How can you understand how effectively a brand is represented at an exhibition?
Companies typically evaluate their participation based on the number of meetings, new contacts relevance and the negotiations outcome. However, these metrics reflect only part of the picture. To assess the event marketing effectiveness more comprehensively, it is important to understand how the audience interacts with the brand throughout the entire journey, from the first point of contact to active engagement with the team.
N1 Partners, together with RexLab, applied a data-driven approach to audience behaviour analysis at iGB L!VE 2026, complementing standard event analytics with visitor engagement data for the first time. Before the exhibition, the N1 Partners marketing team identified several key questions to track the event effectiveness:
- What potential reach does the brand achieve at the exhibition?
- How does the audience move from the first point of contact to visiting the booth?
- At which stage is the largest drop-off of potentially engaged visitors observed?
- Which elements of the event experience attract the most attention?
- What solutions can be used to optimize future events?
Previously, answers were based primarily on the team’s own observations and experience. While this provided a general understanding of audience behaviour, it did not allow the findings to be statistically validated.
How data was collected
A network of sensors was installed at the N1 Partners booth to anonymously detect the presence of mobile devices within the coverage area. The system assigned each device an anonymized ID, making it possible to eliminate duplicate counting. After the exhibition, the team received data on audience movement patterns, dwell time within the space, and transitions between the different stages of the funnel.
Analysis was conducted in two stages: first, the team examined the engagement funnel; then, they analysed how attention was distributed across the space.
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of working with the audience at different stages of the event experience, the N1 Partners team developed a funnel from potential contact to active interaction, ranging from potential exposure to active interaction to evaluate the audience engagement effectiveness at different stages of the event experience:
Reach → Attention → Approaches → Visits → Engagement
- Reach – Overall flow of exhibition attendees who were potentially exposed to the brand area
- Attention – Attendees who noticed the booth and its communications
- Approaches – Delegates who demonstrated additional interest and moved closer to the exhibition area
- Visits – Attendees who entered the N1 Partners space.
- Engagement – Visitors who proceeded to actively interact with the booth and the team
Of the overall attendee flow, 5.5% noticed the booth, representing approximately 1,000 people. At the same time, 88.7% of visitors who entered the space proceeded to actively engage with the brand, indicating that the communication effectively filtered for the most interested audience.
While only a smaller share of the overall traffic reached the engagement stage, these visitors were already highly relevant. This means that the primary growth opportunity lies at the upper stages of the funnel – increasing attention and converting passing traffic into booth visits.
Heat maps
While the funnel shows how audience engagement changes across different stages, heat maps help identify what drives these changes and how visitors interact with the physical space. This helped to identify which areas became points of attraction, where attendees spent more time and how they moved through the booth.
These included the live art performance area by British artist Clym Evernden, who has worked with global brands including Hermès, Prada, Tiffany and Diptyque, as well as a display featuring a limited-edition capsule collection created in collaboration with him. The space also featured collectible toys by designer and creator Yoomoota, whose artworks have been exhibited at PAD London, Art Miami and the Red Dot Museum, plus an activity zone, meeting rooms and a bar.
Audience traffic distribution indicates a correlation between activity levels and interest in specific areas: live performances, exclusive objects and interactive formats provided additional reasons for visitors to stay longer and engage with the booth.
The highest Peak Conversion was recordedbetween 13:00 and 14:00 on the first day of the event, reaching 214.4%. This demonstrates that the intensity of audience interaction can vary depending on the time of day, making it important to factor the most promising time slots into activity planning and team capacity management in advance.
During these periods, it is worth increasing staff presence in the relevant area, preparing communication scenarios in advance, and scheduling activities designed to convert increased traffic into deeper engagement.
Going forward, analysis of peak periods can be used to optimize activity schedules and resource allocation at the booth.
According to RexLab, this metric represents the ratio of the number of booth visitors to the number of people who passed by the booth during a selected period. Therefore, the figure can exceed 100%.
These results can be taken into account when preparing for future conferences. For example, when changing the layout of different zones or testing new audience flow scenarios.
What the Case Study showed
The data collected and the subsequent analysis highlighted three key findings: high engagement among the target audience: conversion after entry; the main growth potential lies at the upper stages of the funnel: increasing attention and driving more booth visits; and the quality of interaction depends on zone placement, audience flow and timing.
Questions to ask after an exhibition
After an event, it is important to analyse not only final performance metrics but also the decisions that can influence future participation – Which booth elements should be retained? What can be changed in the next project? Which hypotheses should be tested next? What should be compared with previous events?
This makes it possible to carry insights from one exhibition into the planning of the next: retaining effective solutions, adjusting zone placement and testing new approaches to organising the space.
Insights: from analysis to action
The data makes it possible to move beyond evaluating individual events toward the systematic optimization of event marketing and to develop hypotheses for future event projects – Space, Engagement, Timings, Benchmarking and Testing. This way, event marketing becomes not a one-off activity, but a continuous process of analysis, testing and optimization.
N1 Partners continues to develop its partner ecosystem and create opportunities for long-term collaboration – 14+ casino and betting brands with high Reg2Dep and LTV, 10+ Tier-1 GEOs, CPA up to €700 and RevShare up to 55% + NNCO for top partners
To discuss marketing collaborations, content projects, media placements, PR and SMM activities, contact N1 Partners the marketing team:
Tatiana – Head of Brand Marketing (B2B & B2C) HERE
Maria – Team Lead of PR, Event, Production HERE
Alexandra – Head of SMM & Content HERE
