According to IMEX, there were almost 15,000 confirmed participants on the show floor at Mandalay Bay, of which over 5,000 were buyers (including 4,000+ hosted buyers.

Exhibitors reported the welcome return of incentive trips and citywide, multi-venue events. Buyers, of which one fifth represented the corporate sector, took part in over 80,000 pre-scheduled meetings in three days, of which 73,000 were 1-2-1s with exhibitors. AI and event technology were both big talking points among exhibitors and buyers.

The show’s biggest ever Inspiration Hub, sponsored by WebEx, saw over 2000 people attend education sessions in a variety of formats across six tracks. Topics ranged from the personal – how to manage individual and team members’ mental health – to future trends and forecasts for different territories, sectors and worldwide. As an example, Data Driven Event Marketing Insights with Brittney Hegarty and Nicola Kastner, was set for 30 people but 85 showed up.

New IMEX Matchmaking App

The new IMEX app powered by Expoplatform enabled to schedule meetings ‘in the moment’ when they spotted business contacts live online. Several exhibitors with a few meeting spaces to fill successfully tapped into the app’s ‘promoted posts’ feature to fill up their schedules within the day. The data showed that 124,000 contacts were scanned during the week. The majority were supplier to buyer, but a proportion is also buyers connecting with buyers and exhibitors with exhibitors.. In addition, 3000 meetings were booked via the app during the show.

IMEX Group, CEO, Carina Bauer, states: “I’m delighted the industry turned out in such strong numbers from across the globe this week and that IMEX America once again provided a carefully-designed platform for everyone to come together for business, building better human connections around the world, growing and learning from each other. This was our biggest show ever, which was clear from the fact you can’t see the edges anymore!”