The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) announced today the release of the second report in its newest series, 2016 Attendee Retention Insights Part Two: Exhibition Floor Features that Build a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience.

This landmark body of research offers organizers a comprehensive resource to help understand the profile of attendees that visit an exhibition repeatedly and the content that turns them into loyal customers.

"Response to this new study is strong,” said CEIR President and CEO Brian Casey, CEM. “Clearly organizers are looking for direction on how to maximize retention of a quality attendee base. Part Two of the series reveals that repeat attendees go back to events that deliver the quality face-to-face interaction and product experiences they want, which speaks to the overall power of exhibitions.”

Part Two: Exhibition Floor Features that Build a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience examines the various aspects of an exhibition floor and identifies which offerings have the greatest impact on converting attendees to loyal alumni to a specific event. Key findings show that:

·  The quality of face-to-face interactions with booth staff is the primary exhibition floor feature that builds loyal alumni.  For nine out of 10 alumni, it is important to be able to have specific questions answered “on-the-spot” and to be able to engage with product experts and designers.

·  The second exhibition floor feature that builds loyal alumni is the quality of product interactions. Three out of four come back for in-booth product demonstrations and new product showcase areas, among other product interaction opportunities.

The full report lists the level of importance to repeat attendees of a total of 16 different exhibition floor features. It compares these importance rankings to what exhibition organizers think is important to their alumni.

This comparative exercise identifies where repeat attendee and organizer perceptions are aligned and where there are gaps, offering areas of opportunity to consider for improvement.

In addition to total results, 2016 Attendee Retention Insights Part Two: Exhibition Floor Features that Build a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience identifies unique preferences by attendee demographics, including by gender, age, role in purchasing decisions, job level, organizational size, annual purchases of show-related products and services and profile of event attended.

Additionally, exhibition organizer results that differ from total results are reported as well, including by: whether association-run or independently-run; size of exhibition by Net Square Feet and number of attendees; whether an event rotates locations and whether an event occurs during the business week only or includes a weekend day.

The 2016 Attendee Retention Insights series consists of five reports focusing on the largest trade shows in the U.S. to understand what generates loyalty among attendees and how event organizers motivate them to return on a regular basis.

Input was sought from organizer and repeat attendee perspectives. The resulting reports offer readers a road map for benchmarking attendee retention strategy practices with industry norms; an understanding of commonly held characteristics of professionals who attend a given event regularly; and insights to guide organizers in their marketing and event development.

Other reports in the 2016 Attendee Retention Insights series are:

·  Part One: Basics for Creating Your Attendee Retention Strategy: Tracking, Profiling and Why They Come Back (released in April 2016)

·  Part Three: Education Content that Builds a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience

·  Part Four: Special Activities and Amenities that Build a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience

·  Part Five: Eleven Real-world Business-to-Business Exhibition Organizer Attendee Retention Approaches

Click here to download 2016 Attendee Retention Insights Part Two: Exhibition Floor Features that Build a Loyal Alumni Attendee Audience.