Tradeshows are expensive to organise and to run. You want to cast a wide marketing net to attract a big footfall. You may tell prospective exhibitors about the huge crowds you expect to bring to encourage them to take space at your show.
Even if you succeed in bringing as many as 60% of the visitors you promised, how many of those will be serious buyers versus tyre-kickers, curiosity seekers, students, or others without purchasing power on a day out the office.
All visitors may have a valuable experience at your event regardless of their motivation for attending, but your exhibitors are paying good money to meet desirable clients with influence in the buying process. If such attendees account for a small percentage of your footfall, and you could somehow identify them in advance, then do you need a big exhibition space? If you could bring those buyers together with your suppliers for 15-30 face to face meetings in an intimate and congenial environment (e.g. a hotel in the countryside), imagine the costs you could save. Your suppliers would love it too – not having to spend extravagantly on their exhibition stand and having to staff it for two or three days, hoping for some big fish to stop by for a nibble.
At Delegate Select, we call such events “buyer-supplier forums or summits”. They have represented over half our business for the past 15 years. Please schedule a meeting with us to hear about our experiences and see a demo.