IOEX has been carrying out an industry survey which has revealed that budgets for the event industry are looking positive with 83.4% of the respondents saying their investment budget would be the same or increased in 2012, with continued growth maintained into 2013.
Growth was the theme for the year with 64% saying their prospects are looking better this year, and opinions revealing an overall upbeat outlook for the future.
Respondents showed that technology was at the forefront of organiser's minds, with 57.1% responding that they would be investing in event technology and 53.7% in AV equipment. Event management, lighting and sound and entertainment came out next in the poll as the largest spends from these organisers.
The poll showed that 45% of respondents highlighted the current economy as the biggest issue affecting the events industry this year, compared to only 18% who highlighted the Olympics as a key influence.
UBM Portfolio director, Jonny Sullens comments, "The results of the IOEX survey certainly echo the feeling in the industry that 2012 will be an exciting year of growth and change. With so many external factors at the forefront of our minds, the results will now be fed into our seminar programme to make sure we can provide insight for the areas our organiser and brand visitors are interested in. A big thanks must go to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey and looking forward to seeing you all in March."
The research also reflected the diverse nature of many event businesses with almost all respondents highlighting a mix of two or three different event types in their remit, including festivals, experiential campaigns, conferences, corporate hospitality, exhibitions and product launches.
Predictably, one of the most prominent areas for development was social media, with 86% of organisers responding that they would be investing more in social media as part of the event marketing mix.
The digital survey was carried out from the 2-20 January 2012 and was promoted via social media, the IOEX website, direct mail and press coverage. The survey was aimed at a wide demographic of people in the event industry likely to attend IOEX, with 81% of them being decision makers or influencers such as executives, event organisers and chief executives. The majority came from corporate organisations and a quarter from agencies or professional organisers.
(Jim Evans)
