UFI selects Grip as Speed Networking Partner partner for its sold out European Conference
UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry has selected Grip as its Speed Networking Partner for its 2023 European Conference.
Pre-scheduled meeting events, like hosted buyer, which were popular over a decade ago, are having a renaissance as organizers look to increase revenues during the economic downturn. This is a key finding in a major new report from DAHLIA+Agency which reveals 67% of event organizers are looking to run one or more pre-scheduled meetings programs at their events in the next 12 months.
The B2B Relationships report features a survey of 91 senior-level event executives and interviews with seven leading pre-scheduled meeting practitioners from event organizations like Clarion Events and PCMA. It investigates the surging popularity for pre-scheduled meetings, like hosted buyer-style events. The report’s findings include:
Why pre-scheduled meetings are having a moment
“Serendipity is a highly regarded attribute of face-to-face events. However, structured meetings programs deliver more measurable customer satisfaction, value and revenue. It’s synchronized meetings for the win,” said Dahlia El Gazzar, CEO of DAHLIA+Agency. “This is important during an economic downturn when marketers want to know exactly what they are buying from event organizers. They want to know they are buying meetings - time is the highest valued asset at events - with pre-qualified people that lead to longer-term relationships.”
$1m revenue opportunity
Clarion Events, RX and Connections Luxury are just some of the event organizers running pre-scheduled meetings. The financial benefits to organizers that run these types of events where meetings happen between ‘buyers’ and ‘suppliers’ are clear. Some generate almost $1m by implementing pre-scheduled meetings, according to Grip, the award-winning AI-powered event platform, which sponsored the report.
“Our pre-scheduled meeting calculator shows that an event with 50 suppliers and 15 meetings per supplier could generate $901,500 in additional revenue for an event organizer,” said Tim Groot, founder and CEO of Grip. “This is a huge win during the current downturn and explains why pre-scheduled meetings are surging in popularity. Exhibitors’ marketing budgets are being squeezed and demonstrating ROI for any event spend is vital. Previously, marketers spent huge sums exhibiting at a show in the hope they would meet the right people. But now, they can buy a meeting package and have meetings with pre-qualified buyers.”
The rise of ERM
The report also detailed a new four-step discipline, Event Relationship Management (ERM):
Dahlia El Gazzar, explained: “The implications of investing in ERM - of which pre-scheduled meetings are a critical building block - are compelling, and a solid long-term revenue generator for event organizers. A business model that depends on increasing the volume of attendees every year is expensive to maintain. However, focusing on repeatable, high-quality meetings could lower the cost of attendee acquisition and yield more long-term benefits.”
To download a copy of The B2B Relationships report, please visit: https://discover.grip.events/whitepaper/b2b-relationships-report
A webinar on the report featuring Dahlia El Gazzar, takes place May 3rd: https://discover.grip.events/webinar/pre-scheduled-meetings
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About the report
The report was published 26 April 2023 and the research was conducted in March 2023. Report contributors:
About DAHLIA+Agency
DAHLIA+AGENCY is a brand + experience + marketing agency. Its competitive masterminds have crafted and executed inspired, authoritative and provocative campaigns + experiences delivering exponential, winning results.
About the report author
Michelle Bruno, MPC, CEM, CMP, is a technical marketing writer, content strategist and technology journalist at DAHLIA+Agency, she helps technology companies and event organizers find their communication, product positioning and technology sweet spots.
About Grip
Grip is an award-winning AI-powered event platform, built for meetings and matchmaking. Featuring a class-leading mobile app, Grip helps event organizers increase attendee engagement, lead generation and revenue. Learn more at: grip.events