SISO Update
As the end of June approaches, we are happy to report that advocacy efforts were successful in bringing about the end of pre-departure testing requirements to enter the U.S. In recent weeks, a number of successful SISO member shows — including Outdoor Retailer, ECEF and Connect Spring — were held around the globe. Good news: Emerald and Informa are reporting strong financial performance in the first half of 2022.
SISO Activities
Summer Conference
The early-bird deadline is quickly approaching! July 8 is the cut off for early-bird registration for the conference and hotel reservations. Book now to guarantee your room at the headquarters hotel.
SISO continues to offer the ‘1-FREE' program to encourage all member companies to send additional staff. Each member company has been given a unique code, which enables the first person to register from your company at “NO CHARGE.” That's right ... one free registration for each member company to send a representative to attend. If you have misplaced your unique company code, please contact Anna@SISO.org. This code must be used by the early bird deadline of July 8.
To register additional attendees, the cost during the early bird registration is just $495. After July 8, the price goes up $100 per registration. Register NOW and take advantage of this special SISO Member rate.
The Schedule of Events and details of the sessions will be added as they become available on the SISO website.
SISO is once again offering the SISO Women's Leadership Forum, which will run 8:30 a.m.– 4:45 p.m. CT on Tues., Aug. 9. The SISO Women's Leadership Forum will end just prior to the Opening Night of the SISO Summer Conference. Visit OKC will host a reception on Monday, Aug. 8. The cost to add on the full SISO Women's Leadership Forum to your SISO Summer Conference registration is just $99 for SISO Member Companies, and we invite both men and women to join!
Here's a sneak peek at two sessions you won't want to miss at the SISO Women's Leadership Forum:
Session: Being Heard at the Table Now that women have a 'seat at the table', how can they be better 'heard' when they speak at the table? We'll have a mixed male/female panel to talk through how both sides could work together to ensure women not only feel supported by their male counterparts but also develop effective skills to make sure they are 'heard.'
Moderated by
- Mary Larkin, President - Diversified Communications
Presented by
- Cassandra Farrington, Co-Founder - MJBiz
- Fernando Fischer, President - RX Americas
- Hervé Sedky, President and CEO - Emerald
Keynote & Workshop: Mental Fitness for Leaders & Teams: Tame Your Saboteurs, Gain Your Competitive Edge, and Thrive! This interactive morning session will shine light on the ways leaders actively sabotage themselves, their teams and others in their lives. A three-step process will be introduced that reveals the 10 negative mental patterns that impact: effective performance, health and wellness, and relationships. An opportunity will be provided for attendees to assess their own saboteurs, as well as gain awareness of the five positive mental patterns that, with simple daily practice, can change the neural pathways in the brain and begin to build better ways in which to respond to the challenges and opportunities of life. Together, with peers, attendees will engage to understand and explore the strength of their own mental muscles and what they can do to strengthen them going forward.
Presented by: Karen Z. Gifford, Coach, Consultant, Facilitator, Sounding Board, Advisor for Gifford Management If you have any questions regarding your registration or hotel, please direct them to Anna@SISO.org. Asia CEO Summit
Mark your calendar and plan to attend the Asia CEO Summit, which will be held Oct. 5-7 at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore.
Organized jointly by AEO - Association of Event Organisers, SACEOS, SISO - Society of Independent Show Organisers, UFI - The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry and supported by Singapore Tourism Board, the Asia CEO Summit will set the stage for the revival and reimagination of the #MICE industry in the region. This invite-only event is for the CEOs of business event organizers, based all over the world with an interest in Asia and the regional market. With the mantra ‘Pathways for Growth,' the collective knowledge is huge, and the need to forge new and deeper relationships across all corners of the globe has never been more important. Find out more about the Asia CEO Summit. If you're interested in being part of event, please contact Anna@SISO.org CEO Summit
Mark your calendar and plan to attend the 2023 SISO CEO Summit, which will be held March 20-23 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas.
Couldn't make this year's SISO CEO Summit, held March 21-24 at the Vinoy Renaissance in St. Petersburg, FL, in 2022? See the video wrap-up and hear what our attendees had to say.
View a photo gallery from the 2022 SISO CEO Summit.
Case Studies
Since the pandemic began, SISO published 12 case studies from member events. Read the case studies.
In addition, SISO produced a number of video case studies and interviews with exhibitors and attendees who we interviewed about the importance of face-to-face as a critical marketing channel. Watch the video case studies and interviews.
Special Interest Groups
Small Business SIG
The Small Business SIG will host the Small Business Roundtable, which will be live and in person on Tues., Aug. 9 at 1 p.m. CT at the SISO Summer Conference in Oklahoma City, OK. We will begin with lunch at 12 p.m. CT just prior to the start of the afternoon session. The description of the session can be found here.
