Human to Human: Why the Future of Trade Shows Isn’t About Technology

What International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) Expo Expo 2025 taught us about the most powerful competitive advantage, in an age of AI: being genuinely human.

There’s a story that captures everything wrong with modern event marketing.

A consultant named Tim received a LinkedIn message that began: “Hi, Scott.”

His name is Tim.

The message was a wall of text, copy-pasted to hundreds of prospects, personalization token broken, zero effort to understand who Tim was or what he needed. It was the digital equivalent of a cold call from someone reading a script while you can hear them chewing.

Tim never heard from “Joe” again.

Now here’s the counterpoint.

Tim arrived at a hotel for a speaking engagement. In his room was a bottle of wine, some chocolates, and a handwritten note from the event organizer. Not printed, handwritten. Thanking him for coming. Expressing genuine excitement about his session.

The bar for human connection has fallen so low that basic thoughtfulness feels extraordinary. And in that gap lies the greatest opportunity in the events industry.

Cancel B2B and B2C. We’re All H2H.

Business-to-business. Business-to-consumer. These frameworks made sense when transactions were transactional. But events aren’t transactions. Events are humans gathering to solve problems, make connections, and experience something together.

“At the end of the day, we’re all talking to people,” said Tim Hines in his session on Human Communications. “That’s why we have great parties and great lunches to bring people together. That’s why there’s live music. It’s all about human experience.”

This isn’t just philosophy, it’s backed by decades of research. As Dr. Jessica Wiitala, PhD, MBA, CMM explained in her session on the science of experience design, the 1998 Harvard Business Review article “Welcome to the Experience Economy” captured it perfectly: “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”

That Maya Angelou quote, cited in the Gen Z session by Tracy King and Liam McNicholl, has become the north star for a generation that doesn’t come to shows just to see an exhibit hall, they come to experience. And experience is fundamentally human.

The HARP Framework Meets Relationship-Based Selling

What does human communication actually look like in practice? Tim Hines offers four principles, HARP:

• Helpful. Before you send anything, ask: does this add value to the recipient, or only to me?
• Authentic. Audiences can smell inauthenticity instantly. They know when something is real and when it’s performance.
• Respectful. Of time, of attention, of boundaries.
• Personal. Not personalization tokens that break, actually personal.

This framework found a perfect case study in the sponsorship transformation session presented by Belle Hansen (ISCB) and Veronika Hotton (Showcare). Their mantra? “Sponsorship shouldn’t be a transaction, it should be a relationship.”

The results were staggering: a 41% revenue increase achieved by a six-person team. But the numbers tell only part of the story. Belle described how she and Veronica have become genuine friends, taking selfies together, having dinner the night before their presentation. “This isn’t just a professional partnership,” she said. “We’ve transcended into true friendship, and I think that really makes a difference when we’re coming together to work on sponsorship.”

Their approach embodied every element of HARP:

• Helpful: “Our goal was to pique their curiosity with the prospectus, then say ‘book a call with Veronica.'” Instead of overwhelming sponsors with information, they offered conversation.
• Authentic: “I promise you that I’m way more exciting on a call than I am in a PDF.”
• Respectful: “We became trusted advisers by understanding their goals, taking the time to build a rapport before pitching.”
• Personal: They celebrate sponsors’ wins on social media, reach out when they see product launches, and maintain relationships year-round—not just during sales cycles.

The Platinum Rule and Empathy Mapping

You know the Golden Rule: treat others how you want to be treated. Tim Hines argues it’s actually self-centered, it assumes everyone wants what you want.

The Platinum Rule is better: treat others how they want to be treated.

This principle came alive in Dr. Jessica Wiitala’s Design Thinking session, where she introduced empathy mapping as a foundational tool. “We have to get in the mindset of the stakeholder we are designing for,” she explained. “Understand them at a deeper level.”

Her framework asks four questions:

• What do they say? “I need to see what’s new.”
• What do they think? “Which booths are worth my time? I’m overwhelmed.”
• What do they feel? Decision fatigue. Fear of missing important connections. Networking anxiety.
• What do they do? Check phones constantly. Scan from a distance. Spend only a couple hours on the floor.

One insight from her empathy research struck a chord: “I’m an introvert naturally. Thankfully I have a team of extroverts who pull me along.” Not every attendee wants the same experience. Some love networking receptions; others have anxiety and would rather connect through structured activities.

Understanding these differences isn’t just good manners, it’s a competitive advantage. As the Gen Z session emphasized, this generation expects customized, on-demand experiences. “One size fits all is out,” said Tracy King, MA, CAE. If your event treats everyone the same, you’re failing the people who need something different.

