Trade shows have improved most for seeing existing customers. For meeting new ones, much less

Ask an exhibitor why they go to a trade show and they’ll most likely talk about new customers. The data only half agrees, because today’s shows are getting better and better at something else.

In Germany, the trade fair association AUMA asked exhibiting companies how they measure the success of taking part. Around 49% judge it mainly by the contacts, leads and new customers they win. Only around 4% put image or visibility first. For whoever pays for the stand, a trade show is above all a way of meeting people (AUMA Aussteller-Ausblick 2026-2027).

Now look at what has changed since the pandemic. UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, compares how well exhibitors say they achieve each of their objectives before and after the pandemic (UFI global statistics). The objective that has improved most is meeting existing customers: +0.68 in their average rating, the biggest rise on the list. Meeting new customers or business contacts improves too, but only by 0.21. And finding new distributors, agents or partners is the only objective that falls: -0.13. UFI doesn’t say on that page how many exhibitors responded, so it’s best read as a trend rather than a precise measurement.

Put the two studies side by side and the contrast is obvious. Exhibitors go to the show looking for new faces, and where they have improved most is in seeing familiar ones.

That doesn’t mean things are going badly for them. In the same UFI series, exhibitors’ Net Promoter Score went from -14 in 2019 to 8 in 2023. They are happier. Part of that satisfaction may well come from catching up with their customers. The data doesn’t explain why, but it does show where the improvement is.

There are more signs that the trade show works as a meeting point with people you already know. According to AUMA, 79.5% of companies take proximity to their existing customers into account when choosing which region to exhibit in. And a Bizzabo report on networking finds that 57% of sponsors and exhibitors now prioritise branded experiences, such as curated dinners or invite-only roundtables, over traditional booth space. A dinner with hand-picked guests is great for looking after a relationship. For meeting someone who isn’t on your list yet, it’s far less useful.

Visitors, for their part, want both. Among the trade visitors AUMA surveyed in June 2025, 55% say building new contacts matters for a good show, and 46% say the same about keeping up existing ones (AUMA, Messen im Zeitalter von KI).

So why has the new part improved less? The data doesn’t say, but there are clues on the attendee side: walking up to a stranger feels awkward. In Freeman’s networking report, 31% of attendees say networking at in-person events feels awkward, and 25% admit they aren’t good at starting conversations. Tools don’t fix this on their own either: 42% of the organisers Bizzabo surveyed say attendee engagement with networking features remains low or very low, and 34% of attendees say nothing ever came of a contact they made through the networking feature of an event app.

This is where your work comes in. What has improved most, catching up, the exhibitor already has covered, with their own diary and their own customers. Meeting someone new, which has improved far less, is exactly what an organiser can genuinely make easier. The industry is starting to notice: according to another AUMA study, 56.1% of German trade fair organisers point to networking and matchmaking as one of the visitor needs that have changed.

What might that mean for your next event? Asking at registration what kind of contact each visitor is looking for. Offering exhibitors pre-booked meetings before the doors open, not just a floor plan. Setting up small spaces, each with a topic and someone to make introductions, for people who arrive knowing nobody. And afterwards, asking your exhibitors not only how many people visited their stand, but how many new people they met.

Be careful not to jump to conclusions: a show that helps exhibitors see their regular customers isn’t failing, because that is real value. The risk is that it becomes only that. An exhibitor who pays to find new customers and goes home having seen only the usual ones ends up wondering whether it was worth it. And that’s a question they’ll put to you the next time you send them the stand rate.

All of these figures are in Athena, Sinapser’s free search engine for industry studies, each with its study and its page. Before you put one in a proposal, it’s worth knowing whether it measures an expectation or a result. And if a statistic ever lands on your desk and you don’t know where it comes from, you can check it for free in Athena.