I recently read an interesting piece from the Harvard Business Review about the size of the events industry.
This quote in particular really grabbed me:
“According to a report by the Convention Industry Council, about 225 million people attend more than 1.8 million events sponsored by companies and associations, including 270,000 conventions and 11,000 trade shows per year. In 2012, even in the midst of an anemic global economy and budget tightening at firms, the amount spent on these events worldwide was an estimated $565 billion.
Hosting, attending, and exhibiting at events comprise a whopping 21% of corporate marketing budgets, and one analysis indicates that these meetings contribute more to the [U.S.] GDP than the air transportation, motion picture, sound-recording, performing arts and spectator sport industries.”
Live events is a beast of an industry. I was surprised how big it actually is, even after working in it for 20 years. 21% of all corporate marketing budgets! Now that’s a lot of muffins and names badges.
As a start-up event technology company we are amongst thousands of different suppliers delivering, creating and thinking of innovative ways to assist event planners with their conference apps (which is where we specialise).
The most exciting thing to happen to the industry, like so many has been the invention of the smartphone and the digital revolution (including event apps!). Within a few years hundreds of event app companies have sprung up across the globe.
We welcome this as it pushes R&D and innovative thinking, hopefully there will be many players in the future and not just a few big companies that dominate the market and stifle new ideas and technological breakthroughs including event apps.
As for the future I see a bright and vibrant event industry taking innovative technologies forward and bridging the gap between the digital and physical space. It’s a really exciting time to be in this industry, especially as an event app provider.
Pete Hair – CrowdComms, Co-Founder
