CEIR releases 2010 Exhibition Industry Census

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has released the 2010 CEIR Exhibition Industry Census revealing that during the past decade, the number of events as compared to the 2000 Census has remained relatively unchanged, reinforcing the belief that the exhibition industry is resilient even during times of uncertainty and downturn.


The knowledge-based research also found that as a result of new construction and building renovations, exhibit space has increased which has resulted in the redistribution of events and broader possibilities for prime destinations to host key buyer/seller exhibitions.

“We are pleased to publish the 2010 Exhibition Industry Census which will be an essential and long-term guide for civic and business leaders as well as exhibition industry professionals to use when assessing the marketplace and planning events,” said Carrie Freeman Parsons, CEIR chairperson. “The rich data that is found in the 2010 Census is pivotal in understanding the shifts in facility locations over the past decade and serves as a key indicator as we focus on the next five years and beyond.”

Several leading industry companies contributed their databases to the 2010 Census, which were then carefully reviewed to eliminate duplication and ensure complete representation of the North American exhibition industry including the U.S., Canada and Mexico. All events with less than 3,000 net square feet of exhibition space were eliminated, and through the use of “intelligent” computer matching and intensive human review, duplicate events were eliminated.

While approximately 75 percent of key data points were populated from the source databases, missing data points were extrapolated when possible to complete the 2010 Census database. After an extensive review of the data, a final 2010 Census database was approved. From this point, the final analysis of rankings, breakdowns, subtotals and totals was performed.

“When we began the process of analyzing the past decade, we did not know what to expect,” said Douglas L. Ducate, CEIR president and CEO. “We were emerging from the Great Recession, had seen several quarters of decline followed by consecutive quarters of recovery, and then even periods of growth over the past 10 years.

Customized details, analysis of industry shifts, potential implications and customized reports are available through the Exhibition Census online, where professionals can mine in-depth, exhibition data by city and region, industry sector, size and more and compile the information to best fit their own needs.

The 2010 Census data was compiled by Veris Consulting Inc., a trade show research consultancy that has been the primary research firm for such groundbreaking industry studies as the CEIR Index and Census.

Veris is an EEIAC-certified trade show auditor and conducts business surveys focusing on financial and operating ratios, compensation and benefits, benchmarking, needs assessments and demographics.

“Once we had the data and were able to carefully review it, we were very pleased to see that despite the peaks and valleys, the exhibition industry was adaptable to unexpected changes, and this even further confirmed the value of face-to-face events,” said Ducate.