The 12th edition of IMEX America closed on a note of welcome reassurance for the global business events industry today marking its biggest show ever.

With almost 15,000 confirmed participants on the show floor at Mandalay Bay, of which over 5,000 were buyers (including 4,000+ hosted buyers), IMEX America 2023 confirmed the sector has made a fast, robust comeback with growth in all areas, and both short and long-lead business being booked. Exhibitors also reported the welcome return of incentive trips and citywide, multi-venue events.

Buyers, of which one fifth represented the corporate sector, took part in over 80,000 pre-scheduled meetings in three days, of which 73,000 were one-to-ones with exhibitors.

Beth Olson, director of sales at Visit Santa Barbara, said: “The walk-up meetings have been as beneficial as our scheduled meetings – that was a hidden surprise for us! Our booth partners already have several RFPs in hand and in four days here I’ve covered more business than in four months!”

“We invested in our own booth for the first time as we wanted a stronger presence at the show,” explained Daniel Palamo, Director of Global Sales for Houston First Corporation. “We’ve had more meetings than ever before and a great quality of buyers. They’re coming to us ready to close business.”

Personalization  

Many exhibitors attracted strong interest from buyers with their personalized merchandise and unusual activations. The Visit Phoenix booth was constantly busy as buyers lined up to have their photos printed onto an edible cookie. Visit Baltimore’s temporary tattoos also created a buzz, while Brand Makers saw crowds of buyers lining up to design and brand their own baseball cap.

Elsewhere the show’s biggest ever Inspiration Hub, sponsored by WebEx, saw over 2000 people attend education sessions in a variety of formats across six tracks. Topics ranged from the personal – how to manage individual and team members’ mental health – to future trends and forecasts for different territories, sectors and worldwide. As an example, Data Driven Event Marketing Insights with Brittney Hegarty and Nicola Kastner, was set for 30 people but 85 showed up.

AI and event technology were both big talking points among exhibitors and buyers. Interest in AI is clearly strong, although anecdotal reports suggest that so far only a few companies are using it at an enterprise level.

Convenience on the go 

Reaction to the ease and simplicity of the new IMEX app powered by Expoplatform was positive, with buyers appreciating the ability to schedule meetings “in the moment” when they spotted business contacts live online. Several exhibitors with a few meeting spaces to fill successfully tapped into the app’s “promoted posts” feature to fill up their schedules within the day. Now that lead-scanning is free and built into the app, the data showed that 124,000 contacts were scanned during the week. The majority were supplier to buyer, but a proportion is also buyers connecting with buyers and exhibitors with exhibitors. In addition, 3,000 meetings were booked via the app during the show – a new feature that served its purpose of “convenience on the go.”

IMEX Group, CEO, Carina Bauer, remarked, “I’m delighted the industry turned out in such strong numbers from across the globe this week and that IMEX America once again provided a carefully-designed platform for everyone to come together for business, building better human connections around the world, growing and learning from each other. This was our biggest show ever, which was clear from the fact you can’t see the edges anymore!”

IMEX America 2024 will take place at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, and opens with Smart Monday, powered by MPI on Monday October 7, followed by the three-day trade show October 8 -10. www.imexamerica.com