Strategizing 3D Printing Event ROI: AM Marketing Budgets and Exhibits

With the world recovering from pandemic but remaining wary of macroeconomic pressures, we stand at an interesting crossroads. The “new normal” includes lingering side effects from the last few years – among them, Zoom fatigue and the natural human desire to return to in-person events.

Trade shows and exhibits have long been a major part of manufacturing business strategies, offering a valued venue to connect with partners and customers. But in mid-2023, with layoffs running rife and budgets tightening, how do advanced technology industries like 3D printing / additive manufacturing (AM) appropriately calculate an event strategy?

What is the ROI on exhibiting, attending, or forgoing industry events today?

Additive Manufacturing’s Big Events

These three questions lay the groundwork for strategizing: What, when and where are the major tradeshows for additive manufacturing?

In large part, the AM event calendar is grouped into two seasons: spring and autumn. The largest events tend to be in North America and Europe, with the single largest event on the AM calendar, Formnext, hosted in Frankfurt, Germany each November. Formnext has undeniably accumulated the greatest number of attendees, exhibitors and pure square footage dedicated to additive manufacturing.

Here’s a handy reference for the most popular AM-relevant and AM-adjacent events:

Some events are massive on their own merit, like RAPID + TCT in the US, and focus entirely dedicated to AM. Others are huge in terms of square footage but have only a small – if growing – percentage of that floorspace devoted to AM. IMTS is the most notable here, though the even larger CES has also previously housed some points of interest for 3D printer exhibitors.

At the other end of the spectrum, relatively smaller 3D printing workshops, additive manufacturing conferences, 3D printing expos, and learning opportunities abound.

Some, like Construct3D, appeal to primarily academic audiences. Others, like Develop3D Live, are shorter in duration and cover additional advanced manufacturing technologies.

Still others, like America Makes MMX member events, focus on government and defense, with other areas of application focus featured at aptly-named events like SpaceAM, European Military Additive Manufacturing Symposium, Motorsport AM; and AM Medical Days.

Wider-focused events can be hit-or-miss for success. CES, for example, held each January in Las Vegas, NV, US, was a hot spot for desktop 3D printers around 2015 but today has seen the number of 3D printer OEMs and market participants dwindle substantially. IMTS, in contrast, is seeing more AM exhibitors each show as the industrial focus of 3D printing grows.

International expansion is also all but inevitable for successful events, with the likes of Formnext extending to the US with the new Formnext Forum Austin beginning this year, while TCT Asia takes proven programming to Shanghai, China. Hybrid events also remain popular: for example, this October’s 7th International Congress on 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing) and Digital Industry is taking place both in Istanbul, Turkey and online.

These and many other local, travelling, and associated industry events keep 3D printing on the move for exhibition, learning, and business opportunities.

The Costs of AM Event Attendance and Exhibition

There’s no such thing as a free lunch or a free event. Depending on a company’s offerings, from million-dollar, multi-ton industrial 3D printers, to services, to materials, to software, to post-processing, each company has something different to show. Finding the best way to package up your company’s offerings into an exhibit space is a challenge for even the most tenured marketing team.

Startups often feature in “Startup Alley” type rows where new businesses have a tabletop display, signage, and maybe some parts or a laptop to show. The more sophisticated “marketing machine” type companies will take up the largest possible exhibit spaces, showing off everything they have. That includes machines, parts, partners, huge software displays, identifiable team members – all under neon signage and often accompanied by well-curated music and likely at least one in-booth happy hour to keep the energy up.

Most exhibits fall somewhere between the tabletop and the portable showroom. That “in between” portion makes up the largest segment of exhibitor/sponsor options and can range from space for a counter to show off some parts or a desktop machine to a larger booth the size of two-to-four of those smaller selections and which can house standalone equipment.

Investment in the appropriately sized exhibition space can be a major question, especially since these make up a major part of annual marketing budgets. Depending on the event, exhibit space can be free – for community-driven events like RepRap Festivals (MRRF, ERRF, RMRRF, SMRRF) – to hundreds of thousands of dollars for the largest stands at the largest shows. It can be easy for a company to invest upwards of a million dollars in annual event budgets before even taking employee travel or equipment transportation into account.

Once the where and the who are set, the what questions of a display space must also be answered:

• What will visitors respond to best at a given event: hands-on displays, part showcases, strength tests, usable parts, give-aways/swag?
• What about supplementary happenings like press conferences (in-booth, in a dedicated room, or off-site?) or happy hours (pre-, during, or post-event? invite only or open invitation?)?

These “extras” aren’t always “extra” after all, as they can prove to be where purchasing decisions are actually made, where media attention picks up impactful announcements, or where a casual introduction leads to a business partnership.

Getting the Most from Industry Event Exhibitions

The single most important question for a company exhibiting at – or an attendee visiting – an event is: How relevant is this event for decision-makers for my business?

Given the scope of AM-driven and AM-associated events across the calendar from the (non-exhaustive) list above, it may seem that the options are unlimited.

Further, this doesn’t even take into account the plethora of industry-specific events – think the Ceramics Expo, which has seen a small percentage of exhibitors representing 3D printer OEMs and materials companies – where end users are more likely to be found than at AM-focused events.

In order to make any investment worthwhile, the biggest issue to address is the goal of attending/exhibiting: What do you want to get from the event?

If the intent is to generate customer leads, event strategies will look different than they would for a company intending to explore partnership opportunities with technology suppliers, or for an academic looking to discover the right means of manufacturing exploratory R&D projects.

Where will it make the most sense to be?

One-and-done is rarely an appropriate strategy for events, so it makes sense to invest where the “biggest bang for the buck” will be found. Go, that is, where the impact will be most profound.

Companies that, for example, contribute directly to a 3D printing ecosystem – think onboard electronics, materials, post-processing, and software – will find customers at 3D printing events: 3D printers need their products. 3D printer OEMs, however, will find end users at more usage- or industry-focused events, but will also do well in most cases to maintain a presence in AM-centered spaces where they might find strategic partners.

Strategies should always also include who from the team will be present. Airfare, hotels, food, and other human logistics contribute greatly to event costs, and should be a key part of budgeting – so it only makes sense to have the right mix of people there.

Events centering around education and training will have maximum impact for engineers and technical personnel, while those with more customers should see informed salespeople and business development leads attending. Thought leadership panels and other conference opportunities are often rife with C-suite and executive leaders.

Overall AM Trade Show Strategizing

On the whole, developing an event strategy for trade shows is a process subject to scrutiny, scheduling, budget distribution, and – always – revisiting.

The benefits of industry events amount to more than leads and closed deals. For engineers, gaining value from event exhibition opportunities can include less quantifiable but hugely important benefits, such as:

• Keeping industry knowledge up to date
• Attending technical sessions / workshops
• Presenting at technical sessions / workshops
• Interfacing with customers, suppliers, and scoping out the competition

Studying the attendance statistics of previous event editions will offer some insight into recorded metrics to project the crowd and potential reach of an exhibit. The timing commitment also impacts budgets, as many events offer early-bird discounts that can be substantial for those willing to make early commitments to secure exhibit space (and often with the best selection options for booths and thus maximum attendee visibility).

Deciding who and what to bring – in terms of personnel, equipment, final part examples, and visitor engagement opportunities with hands-on trainings or demos – is a major undertaking, and not one for the faint of heart.

As many decisions come down to in terms of investment, the hope is simple, if shamelessly borrowed from The Hunger Games: May the odds be ever in your favor.

*Image disclosure: polySpectra is a client of the author’s via Additive Integrity LLC