FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 19, 2006

CONTACT:
Frank Skinner
Jennifer Palcher-Silliman
(404) 252-3663

ATLANTA — A new research study by the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association (HCEA) on medical meetings and exhibit marketing reveals a number of key trend data and market statistics never before seen in the industry. Two of the fundamental questions the report answers, among many others:

1. What healthcare meetings offer the best value from a cost-per-attendee standpoint?
2. What is the value of attendee per exhibit from a competitiveness standpoint?

“The medical industry invests a tremendous amount of time and resources in healthcare convention marketing and determining the best strategies to educate target markets based on cost and opportunity,” says Eric Allen, HCEA Executive Vice President. “HCEA is the only organization with 10 years’ worth of data on these kinds of effectiveness measurables for medical meetings. We wanted to find out what the hard data actually says about it.”

In 2006, the average cost of a 10’x10’ exhibit space for large meetings (4,000 or more attendees) is $2,030, compared to $1,025 for small meetings (less than 2,000 attendees).

Likewise, large meetings, on average, offer nearly twice the number of professional attendees per exhibit over small meetings (13.6 attendees per exhibit for large meetings vs. 7.5 attendees per exhibit for small meetings).

On average, the ratio of exhibit space cost per the number of professional attendees indicates a relative value per attendee. The large meeting 10’x10’ space cost per professional attendee is 28 cents compared to $2.10 for small meetings.

The full HCEA industry report features 10-year trend analysis on healthcare exhibit marketing, medical specialty meeting trends, location/destination pattern analysis, market reports on attendance, exhibit hall space and exhibit costs, and much more. The report will debut at HCEA’s 2007 Healthcare Convention Marketing Summit, to be held January 18, at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore.

For more information visit www.hcea.org for updated details.

HCEA is the only association solely dedicated to improving the effectiveness of all conventions, meetings and exhibitions for the healthcare industry.  HCEA represents member organizations involved in healthcare exhibitions and conventions.