Why 2025 will be a big year for “confex” events

When I started Grip in 2014, my mission was simple: make it easier for people to network at events.

At first, I thought the answer lay in building a better attendee list in a mobile app. However, it didn’t take long for me to recognise that more was needed. It was ultimately about increasing meaningful, relevant connections that would result in better business relationships at events. I realised it wasn’t just about the technology, but also the structure, experience and layout of the event.

As we move into 2025, this realisation is more apparent with the rise of the “confex” event format. These events are a unique combination of conference, exhibition and in some cases even hosted buyer meeting programmes in one event. The objective of confex events is to maximise the potential for engagement, connection and business relationships.

Evidence of this rise in confex events is the recent creation of a new festival division at Informa, which includes their leading confex brands such as Black Hat, Money20/20 and London Tech Week. These shows – pioneers in their fields – are what I’d call confex events.

A perfect hybrid of conferences and exhibitions. They combine the paid-for tickets of a thought-provoking conference with the low churn rate and market defensibility of an exhibition. These types of events are particularly successful when there’s a changing industry landscape, the influx of venture capital and the need for enterprise firms to adapt to an evolving market.

Confex events work because they do something traditional events don’t always do: they thrive on complexity.

When the industry landscape features complexity, confusion and change, people need more than just content, they need connection. This connection comes from numerous interactions at an event. Examples include badge scans, meetings, event app chat messages, roundtable discussions and more. With this connection comes collaboration and most importantly, clarity.

This clarity is where confex events come into their own. This is because they feature a high number of meetings compared to any other event format (at Grip we talk about ‘connections per participant’). Ultimately, due to the high volume and quality of participants at confex events, these meetings are useful and numerous, often resulting in valuable business relationships being made.

This is probably why the confex event format is rapidly increasing in popularity. According to a recent Collingwood Advisory and SISO report, 19% of organisers either plan to run or are interested in running confex events. Why the sudden interest? Because confex events deliver passive consumption of content and active engagement with the community, perfect for when the world is in a state of flux.

Yet, even Confex events aren’t the peak of participant connection. There’s a category that outpaces all of them: structured (or facilitated) meeting programmes, like hosted buyer events. These programmes historically have blown traditional metrics out of the water, on average delivering 9.5 meetings per participant and record-breaking NPS.

This is probably why facilitated meeting events are currently the most attractive events model to organisers. 50% of organisers are interested in the model, according to the same report from Collingwood Advisory and SISO.

However, they’ve been held back in the past because meetings require a high level of human touch to do well, making them tough to scale.

But that all changed when several prominent confex event organisers were able to successfully scale their facilitated meeting programmes. Events like Money20/20, with its Must Meet programme, prove the scaling limitations of structured meeting programmes are a relic of the past. And now, seeing the success of Money20/20, more organisers realise that facilitated meetings could be the key to unlocking higher ROI for sponsors and exhibitors. The question arises, should all trade shows become confex events with meeting programmes as part of it?

Well, as with anything, it depends on my opinion.

For transaction and product-focused exhibitions, structured meetings might create too much friction, too soon. In some cases, it might be more effective to focus on increasing the number of leads scanned per exhibitor or enhancing the event’s navigation through interactive floor plans. There’s no one-size-fits-all.

But what’s clear is the rise of the confex event is unstoppable. Their value, especially in the eyes of investors, has never been more apparent. Confex events aren’t just blending formats, they’re setting the stage for what’s next.

And if you’re not paying attention, you might just miss it.

Tim Groot, CEO and founder at Grip

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This article originally appeared on Exhibition News

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