An exhibition stand at an affiliate conference can no longer be just a pretty place with merch. Brand teams face a challenge: the cost of entry to iGB and SiGMA keeps rising, while the effectiveness of traditional formats is rapidly declining. Yevhen Shaposhnikov, CEO & Co-founder of event marketing agency FILOSOFIA Event Group, helps us understand how to transform exhibition space into a lead generation tool and what to expect from industry events in the future.

Conference retrospective: the rules of the game going forward

Today we find ourselves at a point where affiliate & iGaming conferences demand more investment than the expected return. Due to FOMO, some brands participate in roughly 20 conferences per year. Even with constant lead generation at events, teams physically cannot process them with quality and establish deep connections.

Let's consider that event participation costs keep growing, so with that volume, direct expenses can reach approximately $3 million per year. It's crucial to deeply and precisely understand your product, niche, and audience. This determines which conference geographies and formats are worth investing in.

Fortunately, more and more brands are asking themselves: "What would change if we cut 20 events down to 3 per year? Would anything change at all?"

I predict the impact and participation results would remain at the same level.

Right now we see brands "consolidating" their conference participation — reducing the number of events while sharpening their focus. More resources and thoughtful solutions are invested into stand concept and construction; targeted partner interactions and quality post-event lead processing emerge.

Business stands vs. partner events: what delivers results?

With reduced participation, the product presentation paradigm changes too. In the battle for attention, a taller stand or brighter LED screen no longer works — teams lose focus on the main thing: presenting their advantages. Here are a few tips from our 10 years of experience with exhibition stands:

Product above all: if you have a top game on the market, make it the foundation of your marketing strategy. A stand that broadcasts a familiar vibe, design, and activations immediately builds trust as market leaders.

Consistency: offer a solution to a specific problem. If your product consists of several components (CRM, AI agent, software, etc.) — you can sell the solution in parts. Divide the stand into zones — the client should see a solution to their problem, not "the entire software pool" they can't afford.

Closed format. Recently we attended "Mobile World Congress", where you couldn't access participant stands without prior registration. I believe many affiliate teams should move in this direction. This approach creates comfortable conditions for substantive conversations, cuts off random traffic, and adds a sense of exclusivity.

There's no point in creating art installations that generate quantity but not quality traffic. A conference stand is a company's physical office. Here you schedule meetings, present innovations, and introduce guests to the team. Accordingly, the approach should be the same.

Another trend we see among clients — a focus on private events instead of conference participation. In an intimate atmosphere with top clients or partners, you can discuss plans or finalize agreements far more effectively.

Requests for Unique Travel Experience — our proprietary format of business trips adapted to specific objectives — attracted 12 projects at the pre-launch stage alone. We forecast that the format's popularity will only grow and provide 30% of our event department's total revenue.

CJM from entrance to contract

Working with marketing teams of our clients such as Parimatch, GR8 Tech, GG Bet, Growe and others, we typically create projects in collaboration to maximize audience touchpoints.

We operate on the principle that a stand doesn't exist in a vacuum. The introduction starts not at the registration desk, but much earlier. An effective strategy is a complete Customer Journey Map:

They see you at the entrance.

Your people appear in merch at various event touchpoints.

Your logo is on coffee cups or bags.

And only then — a physical visit to the stand.

Moreover, at FILOSOFIA Event Group we use our own "tricks" to enhance the desire to visit the stand on a sensory level — scent marketing, lighting, boutique-format locations, and more.

I'd also like to mention AI tools that are already replacing and accelerating work. I'm confident that soon we'll see an AI assistant instead of a hostess who can schedule a meeting with the right person in 2 clicks and consult on any questions.

To summarize: don't be afraid to reduce the number of conferences in your annual plan. Be afraid of being invisible at the three you've chosen. Instead of "impressing" with socks bearing your logo or a massive screen taking up half the networking zone, invest in product presentation and a comfortable space for negotiations. Emotion and value — that's the only thing that stays in memory after the conference is over.

[Translated from Ukrainian with AI assistance]