Industry’s best asset

Trade exhibitions are proving to be a major asset to the country, having boosted the UK economy by ￡10.9 billion last year. At a time when many sectors are struggling and the nation has even faced recession, the business events industry has demonstrated an impressive 17 per cent growth between 2022 and 2023.

The data – released as part of a report compiled by the Events Industry Alliance Ltd (EIA) earlier this week - indicates growth in both the number of trade exhibitions, and the size of individual events. The report also acknowledged the secondary boost to industries such as hospitality, travel and hotels, which inevitably feel the benefit of increased footfall to exhibitions.

“We hope that these positive figures encourage the next Government to really notice and pay attention to our industry,” says Marija Erzen , EIA chair and chair of industry body ESSA . “The events industry’s strong growth really demonstrates our potential and resilience as an industry during an economically challenging year for many.”

The exponential growth was felt on the ground at exhibitions across the full breadth of industry sectors last year, with exhibitors reporting increased footfall, a growth in genuine business enquiries and an overall buoyancy following the enforced hiatus of the pandemic. As a leading and trusted partner for exhibition stand design and build, Smart Display has first-hand experience of the increase in business and positivity across its varied portfolio of clients.

“Face to face interaction is firmly back in business, and the vast majority of our exhibitors reported an upsurge in attendance at every exhibition we installed at last year,” says Smart Display’s sales manager Ben Rose . “Now with 2024 well underway, we are noticing that our returning clients are investing into bigger floor spaces and more impressive design features because – in their words – the stand pays for itself in footfall and business enquiries.”

All Smart Display clients benefit from the extensive creativity and expertise of its design team, ensuring that brand vision aspirations can be executed with precision manufacture and build. Delivering the necessary impact to drive footfall and sales to the right place, every Smart stand is also as sustainable as possible, offering clients the chance to re-use their elements to boost their green credentials, as well as brand consistency from one event to the next.

“We invested into a bespoke stand design with Smart Display and it quickly paid for itself,” says Jamie Shaw, director and co-founder of oil management specialist OMS LubriTek Limited and exhibitor at Interplas UK 2023. “Our stand attracted one million per cent more people than we saw at our previous show, and we have already booked again for next time around.

“The investment into a trade show isn’t just the cost of a stand; it’s hotels and time away from the business and, if it is worth doing, you have to have the right presence and branding. And the best thing for us was getting to the show the day before it opened and, instead of fighting our way through pallets and teething troubles, the stand was just there and it looked fantastic. If I was in a competitor’s shoes looking at our stand, I would have felt envious, and the quality of the leads and the potential business that we secured mean that the stand has already paid for itself.”

As the industry’s attention turns to the busy September / October period, Smart Display’s calendar is already filling up with repeat custom and brand new business across a varied range of industry sectors.

“The number of exhibitions over the last year - including both new and long standing repeat exhibitions - is really promising,” concludes Rachel Parker , director at EIA. “The dynamism of the sector to move with new trends and trades when they emerge in the economy is a particular strength, and one that we hope to see more of in the future.”

If you have exhibitions scheduled into your business model and want to get a head start on the competition, see what we can do for you . We can inspire you with our past portfolio of designs and talk through your ideas to make your brand vision a structural reality #wemakeevents.