SECAUCUS, N.J. — Fifty-five percent of attendees at Informa Markets’ SupplySide East, a leading event for the global health and nutrition industry held April 16-17 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center, were first-time visitors this year, a higher percentage when compared to 2023. SupplySide East also saw a 4% growth in exhibiting companies in 2024.
Additionally, the show increased its sponsorships, returning to pre-COVID sales, and partnerships were expanded as well this year.
“SupplySide East is a leader in both sponsorship and attendee revenue performance relative to show size. That’s one of the things that’s pretty exciting about this particular event,” Danica Cullins, Senior Vice President, SupplySide at Informa Markets, said.
Cullins shared that the show’s new partners helped bring in first-time attendees, while its high-quality programming and networking opportunities fueled growth overall. “The ability to differentiate events that are otherwise similar is a growing challenge in this industry, and an exciting problem to try to solve through creative thinking, and really understanding your audience and their needs.
“While growth and expansion are always important, keeping SupplySide East intimate and curated is actually our priority, to allow for deeper connections and more time to be spent nurturing relationships… It is a high-quality event. Really being focused on that quality experience, [and] quality connections also means that people are willing to pay for that experience.”
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New Opportunities
Attendee feedback in the form of customer interviews and surveys from previous events indicated that managed networking opportunities were preferred by many over one-to-one scheduled matchmaking.
Subsequently, new networking sessions were added where attendees could connect in a small group setting and develop high-quality relationships at SupplySide East this year.
New sessions in 2024 included “Accelerating Newcomers in the Industry,” designed to help the show’s increased number of first-time participants meet exhibitors and other attendees, created in-part due to exhibitor input, and a reception hosted by Women in Nutraceuticals.
The show’s most-popular new addition in 2024 was a Headshot Lounge. 400 attendees participated in the feature, which is more than 15% of the show’s total attendance.
“People are in all kinds of different working conditions now, so when you can go to an event and find something unexpected that aids a piece of your personal life that maybe is in parallel to a typical event experience, we’re just seeing that it really delights people,” Cullins added. “Sometimes, just something simple really can make a really big difference in experience.”
Looking Ahead
SupplySide East will return to the Meadowlands Exposition Center April 8-9, 2025.
“Our aim will be continuing to deliver that intimate, high-value experience that you can’t get at a larger event. We’ll be focused on continuing to deliver really strong new attendee numbers and experiences for our exhibitors, and of course keeping up with the industry and being thought leaders,” Cullins said.
Learn more by emailing SupplySidePR@informa.com.
