In Events, Less Is More

In events, less is more. At least for some organizers.

Hyve, Jacobs Media and Questex are among those companies targeting such an approach and seeing better revenue and better margins as a result.

The three companies spoke with AMO about going bigger, with at least one airing concerns that private equity and big strategic buyers are only focused on bigger is better, not leaving space for newcomers to keep the show industry thriving.

Questex

Questex’s life science, healthcare and technology division went from 76 events pre-pandemic to six events in 2025.

“We are making more revenue and profit out of six events than 76 events,” Rhiannon James, president of the division, told AMO. Gross margins (not including staff costs) are considerably higher for the larger events than the small events, which topped out at 50%.

James said sponsorships are pacing at 165% ahead of last year. Its Fierce Pharma Engage event happened the week before last with 32% YOY revenue growth.

Larger events equal larger budgets. That means they can provide a much more impressive audio visual experience—take AI-generated summaries—that they couldn’t afford to do those at smaller events. The same is true with food and beverage: It’s hard to invest in quality experiences because the revenue from a small event doesn’t justify the spending given gross margins targets.

Fewer events means growing audience from a couple dozen to thousands. For sponsors, the value proposition is far superior, and they tend to invest a lot more, including in activations that improve the experience for the attendees. One example? A sponsor brought speciality coffee for attendees, meaning attendees aren’t stuck with the usual crappy conference coffee.

“It’s about the experience for the attendees. People want something a bit more than bad coffee and a dark hotel room these days, because we’re talking about people’s return on time,” James said. “How can they spend their time best? Great content, great networking, great experiences. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Enter puppy parks: a huge hit among attendees who can play with the dogs and in some cases adopt them. Another that goes over well are headshot lounges.

“It’s such an easy sponsorship, because who doesn’t want to have a new headshot? Apparently, everybody does. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. You want a new headshot, and then the sponsors get the leads,” James said.

There are, however, possible pitfalls. Questex’s large pharmaceutical events now attend to four different communities. One of those is larger than the other three, and the risk is that all attention could be on the bigger segment.

“How do we provide the community experience for those smaller and medium sized communities, and how do they not get lost in the bigger picture?” James said. They also hold community-specific events within the bigger event. “You’ve got to keep the core communities happy so that they keep returning. I think it’s a risk, but it’s a calculated risk, and it can be managed.”

Hyve

Hyve is another company that has gone to fewer events. When Chief Executive Officer Mark Shashoua joined in 2016, the company was holding hundreds of events around the world. They are down to 25 today, including their recent purchase of supply chain show Manifest.

“If you don’t get scale, you don’t get relevance. You’ll just get a small gathering of people, and therefore the level of importance goes down,” Shashoua told AMO. Hyve’s approach is to create events that are the “main platform” in their respective sectors.

“It takes us 18 months, usually, to launch a new geography, as opposed to six months,” Shashoua said. “If you look at Shoptalk, it has taken five years, but there’s four events now. That might seem a lot—it’s actually not many.”

Jacobs Media

Douglas Emslie sold his Tarsus Group to Informa for nearly $1 billion in 2023. Since then he founded Cuil Bay Capital, which has made nine investments totaling $20 million over its 18-month existence, among them, Jacobs Media.

In November, Emslie told AMO that print was less than 10% of Jacobs Media’s revenue, with events representing over 50%. More recently, he told AMO:

“It’s not about having lots of more events, it’s about having ones that are a lot bigger and providing a lot more benefit for their markets.”

With so many companies going bigger and buying each other, fewer are being innovative, which on the upside leaves room for new entrepreneurs and companies to build fresh shows—the problem with that is there’s a perception that there aren’t a lot of new entrants in the show business.

“Are we seeing enough new entrants, enough entrepreneurial activity to come up with the new shows? Are we in danger? I wrote an article for TSNN about this, but are we in danger of losing our soul? It’s something that I’m working on with a number of other people is, how do we encourage the people who are the next generation to come up with their ideas and help them, not just with funding, but with practical advice and access to networks.”

That includes his participation in the Events Venture Group, comprised of about 30 executives with deep industry experience who mentor new entrepreneurs and provide funding to early stage events.

“We want the next big show to be launched. We need to keep that pipeline going. And it’s not all about building bigger and bigger, which is obviously what the private equity and the big strategics are about,” Emslie said. “You need that pipeline like drugs. You’ve got to be inventing tomorrow’s drug today before it becomes a big blockbuster. And actually, my fear is when we’ve not got enough of those seeds being planted today.”