Technology Should Support Humans, Not Replace Them

There’s a temptation to solve every problem with new technology. AI chatbots for attendee questions. Automated email sequences. Digital everything. The Event Marketing Trends panel tackled this head-on. “AI is like the best intern you could ever have,” said one panelist. But, and this is crucial, “You have to teach it, onboard it like you would an employee.”

The danger? Losing humanity in the process. Jay Schwedelson ‘s attendee acquisition session revealed that 40-60% of AI-generated copy contains M-dashes, a telltale sign that screams “robot wrote this.” When everyone uses the same AI tools with the same prompts, all communications start sounding identical. “Discover the latest.” “Unlock your potential.” “Learn from industry leaders.”

“Nobody wants to discover anything about your event,” Schwedelson declared. “Tell me where it is. Tell me my discount. Tell me you’re gonna do something remotely not boring.”

The Event Marketing panel agreed: “Fact-check everything. Sometimes AI will just lie to you. That’s not the tone you would use. It takes that humanness out.”

Meanwhile, the Freshly Baked session offered a counterpoint to digital overload. Angela Strahan (Fern) and Sarah Taylor shared how hands-on activities, clay sculptures, painting sessions, even body painting with instant-dry paint, create engagement that screens never can.

“When you’re using your hands, it’s like a muscle memory tied to your brain that helps you retain information,” Strahan explained. “We’re in this unique moment where we are more connected than ever and yet more isolated than ever. We have to break that scrolling fatigue.”

Their advice for solving digital exhaustion? Don’t add more technology. Add more humanity.

Moments of Delight, Vulnerability, and the Unexpected

The events industry understands moments of delight.

The surprise entertainment. The exceptional meal. The unexpected upgrade.

But some sessions pushed this further. The Freshly Baked presentation shared how a veterinary conference created a live tattoo station where attendees could spin a wheel and get a permanent animal tattoo. Sounds crazy, but the booth is packed every year because the experience is unforgettable.

“When we first heard about it, we were like, ‘Huh? Is that OK? Do we need permits?’” Sarah Taylor recalled. But they leaned in, and it became a signature moment that attendees talk about year-round.

The Gen Z session cited Reddit’s CES booth as another example: an LED crystal ball in the center where attendees could select topics of interest and engage with live community forums. “It’s not just about passing by a booth or collecting a brochure,” said Tracy King. “It’s about connecting with a brand.”

And then there’s vulnerability, being honest when things go wrong.

The NADA Snowmageddon session was a masterclass in human crisis management. When a historic ice storm threatened to shut down their show, leadership didn’t hide. They communicated constantly, what they knew, what they didn’t know, what they were doing about it.

“We had one message, many voices,” explained Ashley Kempson. Updates went out across every channel. The mobile app became the source of truth. When the doors finally opened, with freight still on the floor and booths still setting up for the first time in 25 years,the response wasn’t complaints.

It was a celebration.

“The bonds that were created,” said Brenda Herson, “we had people driving from Michigan, flying into Houston, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, renting cars and driving in. They were determined to get there.” One attendee, nine months pregnant, drove in from Maryland.

That’s not brand loyalty. That’s human connection.

The Handwritten Note in an Automated World

When was the last time you received a handwritten note?

For most people, the answer requires thinking. Which is exactly the point.

Tim Hines asked the Expo Expo audience this question. Hands stayed down. “That’s a huge opportunity you’re missing.”

The sponsorship session echoed this philosophy at scale. Belle Hansen described how ISCB maintains year-round engagement with sponsors: “Our marketing manager might see something on their LinkedIn, ‘Just saw your product launch, congratulations!’, and that genuine connection keeps the relationship alive.”

It’s not complicated.

• Remember someone’s name.
• Follow up when you said you would.
• Do the things you promised to do.

“It’s so surprising how many people don’t,” Hines observed, “that those who do immediately differentiate themselves.”

The Design Thinking session offered a practical hack: after any meeting or booth conversation, dictate your notes into your phone immediately, run them through AI to generate a personalized follow-up email, and send it within an hour instead of a week. “You have an email ready in less than an hour,” said Dr. Wiitala. “What did we talk about? I had touchpoints with one of my clients… these memory trigger cues create meaningful lasting impressions.”

Technology enabling humanity, not replacing it.

Start With Why (And Make It About Them)

Tim Hines shared a Delta commercial that spends almost the entire runtime not showing airplanes. Instead, it shows families. Homecomings. The feeling of returning to where you belong. Only at the end does Delta reveal itself.

