At Monetising B2B in London this week, a number of the sessions focused on events and variously featured the CEOs of RX (Reed Exhibitions), Clarion Events, Terrapinn, Questex and Cannes Lions.
From the post-pandemic bounce-back to the importance of taking a global approach, speakers shared experiences and advice with the 220 attendees from across the information and events industries, primarily from the UK, EU and the US. It was striking just how common were the themes from event company leaders, despite their seemingly different strategies. We can summarise their broadly shared objectives under four headings:
1. In-person very much in-demand
Perhaps the least surprising of all was the shared experience of just how the demand for in-person events had come roaring back after almost two years of pandemic paralysis. That had been a period during which webinars and digital alternatives had been consistently touted as a vital part of the future (do you remember Hopin, a short-lived company that raised over $1bn in funding for its meetings platform and was once valued at $7.8bn?).
Even the truest of live event believers might once have wondered whether the industry would quickly recover. Perhaps the growth now of events, overwhelmingly beyond pre-pandemic 2019 has surprised even them. Incidentally, the sold-oput signs at what was Flashes & Flames’ first live event – bringing together the diverse strands of B2B information, marketing and events – helped to symbolise the rich value of in-person contact in a world of endless videoconferencing.
“There were many years of debates and discussions about whether digital would pass live events, which has been absolutely put to bed [post-pandemic],” Lisa Hannant, CEO of Clarion Events noted on the Events panel. “The endurance of trade shows is built on personal connection. There are people involved in attending shows, and people like to have personal connections. It can’t be replicated outside of live environments. It can be supplemented…but when you look at a live event, its purpose is to connect, whether that’s to product, content, or individuals. And that in itself is very, very unique.”
Clarion – the world’s third largest trade show operator – has had a record few years in terms of revenue, achieving its best-ever results in 2024 – 10% above its pre-pandemic level. Its top 10 brands now average revenue of over £30mn.
Paul Miller, CEO of the US-based Questex (whose portfolio is spread broadly across print, digital, conferences and exhibitions) said the events industry had seen the post-Covid era as a big win: “Business came back. It was a proof point that people want to do things like this: they want to get in a room together, they want to network, and they want to learn from each other.”
2. Prioritising visitor revenue
Relishing the industry roaring back to its old ways of growing revenue faster than inflation was, of course, more predictable among those not involved in trade shows than the way in which most of the exhibition companies have come to target major increases in revenue from visitors. The shift away from a traditional, overwhelming dependance on revenue from exhibitors, arguably, not only mirrors the revenue diversification of B2B publishers for the last decade or more but also underlines just how these two wings of the B2B market are moving more closely together.
Clarion’s Hannant explained that, pre-pandemic, the approach had been to ‘build it and they will come’, with revenue focused on exhibitors and sponsors: “It was typically unpaid attendance, and very little focus on data, and that’s really changed.”
Now, revenue from delegates makes up 15% of the Clarion total; significantly up on five years ago. Hannant also noted that the change has been driven by focusing on event design and understanding customer needs which, in turn, is opening up opportunities for paid-for attendance: “Particularly where you’ve got a deep presence in the sector…there is an increasing opportunity to monetise the audience in different ways at different times,” she explained, illustrating that they take advantage of premium packages, subscriptions and membership, as well as continuing content and community building.
Miller agreed that paid attendance was also a growing priority for Questex, now comprising 20% of all revenue. Also on the panel was Greg Hitchen, CEO of Terrapinn, which operates 100 events each year across life sciences, transportation, health and technology. He said: “We’re experimenting with things like charging vendors [extra] money to come into the shows. There are other things like charging for networking, and other premium content opportunities – there’s a lot that can be extracted from the events, and that’s certainly what we’re working on.”
In a later session on “The 21st century lessons of B2B information and events, Hugh Jones, CEO of RX (who, significantly, had previously been CEO of a US data and analytics business) also shared that increasing attendee revenue was his priority: “75% [of revenue] comes from exhibitors, and the rest, 20-25% from visitors, but we’ll for sure be increasing that.” He would not be surprised if, by 2030, RX was able to generate some 50% of its revenue from visitors and delegates. His committment to this revenue shift was underlined by the way that what is the world’s second largest trade show organiser was now also selling data to exhibitors. That seems likely to become a subscription revenue stream.
