and social impact is also increasingly important to delegates, scoring four out of five for importance on average.
In the survey, 88% of event attendees indicated that venue location has a high or very high impact on their decision to attend. Cities with an evergreen appeal include those with a universal language, diversity and a high volume of direct flights and public transport links. London came out as the top destination for an event in the survey.
James Rees, executive director at ExCeL London, said: “Our report is designed to help the business events industry learn from recent challenges and adapt to the new expectations of delegates and attendees.
“From speaking to a large cross section of delegates, event organisers and agencies, we know that their expectations and feelings about what constitutes a successful event are changing. We need to understand the key drivers – networking stood out as the most important aspect for attendees – and how we measure whether we are delivering on expectations. From using technology and AI to gauge attendee moods in real time, to understanding the importance of maximising networking opportunities, the next step is to incorporate these trends into event curation.”
The full report can be found here.
