CHICAGO — At IMEX America 2025, Freeman released its latest Freeman Trends Report, focusing on the experience aspect of its XLNC framework.
The report is clear: Attendees value experiences at in-person events that are tied to their objectives and outcomes. Furthermore, experience is a key driver of attendee retention, and while the data shows less than half of attendees are experiencing a peak moment at an event, 85% of those that do are more likely to return.
Trade Show Executive got an exclusive look at the data with Ken Holsinger, Senior Vice President of Industry Research and Insights at Freeman, to learn about what this data means for trade show organizers.
Meaningful Experiences are Driven by Outcomes
The major takeaway from this report is that organizers should consider reframing how they view experiences through the lenses of learning, networking and commerce, because that is how attendees are viewing them.
In the report, organizers described experience in hard-to-measure ways, whereas attendees were clearer in their definitions: Networking and making connections, product and service exploration, and learning and inspiration were the top three comment categories. For attendees, experiences are connected closely with results.
“A few things that we look at is that in the experiential of the XLNC, it’s the one that really leans on the others. When we built the framework, it’s easy to say XLNC [experience, learning, networking and commerce], but they’re never equal,” Holsinger said. “This quantifies that by showing organizers that attendees are not there just for the experience. They are there for their core objective. Experience is the superscript that creates a multiplying effect [for their objective].”
Peak Moments and What’s Really Memorable
One of the most significant stats from the report is that 85% of attendees that said they experienced a peak moment were more likely to return to an event. Note, only 40% of attendees said they experienced a peak moment though.
In an environment where rising costs are top-of-mind, attendee retention should be a priority for organizers, as new attendees are more costly to acquire than returning attendees.
“Fifty-one percent [of attendees] in the last report said if they connected with just one other person in a meaningful way, they would come back. That rises from 30% to 51%, and it’s still a headline, but this one is bigger, and it might be harder as well,” Holsinger said. “We’re getting into uncomfortable territory where the people in charge of education and exhibits aren’t creating the memorable moments they think they are; but when they do, look what can happen.”
A “peak moment” was described in the report as “a standout experience that was immediately memorable,” and to organizers’ surprise, only 40% of attendees said they experienced one at their most important in-person event. A misunderstanding becomes evident here when you consider that 78% of organizers say they’re delivering these kinds of moments.
The misunderstanding could lie in the different views of what’s memorable at an event for the attendees themselves. When asked to describe the peak moment they experienced, the top three attendee comment categories were building vendor relationships, learning and development, and making connections. This is significantly different from the top three comment categories from organizers: keynote speakers, opening/closing celebrations, and unique/surprise elements.
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The X-Factor: Immersive Experiences
“Where do immersive experiences play in, and what are attendees looking for? We’re not ignoring them because they’re the X-factor that makes [the event] memorable,” Holsinger said. “Attendees tell us they want hands-on; they want to participate. They tell us they want connections outside of the booth as well. This is a wake up to exhibitors and exhibit marketers to think differently about how they show up.”
The report revealed that 47% of attendees measured the value of immersive experiences at in-person professional events by being exposed to a new product, and 44% said they measured by if it helped them learn something that benefitted their company. Respectively, only 20% and 28% of organizers said they believed that’s how attendees were measuring the value. In contrast, 43% of organizers thought attendees would measure the immersive experience by if it was memorable after the event; only 27% of attendees agreed.
And while it may be discouraging to know investments in these typically big-budget experiences don’t always resonate with attendees in the intended way, there is a silver lining: Giving attendees the experiences they really value and remember doesn’t require big budgets.
Opportunities to Leverage Personalization that Makes an Impact
To attendees, the most important event elements to have personalized are the expo hall areas of interest, exhibitors to visit and sessions they should attend. This connects directly to attendees’ core objectives of learning, networking and commerce.
For organizers, this can be good news; not only do these insights help you to best determine where to invest, you already may have a lot of the data needed to personalize these elements. Registration data, past session attendance data, interest tags and even app behavior can be used to help your teams personalize the elements that make the biggest impact on attendees’ experience.
Gaps in Understanding
The report also called out some significant gaps between what organizers think attendees are looking for and thinking compared to what attendees said they want.
- 78% of organizers say they’re delivering “peak moments.” Only 40% of attendees said they’ve had one.
- When it comes to F&B and how it impacts an experience, 38% of organizers said options that adhere to dietary restrictions was one of the most important factors to attendees. Only 9% of attendees agreed.
- 30% of attendees said a confusing expo floor layout/design is a source of friction that results in a negative experience at in-person events. Only 13% of organizers said that a confusing expo floor layout/design would be most likely to cause friction.
- In the report, 47% of attendees said they measure the value of “immersive” experiences by if it exposed them to a new product, service or solution, but only 20% of organizers believed attendees would use that as a measurement of an “immersive” experience.
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