This information about the motivation and attitude of visitors as prospective buyers echoed the way that Cannes Lions (now owned by Informa, the world’s largest B2B events group) has been building a subscription business from such data. This 30% of the revenue has been hugely enhanced by data from the Lions awards entries That’s a straightforward idea for all B2B companies. It means that the legendary Riviera event now accounts for less than 50% of Lions group revenue, according to CEO Simon Cook. How’s that for a comprehensively integrated B2B brand?
3. Content should be at the core
Some companies saw the pandemic era as an opportunity to build more regular (or even year-round touchpoints) with event attendees. With in-person events suspended during Covid, these businesses had to think about what else they could do to engage their audiences. “Why would you [just] share content and networking with your community for three days a year?” Questex’s Miller asked. “Their content needs are every day.”
It’s a principle that Questex holds dear, having consistently emphasised developing an integrated portfolio across trade shows, conferences and media assets. It sees original content as the ‘glue’ for customer relationships. Miller sees long-term benefits in talking to their communities every day, from simply getting to know them better to identifying opportunities to improve and bring in additional data collection. Arguably, this renewed emphasis on content (both digital and via in-person conferences) is another sign of how closely diverse B2B operators are moving together, not only in data and information but also in conferences and seminars.
It’s another theme shared among the trade show CEOs and, arguably, another way in which Cannes Lions is a longterm role model. But there’s something else about the 70-year-old festival that interests these events leaders even more.
4. The ‘Festival-isation’ of B2B events
The biggest change in the approach to B2B events is what a number of panellists and speakers at Monetising B2B referred to as ‘festival-isation’ – thinking less like a trade show and more like a festival. Hitchen pointed out that the three biggest event deals in 2024 were festival portfolios. These were events that created broader experiences and fun for their visitors, making attendance enjoyable and stimulating as well as rewarding in a business sense. It was part of what was required to captivate a younger generation of executives. But it was more than that.
Miller noted that he had seen a sea change in who attends events after a wave of senior executives retired during or shortly after the pandemic. They now see younger attendees with different expectations, who are seeking ‘curated serendipity’ from the events they attend.
In a later session, Hugh Jones, of RX, used the example of the Professional Golf Association to show how it had ‘festival-ised’ the event. It had ended with a concert headlined by American rock band Third Eye Blind. Making the RX exhibition a memorable experience for visitors had proved to be a commercial success: “Everyone wants to stay around and see [the star],” Jones explained. “Instead of taking the VIP buyers and golf professionals out to some fancy steakhouse, they can entertain them right there. They’re happy, I’m happy, but I’m monetising that!”
Thinking more like a festival isn’t just about adding music stars and party experiences, though. Miller and Hannant both said that organisations need to put themselves into the consumer’s shoes, and design events that are enjoyable to be at, as well as valuable for them. Hannant said: “[Good design] starts with understanding the show and the audience’s personal values. You can only do that by really getting under the skin of what customers are looking for, what they’re hoping to achieve by coming to a show, who they’re looking to meet, customer groups that they’re hoping to engage with.”
She explained that a game-changer at Clarion Events had been shifting the post-show debrief away from logistics and, instead, to looking at who engaged with whom, which elements attracted the right people, and which didn’t.
One audience member asked if event organisers envisaged a future of marvellous, complex, ‘experiential’ events – but with poorer profit margins. Miller said that they haven’t seen any degradation of margins at Questex. “We’re investing in producing more revenue streams, which in some cases are actually much more profitable, and you blend it together to get a very strong margin. If [exponential] margins are happening, then you’re probably not investing enough.”
Terrapinn’s Hitchen said that good events should be built around four elements: showcasing, having fun, content, and networking. “If that’s what a festival is, we’ve been trying to do this for 25 years,” he added wryly. You can feel all the change happening but it’s very much work in progress.
For the delegates of Monetising B2B this week, the event discussions underlined – time after time – the way that B2B information, media and events are increasingly inter-twined. It may not be long before many of the companies are generating revenue across the whole spectrum of exhibitions, conferences, training, information, workflow systems, marketing services, and consultancy. It’s all happening.