“They could have started with ‘we’re the best airline, we’ve won all these awards,’” he noted. “No, they started with why you should care.”

The Gen Z session framed this generationally. This isn’t a demographic that responds to “here’s our keynote that nobody knows.” They want to know: What’s in it for me? How will this help me? Why should I care?

Tracy King cited the shift from selling 10×10 booths to selling experiences: “It’s not about how many corner booths or island booths you sell. It’s about creating memorable experiences.”

The NAMA Imagination Way session demonstrated this principle operationally. When they reinvented their show post-pandemic, they didn’t lead with “we have more exhibit space.” They led with “what unique experience can you NOT get at any other tradeshow?” The result: a Net Promoter Score of 69, extraordinary for events, and new audience segments they’d never reached before.

Empathy as Strategy

“Empathy is just the starting point of assuming everybody is going through something,” Tim Hines reflected. “The colleague who hasn’t returned your email might be dealing with something you don’t know about. The sponsor who seems difficult might be under impossible pressure.”

Dr. Wiitala formalized this in her Quality Framework, which includes not just physical environment and functional design, but interaction quality, how staff engage with attendees. “Consultative selling versus aggressive pitching,” she distinguished. “Staff training in empathy-driven engagement.”

The Event Marketing panel revealed the stakes: the average session attention span is now 22 minutes. Twenty-two minutes before minds wander, phones emerge, and scroll reflex kicks in. You don’t combat that with more stimulation, you combat it with more relevance, more meaning, more genuine understanding of what your audience actually needs.

“People just aren’t able to disconnect anymore to really engage in what they’re experiencing,” observed one panelist. “That’s where in-person events become the cure for digital fatigue.”

Your Human Communications Plan

Theory is nice. Execution is everything.

Here’s how to start, synthesized from across these sessions:

Define one specific, measurable goal. The sponsorship team aimed for relationship-based partnerships, not just transactions. NAMA aimed for experiences you can’t get elsewhere. What’s yours?

Audit your current touchpoints. Run empathy mapping on your communications. What do recipients think and feel when they receive them? Would you want to receive these messages?

Learn your audience’s preferences. Gen Z wants participation and personalization. Introverts want structured networking alternatives. Veterans want depth; newcomers want accessible entry points. Build for all of them.

Design for the first three minutes. 70% of engagement decisions happen immediately. Make them count with peak moments early.

Invest in relationships, not transactions. The sponsorship team’s advice: “Pick one sponsorship relationship you plan on nurturing differently in 2026. Make that your New Year’s resolution.”

Follow up like it matters. Dictate notes immediately. Send personalized emails within hours, not weeks. Remember what people told you and reference it later.

Practice empathy relentlessly. Assume everyone is going through something. Grace isn’t weakness, it’s wisdom.

The Bottom Line

The future of events isn’t AI. It isn’t virtual reality. It isn’t whatever technology gets hyped next year.

The future of events is human.

As the Gen Z session concluded: “Your creativity and your connection to people are your biggest tools for future-proofing your events.”

The sponsorship session’s final slide: “Invest in the relationships and the partnerships, not in the transactions.”

The Design Thinking session’s key shift: “From ‘what do we want to show’ to ‘what do attendees need to experience.'”

The Event Marketing panel’s consensus: “If they’re not fun, why will people come back?”

In a world that grows more automated every day, the irreplaceable value of events is the humanity they create. Be helpful. Be authentic. Be respectful. Be personal. Be human.

Because in the end, that’s what makes an event worth attending, and an industry worth dedicating your career to.

Sessions Referenced:

• Human Communications: The Relationship-Driven Event Marketing Strategy (Tim Hines)
• From Logos To Loyalty: How One Event Reimagined Sponsorship & Boosted Revenue By 41% (Belle Hansen, Veronica Hotton)
• The Experience Generation: How Gen Z Is Shaping The Future Of Tradeshows (Tracy King, Liam McNicholl)
• The Science Behind the Experience: Research-Driven Strategies To Maximize Attendee Engagement (Dr. Jessica Wiitala)
• Design Thinking For Trade Show Impact (Dr. Jessica Wiitala)
• New Attendee Acquisition That Actually Works! (Jay Schwedelson)
• Event Marketing Trends: The Ones That Stuck & The Ones That Sucked! (Panel)
• Freshly Baked: Building Events That Feed Connection (Angela Strahan, Sarah Taylor)
• The Show Must Go On: Crisis Management In Real Time (NADA Team)
• Accelerating Growth With Experience-Driven Innovation: Imagination Way (NAMA Team)