CHICAGO — The 2025 Channel Insights report, which was done in partnership with UFI, The Global Association for the Exhibition Industry, and conducted by Explori with the support of the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO), reveals the shifting expectations and priorities of exhibitors.
Through the surveying of more than 3,00 events over the period of 2017 to 2025, the report finds that while exhibitor satisfaction is consistently higher than it was pre-pandemic, organizers need to adapt in a shift in their expectations to continue to compete with other marketing channels. Unsurprisingly, a major change in how event ROI is reported is needed in the increasingly digital age where up-to-date analytics are the norm.
NPS Scores are Improving
According to the survey, all four major exhibitor KPIs — Overall Satisfaction, Likelihood of Return, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Importance — have seen improvement since the COVID pandemic. Notably, these improvements are consistently higher for the duration of 2022-2024, demonstrating that it was not just the return to live events driving these sentiments from exhibitors.
Whereas prior to 2020, most events in the survey received negative NPS ratings from exhibitors, that has shifted by 27 points, with a majority of shows seeing positive NPS scores the last few years, although this does vary by region, sector and event subtype.
This report also found that exhibitors are also meeting their objectives more successfully at events than they were pre-pandemic. Of the 14 exhibitor objectives tracked, only one was shown to have a decline in achievement when compared to 2019 and prior: Finding new distributors, agents or partners. Conversely, the objective that has seen the largest increase in achievement is meeting with existing customers.
What’s Driving the Increases?
In an effort to learn more about why the industry is seeing higher exhibitor satisfaction, a variety of leaders from show organizers, exhibitors and agencies and suppliers shared what they’re seeing. The two biggest drivers of these improved scores have been described as a renewed importance of in-person events and the changing nature of what exhibiting looks like in a post-pandemic context.
Whereas the renewed feeling of importance of face-to-face interaction after the world closed for a significant length of time comes as no surprise, the insights as to how exhibiting is changing requires more exploration.
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In our increasingly digital world, data is becoming more and more important in decision-making for businesses, and this includes in deciding how brands will show up at an event. With exhibitors having relatively stagnant or declining budgets, they are looking to be more selective, opting to focus on where the quality audiences are gathering rather than the highest quantity, and where they can best lean into relationship-building and relationship-management more so than tradition product showcasing.
As Collen Bisconti, Vice President of Events and Experience at IBM, put it in the report: “Our budgets are either flat or declined and yet the cost is higher. And so how do you manage that? We’re doing more sponsoring, we’re asking how we can get more creative in how we show up, or how we might engage an audience differently than we might have thought about before.”
The Challenge: Maintaining Momentum
While the overall improvement of exhibitor KPIs is welcomed news, it does not mean that there isn’t room for more improvement and innovation.
“It is most definitely an exciting time for the trade show industry — events are in hot demand from an exhibit/sponsorship standpoint, and this will likely increase in an AI-fatigued world,” said Explori CEO Mark Brewster. “This research highlights clear gains across key exhibitor success and satisfaction metrics. Yet, many of these shifts have been driven by the imperative amongst exhibitors to ‘do more with less’ as costs have risen sharply. Unless organizers take a more proactive role in driving customer success, some shows risk a bumpy road ahead. Exhibitor performance and ROI must continue to improve in this environment — tomorrow’s exhibitors won’t be satisfied with yesterday’s outcomes.”
Through data analysis and anecdotal conversations with stakeholders, the report outlines the six key takeaways for organizers to consider and take action on.
- Understand exhibitor needs
- Empower exhibitors to become more data-drive
- Facilitate authentic connections
- Focus on existing relationships alongside new ones
- Think beyond the booth
- Leverage technology to streamline participant experiences
Learn more about the report’s findings and its takeaways here.
