Report: In-Person B2B Marketing Event Cancelations Continue to Fall

As B2B marketers continue to rebound from the initial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, new research suggests that they are finding success with in-person events and exhibitions.

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) recently published B2B event statistics gathered from the fourth quarter of 2021, and data indicated that the B2B exhibition cancellation rate fell to 12.5%. This was compared to 20.6% in the previous quarter, and the rate of 91.3% in the first quarter of 2021. Around the height of the pandemic, the cancellation rate was at 100% in the second quarter of 2020.

“Rising vaccination rates and continued robust economic activities bode well for the B2B exhibition industry,” said CEIR economist Dr. Allen Shaw, chief economist for Global Economic Consulting Associates, Inc. “The B2B exhibition cancellation rate should decline further.”

The Pitfalls of Hosting Virtual Marketing Events

As marketers turned to virtual events at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, previous research indicates that they struggled to find success in this area.

The CMO Council teamed up with Cvent to conduct the “Aligning Strategy, Teams and Tech for Success in a New Era of Events” report, and statistics indicated that most marketers (64%) were only moderately effective or not effective at executing valuable virtual events.

Just 12% of marketers believed they were “very effective” at executing valuable virtual events for B2B demand generation initiatives. However, the majority of respondents (44%) stated that they were still “very effective” at executing valuable in-person events.