The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) released an update to the 2009 report, The Spend Decision: Analyzing How Exhibits Fit into the Overall Marketing Budget, which provides an analysis of the changes and trends in the exhibition industry during the past several years, how the economy has impacted the global industry, and the outlook for the near future.

The total results were based on a survey completed in September 2011 by nearly 300 marketing executives who exhibited in at least one business-to-business exhibition in the past two years and have a minimum of $10 million in annual revenues. Based on their responses, the results provide insight into how marketing funds are allocated to business-to-business exhibitions, their objectives for participating and how they plan to measure success.

CEIR Research Director Nancy Drapeau, PRC, reports: "Results point to the resiliency of the business-to-business exhibition industry. The marketing channel spend allocation has held and increased during these challenging economic times. It has not lost allocation to competitor channels. Starting in 2010, the percentage allocation increased to 40.2 percent compared to 33.9 percent in 2009 and has held at this higher level, with a 39.2 percent allocation in 2011. It is a testament to the high value marketers place on participating in these events."

Findings do uncover negative effects from the economic collapse. Marketing budgets have contracted, therefore despite increases in the percentage allocation to business-to-business exhibitions; this percentage of a smaller marketing budget translates into overall spending that is flat, or a little less. The median spending per exhibition is $17,708 in 2011 compared to $18,500 in 2009."

A modest recovery is evidenced with increases in participation in the number of events. The lowest point was in 2009, with a median of eight events per year, down from a high of 14 in 2008 and 2007. Beginning in 2010, the median number of exhibitions increased to nine and is projected to hold at this level through 2012.

Booth size has remained the same for the majority of companies over the course of several years. In 2009, the median booth size fell to 200 square feet from a median of 300 square feet in 2008 and 2007. From 2010 through projections for 2012, the median remains at 200 net square feet.

Further analysis is available in the full report, which discusses forecasts for booth set-up and furnishings, booth staff travel, new exhibit purchases, trends in objectives for exhibiting, success metrics and commentary on reasons for exhibition schedules for 2011 and 2012.

CEIR gratefully acknowledges the grant from the Exhibition Industry Foundation (EIF) which made this research possible. CEIR also thanks Global Experience Specialists (GES) and Shepard Exposition Services for their contributions to this study.