SISO Update
As summer begins, we are happy to report that for the first time since the pandemic, leisure and business flights surpassed 2019 levels in mid-May, according to CNBC. SISO member Winsight Media reported that attendance for the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago reached 65,000, after not meeting in person since 2019. Better news in China as Shanghai and Beijing are slowly reopening, after restrictions and lockdowns shut down the industry for most of Q2, according to CNBC.
SISO Activities
Summer Conference
Registration is open for the SISO Summer Conference. 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. SISO will also 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 Members Companies, and we invite both men and women to join us!
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.
CEO Summit
Couldn't make the 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. Attendees in their own words: Watch key takeaways from MJBiz's Cassandra Farrington, Continental Exhibitions'
Walter Charnizon and U.S. Travel Association's Nan Marchand Beauvois.
Read a full recap in the SISO media release here.
View a photo gallery from the 2022 SISO 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.
Special Interest Groups
Small Business
The Small Business SIG continues to hold roundtable discussions. Our next roundtable discussion will take place at 11 a.m. ET on Tues., June 21. If you are available, simply click here to join the conversation.
Later this summer, the Small Business Roundtable 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. Exact details will be posted as they become available on the SISO website.
The Small Business Roundtable at the SISO Summer Conference is open to all attendees of our Small Business member companies. 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)
????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 webinar in their June/July issue.
Looking ahead: The B2C SIG will host a Think Tank Discussion Topic: Event Activations & Experiential at 1:00 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 cycles and the convergence of live vs. digital programming expected by event and social agencies alike.
Marketing
In June, the SISO Marketing SIG will host a webinar titled The Future of HR & Recruiting for the NEW Marketing Team. Even before the pandemic, there was a race for talent. However, with the event market back, the shift in what new roles are needed to support the digitalization of events has become increasingly important to have your pulse on recruitment and retention for your marketing organization. Our panelists will share what they are doing in their organizations to attract and retain talent in marketing. In addition, they will share front-line conversations from candidates on what is most important to today's workforce. Our webinar will be an open conversation so bring your questions and ideas to our discussion!
Heather Crovo, VP HR, Clarion Events North America
Danielle Antes, Director, Talent Acquisition, Emerald
David Herd, Talent Acquisition Manager, Clarion Events North America
Save the date and Register NOW for this informative session 11 a.m. ET on Thurs., June 23.
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.
This is sure to be another informative session brought to you by the SISO Marketing SIG and one that you surely will not want to miss!
Case Studies
In February, SISO attended MAGIC, SOURCING, PROJECT, OFFPRICE AND Womenswear in Nevada (WWIN) in Las Vegas to interview exhibitors, attendees and show producers about the return of in-person. Exhibitors and attendees we interviewed were thrilled to back, and they shared their excitement about the importance of face-to-face as a critical marketing channel. Watch the video case study.
Alliances
Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance (ECA)
This past week was ECA Legislative Action Week, a week-long virtual event that brought together leaders and advocates from across the business events industry to meet with their members of Congress about the vital role that face-to-face business events play in economic growth, job creation and support for small businesses across the U.S.
ECA would like to thank the many SISO members and volunteer leaders who took part and shared ECA's 3-Point Recovery Plan with policymakers on Capitol Hill. This plan includes:
- Supporting efforts to provide relief to our industry's hard-hit small businesses
- Bringing back communicable disease coverage within event cancellation insurance
- Restoring pre-pandemic international travel policies and visa processing capacity
For those who were unable to be part of Legislative Action Week, you can learn more about ECA's policy priorities and advocacy work by watching the kickoff video here. We look forward to being back together in-person in Washington, DC for the 2023 event!
As a benefit, SISO has invested in ECA to advocate on behalf of member companies.
Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR)
The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) reports the U.S. business-to-business (B2B) exhibitions industry improved significantly in Q1 2022 from the previous eight quarters. Compared to 2021, cancellation rates for physical in-person events continues to drop with a cancellation rate of 9.2% in Q1 2022, compared to 91.3% in Q1 2021, 66.2% in Q2, 20.6% in Q3 and 12.5% in Q4. About 98% of exhibitions were cancelled during the 2nd half of 2020.
Read the full release.
As a member benefit, SISO members have complimentary access to all CEIR reports (except the Index) through this link.
Global Exhibitions Day
The 7th annual Global Exhibitions Day (#GED) was held on Wed., June 1. In partnership with UFI and other industry associations, SISO participated in campaigns to raise awareness for the global exhibitions industry and the value of face-to-face events. Thank you to SISO members who took the time to post, make videos, take pictures and share them on their social channels. You made a difference!
CLICK HERE TO SEE HIGHLIGHTS FROM GED 2022, BY REGION
SAVE THE DATE: The 8th annual Global Exhibitions Day will take place on June 7, 2023.
U.S. Travel
On June 6, the U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued a statement on the release of the federal government's new National Travel and Tourism Strategy:
“The recovery of American travel jobs and visitor spending hinges upon the annual growth of international inbound travel. America must apply every possible resource at rebuilding it to full strength to benefit American workers and businesses in every pocket of the country.
“The new National Travel and Tourism Strategy comes at an important time when international travel spending in the U.S. was still 78% below 2019 levels in 2021.
For more information, read the full statement.
Moving Forward Updates
According to the CDC's data, as of June 8, a total of 221.6 million Americans, or 66.7% of the U.S. population, had been fully vaccinated. In total, 258.8 million Americans have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, or 77.7% of the U.S. population. Worldwide, 12 billion doses have been administered across 184 countries, as of June 7, according to Bloomberg. We're happy to share a few links of recent news and positive moves for our industry.