The State of our Industry

Welcome to this newsletter. If you subscribe, you will get it into your mailbox every week.

What is driving the evolution of the global event industry? We tackled this on the IMEX stage last week. Read my takeaways here today.

"Event(s)ful" - the companion podcast to this newsletter

If you are one of the growing number of subscribers to this newsletter's companion podcast, you will have noticed this already: It is now rebranded into "Event(s)ful", matching the name of my substack channel.

I am converting this newsletter into a weekly pod, using an AI model to generate a virtual conversation about the items covered in each edition.

Tune in to listen and download (available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and many other major podcasting platforms

• IMEX Las Vegas to stay at Mandalay Bay for five more years

On the closing day of this year's IMEX Las Vegas, CEO Carina Bauer announced that the show will stay at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino for the coming five editions. After adding another 5% floor space for this edition, the team has identified options to make more space available there, as Ray Bloom confirmed to me when discussing the growth options. This year's edition welcomed more than 17,000 participants, which is a record for both IMEX America and its European counterpart, IMEX Frankfurt. The show welcomed 3,700 exhibitors and more than 6,000 buyers, of which 4,700 were hosted buyers.

• World Expo in Osaka draws to a close, hosting 28 million visitors in six months

The BIE-organised World Expo 2025 Osaka in Japan has ended after a six month run under the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.” The organisers report over 28 million visitors, in line with the original target of 28.2 million, and the show drew participants from more than 150 countries. Hosted on the man-made Yumeshima island, it showcased global innovation in sustainability, health, and technology. For comparison, the previous World Expo 2020 Dubai, which had to be delayed because of the global pandemic, reported 21.4 million visitors. The next World Expo will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from October 1, 2030, to March 31, 2031, under the theme “The Era of Change.”

• U.S. Travel Sector bleeds $1 Billion per week in government shutdown

The U.S. travel economy is losing about $1 billion per week since the federal government shutdown began Oct. 1, according to the U.S. Travel Association . The group’s real-time “cost ticker” is based on modeling by Tourism Economics , which estimates losses across air, rail, and tourism sectors using historical shutdown data adjusted for current travel volumes. The figure also factors in roughly $100 million per day in missed government travel and closed attractions. CEO Geoff Freeman warned the industry is nearing a tipping point, with longer security lines, delayed flights and shuttered national parks already denting confidence. Participants at last week's IMEX show reported slight delays at airport checkpoints departing from the city.

• Net Zero Carbon Events publishes first Global Progress Report

The Net Zero Carbon Events (NZCE) initiative has released its first full Reporting Results Report, covering July 2023 to January 2025. The data shows 144 organisations (about 48% of those required) submitted progress reports. Most are headquartered in Europe (66%), followed by Asia-Pacific (14%) and North America (12%). Nearly 60% of signatories now measure Scope 1 and 2 emissions, while 47% track Scope 3, with more planning to add it next cycle. Venues lead in publishing decarbonisation pathways, and 78% communicate net-zero goals to customers. NZCE said the next cycle will introduce stricter validation and create a global emissions baseline for the events industry.

Updating the State of the Events Industry

At IMEX America, I had the pleasure of moderating this year’s “State of the Industry” session, with industry rock stars Carina Bauer (IMEX Group), Reggie Aggarwal ( Cvent ) and Aoife Delaney, CIS, CITP ( DMC Network, LLC ).

Together, we explored what is shaping the global events industry right now, and what it will take to stay ahead of the change that is, frankly, accelerating faster than many of us can plan for.

Thank you to them and the many participants who joined the conversation.

Here are my four key takeaways.

Catch up on recent stories!

Here are some recent topics covered.

The "Experience" Mismatch

Who holds power in the events industry?

Recoding event expectations - prompt by prompt

A U.S. Events Industry advocacy reset with a global twist

The one main challenge corporate events leaders are facing

The re-formatting of motor shows, and the industry’s global attention shift

Why ISO TC354 is an event industry advocacy watershed

Is the U.S. losing its status as global leading events destination?

The Hype AI Bandwagon - about to derail?

Let's meet up in person!

The annual UFI Global Congress is coming up, this year in Hong Kong - and my first one as a "normal" participant again after a decade as CEO there.

That's all for today. Until next week!