In the most recent ECEF (Exhibition and Convention Executives Forum) Pulse survey, conducted annually by Freeman and Lippman Connects, 24/7/365 platforms are considered to be the most disruptive new technology by event industry executives.

The adoption of digital platforms is also trending up every year. 42% of survey respondents currently include or plan to include a digital extension of their event, comparing to 34% in 2015 and 39% in 2017.   

Top reasons for adding or considering a digital extension includes:

• Increasing year-round engagement with audience
• Strengthen event’s brand

Other reasons include:

• Offer event’s content to prospects that can’t attend the physical event
• Increase the number of attendees at future physical events
• New revenue from virtual booths and sponsorships
• Increase booth sales at future physical events

Among the reasons, the most noteworthy shifts comparing to last year are audience engagement (UP from 33% to 74%), and new revenue (DOWN from 44% to 18%). It implies that the industry is driven by the strategic imperative to adopt year-round digital platform to keep their audience engaged, but is not expecting such a platform to be a major new revenue generator yet, or is deliberately putting revenue from the new platform at a lower priority.

The key take-away from this report is that adopting a digital extension platform should be on top of mind for trade show executives. Connect 24/7/365 or expect competition! 

The full-length Pulse survey report is only available to ECEF attendees. You can check out this summary video published by Lippman: 5 Key Data Points in 5 Minutes: ECEF Pulse 2019 Summary.