Among the highlights of the 2026 Human2Human Summit in Dubai was a look at exhibitor satisfaction data spanning 2017 to 2024. The direction of travel was clear. Exhibitor sentiment improved after COVID, and the discussion positioned in-person experience as a premium product.
This piece is about that direction, not the numbers. The headline matters more than any single data point, and it raises questions that every organiser, venue and attraction in this community will recognise.
What we heard on the day
The data covered a long arc: the years before the pandemic, the disruption itself and the period that followed. Two messages stood out. Exhibitor sentiment improved after COVID. And in-person experience was positioned as a premium product.
That sits comfortably with the idea at the heart of H2H. The organisers describe human connection as "the ultimate currency". If that holds, then in our view the show floor is where the currency changes hands, and premium is the right word for what happens there.
Premium is a promise, not a price tag
Calling in-person a premium product is encouraging. It is also a commitment. In our view, premium products in any category share three habits: they price on value, they design every touchpoint with care, and they can show customers why the experience is worth it. Here is how we, as a community, read those habits for live events.
Pricing: charge for outcomes, not square metres
If exhibitors value the in-person experience more, the temptation is to raise rates and stop there. Our view is that premium pricing holds only when it is anchored to what exhibitors actually come for: qualified conversations, new relationships and time with the right buyers. Floor space is the container. It is not the product.
The same day offered a useful reference point. ADIPEC grew into a show of 239,000 visitors by investing in content rather than margin. That story is a reminder that a premium position is often earned by reinvesting, not by extracting.
Experience design: earn the premium every hour
A premium product cannot afford weak moments. For exhibitions, we would look hard at the parts of the day that tend to attract the least praise: arrival, wayfinding, quiet hours on the stand, the walk between halls. We would also design deliberately for the encounters that justify the trip.
This is where technology has a clear role. The day's discussion of AI in live experiences was summed up as "AI cleans the path, humans walk it." Our reading for exhibitions is simple. Use technology to remove friction, from matchmaking to logistics, so the human part of the event has more room to breathe.
Measurement: prove it, year after year
Perhaps the most instructive feature of the data was its length. A series that runs from 2017 to 2024 shows a trend, not a snapshot. Running a post-show survey is easy. Keeping the questions stable enough to compare across years, and linking satisfaction to rebooking and spend, is much harder.
If in-person is a premium product, we would argue the industry needs premium-grade evidence: consistent methods, honest benchmarks and measures that go beyond a single satisfaction score.
| Area | A question for your leadership team |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Which part of our rate card reflects outcomes, and which part simply reflects space? |
| Experience design | Where in the exhibitor journey does the premium promise break down? |
| Measurement | Could we show a sentiment trend over several years, using the same questions each time? |
Beyond the exhibition hall
The data concerned exhibitors, but the question reaches across the whole room. Venues, visitor attractions and conference producers also sell time spent together in person, and each has its own version of the premium test. A theme-park operator and a trade-show organiser may have more in common than they think. Each may already measure something the other would find useful.
The community's question: if in-person is now a premium product, are we pricing, designing and measuring it like one?
Join the conversation
We would like to build on this with your evidence as well as ours.
- Share your data. Do you track exhibitor or visitor sentiment over time? Tell members what you measure and what has changed since COVID, even in broad terms.
- Challenge the premise. Is premium the right frame for your market, or does it risk pricing out the exhibitors who need events most?
- Compare notes across sectors. Find peers in venues, attractions and conferences through Connect.
Catch up on the full day in our summit recap, ask Amal anything about H2H, or see how to get involved in shaping the themes of the next edition. More analysis lives in Insights.