If your company plans to exhibit internationally, you need to keep up with the latest trends around the world. Just as the different areas of the globe have a variety of cultural norms and customs, trends for the exhibition industry are not a one-size-fits-all option.

Eventbrite recently surveyed more than 4,000 event creators from around the world to discover the latest trends in their particular corner of the world. Among the groups surveyed included those who run charities, conferences, classes, races, festivals, fundraisers, and live music events.

The areas that were surveyed were broken into six geographic regions: North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Brazil, and the Netherlands. Let’s take a dive into what their research uncovered and how it can help your exhibit program stand apart from the competition.

Event Growth

In most of these regions, a majority of event planners said they intended to host more events by the end of 2018 than in previous years. This response was below 50 percent only in the Netherlands and the UK (by a slight margin).

• Brazil – 74 percent

• Germany – 60 percent

• North America – 54 percent

• Australia – 52 percent

• United Kingdom – 49 percent

• Netherlands – 29 percent

In general, those planners who did not intend to increase their events were expecting to hold steady. For five out of six areas, the number of event planners who said they were going to decrease their events was at or less than 10 percent. The lone exception was the Netherlands where slightly more than 20 percent were going to cut their events, while approximately 55 percent intend to keep their event schedule the same.

Reasons for Hosting Events

Perhaps one reason for the Netherlands being an outlier is that the area has slightly different intentions for hosting events than most. For example, the regions that expect the second and third largest growth – Germany and North America – list their primary reason as “to generate revenue,” while the Netherlands says it is “to build community.”

Still, it’s difficult to say that theory is 100 percent accurate since the area with the fourth largest growth, Australia, also claims “to build community” as its number one reason, and the area with the largest growth, Brazil, has “for education or training” as the main focus.

Here’s the complete list what industry professionals stated as their top three reasons for hosting events by geographic area:

North America

• To generate revenue – 40 percent

• For education or training – 20 percent

• To build community – 14 percent

United Kingdom

• To generate revenue – 42 percent

• For education or training – 38 percent

• To build community – 32 percent

Australia

• To build community – 42 percent

• For education or training – 41 percent

• To make people aware of a brand, company, or cause – 35 percent

Germany

• To generate revenue – 56 percent

• For education or training – 35 percent

• To make people aware of a brand, company, or cause – 35 percent

Brazil

• For education or training – 49 percent

• To find new prospects (customers or partners) – 39 percent

• To generate revenue – 39 percent

Netherlands

• To build community – 38 percent

• To make people aware of a brand, company, or cause – 39 percent

• For education or training – 22 percent

Technology Adoption

Event technology adoption is going to continue to grow around the globe. However, it will not be the same technology.

For example, the vast majority of event creators (85 percent) agree that mobile event apps are useful and plan to utilize them. However, events in North America are the most likely ones to showcase augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) – North American event creators are three times as likely to utilize those technologies compared to the rest of the world. Whereas RFID use is growing in Australia, where between 10 and 20 percent of responders say they will use the technology at events this year.

Event Marketing

There is also global disagreement as to which channels are most effective for event marketing. Email marketing is believed to be the most effective in North America and the United Kingdom. However, event marketers in Australia rank it as their the least favorite method. It turns out that Australians prefer webinars, which was the least popular channel for those in North America and the United Kingdom. Brazilians kept out of this fray altogether, preferring to have their events placed on discovery sites and the websites of their partners.

So, what were believed to be the most effective marketing channels by North American event planners? In order of preference:

1. Email marketing

2. Influencer marketing

3. Content marketing

4. Search engine optimization (SEO)

5. Direct mail

6. Placement on discovery sites/partners

7. Webinars

It’s clear from this research that events are going to continue to grow across the globe. In fact, the global online event ticket market is expected to reach $67.99 billion by 2025 according to findings from Grand View Research, Inc.

It looks likely to get crowded on the show floor. Fortunately, we can help your display stand out from the crowd. Give Event Architecture a call at 972.323.9433, and see what solutions we can provide to ensure that your event is a smash hit anywhere in the world.