Dr. Barış Onay

Nothing can describe Vibe Organising better than this Yogi Berra quote: “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is” Let’s be honest: you can be sure your young guns marketing team are already Vibe Organising. They’re not calling it vibe organising (yet). They’re just moving faster than your governance model was designed to allow

Most “strategy” in events starts the same way:

Opens a spreadsheet -> Googles competitors -> Starts gathering data -> nothing is standardised -> tries to remember what happened last year -> produces a deck -> Everyone has an idea what should be in it -> scope creep -> the base research takes weeks -> something needs to give -> a meeting happens without much of an agenda -> box ticked

AI changes this if you apply it as a synthesis engine, not a content generator.

Most event technology programmes fail for one simple reason: We treat adoption as a technical outcome when it’s actually a behavioural one

Organisers invest in a platform, launch an app, switch on matchmaking, and expect users to magically download it, complete profiles, message each other, and book meetings at scale. That’s actually a lot of work. A few post-show days later, the review lands on the same conclusion: “The tech wasn’t used.”

In a recent conversation, I spoke with Florent Jarry, Managing Director at Stax, the team behind the annual Top 20 Exhibition Organisers ranking, published each year, early September. We unpacked this year’s findings, the role of private equity, and what 2026 might bring.

Keep your eyes peeled for some last-minute brinksmanship and potential trade deals between the US and the rest of the world. You never know; this could all go away the way it started. The US and China seem to have agreed to a truce which might start the road to normalisation. Even in that scenario, the world outside the US has been warned; Uncle Sam doesn’t want to be your uncle anymore.

The United States' implementation of new trade tariffs on “Liberation Day” on April 2, 2025, has ignited widespread debate over its impact on international trade and the global tradeshow industry.

Trade tariffs are taxes placed on imported goods, driving their prices up and thus making them less competitive in domestic markets. As a result, nearly all international businesses exporting to the US are facing an instant decline in their local market competitiveness to varying degrees.

It was January 2015 when I took to the stage at the first UFI Global CEO Summit to discuss digital strategy in event businesses. A decade later, even though the world has changed drastically, the central premise holds true: Events businesses are handshakes businesses

…a key consensus from our panellists: the post-COVID revenue rebound is largely done (net sqm could tell another story, though). As a result, we anticipate a return to GDP growth plus a few percentage points as the baseline trajectory for the foreseeable future. That naturally means almost everyone will be looking to top that with inorganic growth, AKA acquisitions...

“...in 2012, the top 10 organisers represented around about 15-16% of the industry, and by the time you get to post-covid 10-11 years later, that's moved up to 29%, so compared to other industries like grocery supermarkets, that's still not very much, it's still very fragmented, but that's an incredible pace of change over ten years.”

Apple just unveiled their ski goggles for the super-rich: Apple Vision Pro, priced at $3499, to be available in early 2024. If you're done reading all the "Here's why you should be using ChatGPT for your event strategy" posts, you can now happily move on to "Here's why every event marketer needs a VR Strategy" posts. Happy days!

This digital checklist provides a range of questions that address the CEO's personal interaction with the digital systems and assets, the organizational structure and the management processes, and advanced technical questions to ask techies. CEOs can use the digital checklist to ensure the right KPIs are tracked for data and digital across their organization.