The Small Business Roundtable is open to SISO small business members and their team leaders. Small Businesses are companies with an annual income under $10 million. There is an additional registration cost of $49 to attend. If you have any questions, please send an email to info@siso.org. B2C SIG (formerly known as the Consumer Events SIG)
The B2C SIG will host a Think Tank Discussion Topic: Event Activations & Experiential at 1 p.m. ET on Tues., June 28. B2C show producers are often times dealing with experiential agencies wanting to activate within our shows. During this think tank and group discussion, we will chat through unique activations and pricing models, structuring of the experiential sponsorship deal, KPIs, experiential sales cycle and the convergence of live vs. digital programming expected by event and social agencies alike.
The session is free, but you must register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting.
In April, the Consumer Events SIG hosted a “Think Tank” to talk about community. The group discussed the important role that community plays in today's evolving event landscape. Watch the video. Exhibition World published Curator of the Your Community by SISO Content Director Danica Tormohlen with six key takeaways from the B2C SIG webinar in their June/July issue. Marketing SIG Earlier this week, the SISO Marketing SIG hosted a webinar titled The Future of HR & Recruiting for the NEW Marketing Team. Three SISO members — Heather Crovo, VP HR, Clarion Events North America, Danielle Antes, Director, Talent Acquisition, Emerald, David Herd, Talent Acquisition Manager, Clarion Events North America — shared what they are doing in their organizations to attract and retain talent in marketing. In addition, they shared front-line conversations from candidates on what is most important to today's workforce. If you missed the webinar, you can watch the video on demand.
Alliances
Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance (ECA)
On June 10, the Biden administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the lifting of the pre-departure Covid-19 testing requirements for inbound international air travelers beginning on June 12. As a result, air travelers no longer must show a negative Covid-19 test or documentation of recovery from Covid-19 before boarding a flight to the U.S. (Of note, this only applies to vaccinated international travelers; unvaccinated international travelers are still restricted by the CDC from entering the U.S.)
ECA applauded this removal of one of the critical barriers to getting people from around the world back to business at U.S. exhibitions and conferences! For more on ECA's perspective, please see these articles quoting ECA from CEO Update, Exhibit City News, Exhibition World, Meetings Net, Trade Show Executive and TSNN. Events Industry Council
Last month, the Events Industry Council launched the data collection phase of its landmark Economic Significance Study, in collaboration with Oxford Economics. As a valued partner of the Events Industry Council, SISO is asking for your support in spreading awareness of the survey through social media and in direct emails to your members and partners.
To assist with this, we have created a template email and some suggested social media posts and assets, which can be downloaded here. So that EIC can track completion rates, EIC has created a personalised survey link for SISO members.
In addition to SISO, the Economic Significance Study is supported by AHLA, ASAE, Freeman, IACC, IAEE, Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, Maritz Global Events, Meetings Mean Business, MGM Resorts International, MPI, Northstar Meetings Group, NYC and Co, PCMA, RCMA and USTA. Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR)
The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has released the 2022 Index Report: Exhibition Industry and Future Outlook. The 2022 CEIR Index Report is an established and trusted tool for exhibition industry professionals. It is designed to be representative of the entire universe of business-to-business exhibitions in North America and includes geometrical averaging of the four component values – NSF, Exhibitor, Attendance and Revenue predictions through 2024 and data tables that provide actual numbers for each metric in 14 Industry sectors.
Organizers can compare their own show data to others in the same industry sector. Global Economic Consulting Associates, Inc. (GECA) provided the data analysis for the Index. U.S. Travel
On June 10, the U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued the following statement on the Biden administration's announcement that the pre-departure testing requirement for inbound air travelers to the United States would be lifted on June 12:
“Today marks another huge step forward for the recovery of inbound air travel and the return of international travel to the United States. The Biden administration is to be commended for this action, which will welcome back visitors from around the world and accelerate the recovery of the U.S. travel industry.”
“International inbound travel is vitally important to businesses and workers across the country who have struggled to regain losses from this valuable sector. More than half of international travelers in a recent survey pointed to the pre-departure testing requirement as a major deterrent for inbound travel to the U.S.
“Prior to the pandemic, travel was one of our nation's largest industry exports. The lifting of this requirement will enable the industry to lead the way toward a broader U.S. economic and jobs recovery.
Moving Forward Updates
According to the CDC's data, as of June 21, a total of 221.9 million Americans, or 66.8% of the U.S. population, had been fully vaccinated. In total, 259.1 million Americans have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, or 78.1% of the U.S. population. Worldwide, 12 billion doses have been administered across 184 countries, as of June 21, according to Bloomberg. We're happy to share a few links of recent news and positive moves for our industry.
- Vincent Brain Joins Arc as General Manager of Bridge2Food by Arc (6/20)
- Emerald releases June 2022 Investor Presentation, reports 25% of planned 2022 trade shows expected to exceed pre-pandemic revenues by Emerald (6/16)
- Informa reports Robust Trading, Increased Portfolio Focus and Accelerating Shareholder Returns by In...