CHICAGO — During the annual National Restaurant Association Show, which is produced by Informa Connect, Freeman held one of its Inside Live events, inviting trade show and event organizers to share in 1.5 days of learning, collaboration, hands-on workshops and expo floor tours.
The focus of the event, which took place at Chicago’s McCormick Place, was around optimizing outcomes for attendees and exhibitors through intentional design and creating impactful moments at an event that increase engagement and retention.
“Hands-on and in-person education, like Inside Live, is something I’ve wanted to create for clients for a long time, an experience where they can step inside a live event and see firsthand how strategy, design and engagement all come together,” said Martin Moggré, Chief Client Officer at The Freeman Company. “Now in its third year, it’s incredibly rewarding to see planners leave with practical ideas they can actually apply to their own events, along with the confidence to think differently about what conventions and trade shows can be. The best part is watching clients connect with each other, share challenges openly and realize they’re all navigating many of the same shifts around audience expectations and experience design.”
Diving into Strategy
Inside Live is a combination of education sessions, workshops and checking out live shows. While the expo tours and workshops provided attendees with the ability to see the action and test out ideas and strategizing for themselves, the sessions set the tone for the event and provided the context needed to make real-world changes.
Kicking off the event was George Newman, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and Author, who gave a keynote focused on finding great ideas. Newman argued that great ideas aren’t “brain-born,” and instead emphasized that the best and most impactful ideas come from discovery.
Then, Ken Holsinger, Senior Vice President of Strategy & Insights at Freeman, gave a deep dive into the latest Freeman Trends Report, which focused on the changes in learning expectations of attendees. A major idea from Holsinger’s session was that while the online environment is built for consumption, in-person events are an opportunity for retention, collaboration and transformation. He also emphasized that learning is tied to networking, and networking experiences built around shared professional challenges and interests are highly impactful.
In another session, jointly presented by Emily Golding, Vice President of Marketing Strategy at mdg, and Caitlin Rogers, Senior Director of Marketing & Exhibition at Informa Connect Foodservice, the two gave a masterclass in being guided by data and demonstrating adaptability for the National Restaurant Association Show. By leaning into generation shifts, focusing on specific domestic and international markets and making adjustments to campaigns in real time, the team was able to generate impressive preliminary, semi-final results: more than 54,800 registrations and doubled-digit growth in non-U.S., North American registrants and in Gen Z participation.
Innovation in Action
Tours of the show floor helped bring the concepts discussed in sessions to life, as attendees strolled through the National Restaurant Association Show’s “neighborhoods,” or sections of the show floor where exhibitors with similar solutions and products were grouped together.
Also highlighted on the tours were engagement drivers, such as the podcasting booth, which reflects the growing importance of engaging podcasters and influencers in the marketing and programming of a show to draw younger generations of professionals.
Another showcased feature across the show floor were demos and test kitchens, where foodservice professionals could see real products and solutions in action in a live environment.
These live demos reflected a session topic during the Inside Live programming: to attendees, exhibitors are the experience at an event. Designing for discovery, doing and dialogue on the show floor and in booths has a positive impact on attendees; and organizers can incentivize and train exhibitors to provide such experiences.
Attendees also saw a cohesive theme in play across the full show floor, with bright colors and cheeky slogans like “Big Dish Energy” displayed, that reflected the event team’s efforts to draw in a younger audience and generate high energy in 2026. The onsite design was a true extension of the event’s pre-show marketing, delivering on the marketing promise to be engaging and fun.
Hands-On Experimenting and Impactful Discussions
Inside Live’s programming featured Expert Exchanges, where Freeman team members led thoughtful discussions around challenges organizers are facing today, such as developing high-value, desirable sponsorships; creating low-cost high-impact networking opportunities; measuring expo floor impact and ROI; using data and design to create more personalized experiences for attendees, and more.
Attendees rotated through the Expert Exchanges in pre-assigned schedules based on the topics they identified during registration, showcasing how event organizers can use registration questions to deliver curated and impactful content that combines networking and learning.
To showcase the impact of hands-on learning experiences, and to bring all of the education from the event together, Inside Live capped off with a hands-on lab activity. Groups of attendees were tasked with creating an event that featured impactful design to drive traffic and engagement, creative decisions rooted in strategic event outcomes, and thoughtful opportunities for sponsorship and partnership.
“Our group did a conference for dogs, which sounds silly, but it really helped me put myself in the place of the attendee and think, ‘What would they want to see?'” said Romi Zachar, Meeting Planner at the National Defense Industrial Association. “For example, we were going to split exhibitors into different sections based on what services they provide (online pharmacy, pet food, grooming, veterinary care, etc.). And then it occurred to me that if I were a dog, I do not want to take meds or go to the vet! So, we pivoted and split up exhibitors by food brands, so we did four sections: cheese, peanut butter, chicken and beef. I know it sounds silly, but I found this to be super eye opening!”
New Research from Freeman
During the event, Freeman also released an all-new research report centered around non-attendees and what would make them more inclined to attend an event.
You can read about the report’s findings, and get exclusive insights from Freeman’s Vice President of Strategy and Insights, Annie Malone, here.
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