In the spirit of it being valentines this weekend, I’ve been trying to think of what to relate to our dear friend Cupid. Then like cupids arrow splitting a heart in two (sorry, too much?) I thought I’d look at the trend of events coupling from 2/3 days to that of entire weeks. Creating perfect partnerships, or something like that 😉
Not too intrinsic right?
Clearly the 1/2/3 day format isn’t dead. It’s the standard of what most exhibitions offer. But, more and more they’re evolving into “weeks”. And not typically extended days of the exhibition being open, but more the growth of peripheral events / activity based around the week that event runs.
Some events are growing in size purely because of visitors / exhibitor demand (look at ISE over at the RAI as an example – incredible success), but over the last few years, like cupid rising above the clouds, we’ve seen the rise of events spreading their wings and taking over entire weeks to engage with their audiences slightly differently.
Here’s just a few I’ve come across over the last 12 months*:
- Event Technology Week by organisers of Event Tech live
- London Technology Week founded by UBM/ London & Partners / Tech London Advocates & ExCeL London
- London Entertainment Week by i2i’s BVE
- Health & Safety week by UBM’s Safety & Health Expo
- National Stationery Week – The London Stationery Show (with Wold Stationery Day too!)
- London Book Week by Reed Exhibitions London Book Fair
As is a trend with my blogs, I like to provoke thought. So here goes with some questions to think about:
Is there a potential that if this trend continues to rise, you’ll dilute your visitor / exhibitor base?
If people realise they don’t have to exhibit, for example, but can run their own peripheral event off the back of your event “week” (no one owns a week right?!) maybe they won’t exhibit?
What about your visitors?
As the “weeks” grow in strength, popularity and numbers, maybe visitors will then just head to the “exhibitors” own events (with their own keynote speakers!) and not see your event as much of a priority? They’ll just go to find the information they want directly?
Maybe.
However…
Events provide the coming together of visitors, exhibitors and content, all of which our visitors deem necessary for attending an event (recent research presented at the AEO Conference in 2015), so I don’t think we’re going to lose out! If anything, it will make our case for the power of events even stronger! We do need to be mindful that if we expand our days into weeks, what effect does occurrences beyond your control (say a poorly run peripheral event), have on your brand? Your 2 day event? Your week? What sort of control do you have, want or need?
Maybe it helps to promote engagement with your event as publicity and partnerships via the week will create wider awareness of your sector and engage people that maybe never attended or interacted with you before. Maybe it’s a great opportunity to move away audiences that you don’t necessarily want to attend your events ie get students to run their own events at their colleges / universities to not clutter your aisles.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s a great idea to promote how effective events & exhibitions are and that we are at the heart of the industries we all serve. Lovely.
Maybe, we’ll launch N200|GES week next year… you never know 😉
*I’ve heard a number of reasons why various organisers are launching their own weeks, but some of those were mentioned in confidence, so I can’t spill the beans just yet!