Snöcap September 19, 2025
Snöball correspondent
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Hello!
What's the latest in the world of events? Our weekly Snöcap rounds up all the peaks and highlights from the hottest happenings in events and exhibitions. Dive in below to catch up on what's buzzing in the industry.
The headlines this week:
- CEIR unveils 2025 playbook for large exhibitions
- CloserStill Media expands North America tech portfolio with acquisition of Billington Cybersecurity
- Terrapinn marks another key acquisition with purchase of EV Charging Summit & Expo
- Attending IMEX America as a first-timer? Get the top tips from seasoned IMEX-ers!
- Who is hiring?
CEIR unveils 2025 playbook for large exhibitions
The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has released a 2025 performance benchmarking playbook for organizers of large business-to-business exhibitions, providing data on operations and profitability metrics.
The playbook contains performance benchmarks from exhibitions, financial data, staffing models and participation trends. It includes guidance on booth space optimization, Net Promoter Score tracking and attendee show-up rates.
CEIR developed the resource as part of its benchmarking playbook series, which previously released guides for small and midsize B2B exhibitions. The organization provides research and data analysis for the exhibition industry.
The playbook addresses how exhibition organizers manage complex operations and audiences while tracking key performance indicators to maintain competitiveness and profitability.
Large B2B exhibitions serve as platforms for industry growth, delivering scale and return on investment for participants, according to CEIR. These events rely on resource management, pricing strategies and performance tracking to operate effectively.
The benchmarking study examines how organizers use data to balance scale with precision in their event management approach.
CloserStill Media expands North America tech portfolio with acquisition of Billington Cybersecurity
CloserStill Media has acquired Billington CyberSecurity, the organizer of U.S. public sector cybersecurity conferences.
The acquisition adds cybersecurity events to CloserStill's North American technology portfolio, which includes more than 25 events and employs 125 people focused on technology, infrastructure and healthcare sectors.
Billington CyberSecurity, founded in 2010, operates government cybersecurity summits in the United States and among allied nations. The company's annual summit held Sept. 9-12 in Washington attracted more than 3,000 attendees, 300 speakers and 158 sponsors.
Tom Billington, founder and chief executive officer, will remain as CEO and assume the role of chief content officer. President Troy Schneider will continue leading business operations. Both executives will report to Yancy Weinrich, president of North America at CloserStill Media.
"Under Tom's and Troy's leadership, Billington has built a powerful platform that plays a critical role in protecting the cyber safety of the U.S.," Weinrich said in a statement.
The London-based CloserStill operates events across technology markets globally, including cybersecurity conferences worldwide. Recent North American acquisitions include Ai4 and Parcel Forum events.
Billington launched a second conference focusing on state and local government cybersecurity in 2024, held annually in March.
BrightTower, a New York investment banking firm, served as financial advisor to Billington CyberSecurity in the transaction.
Terrapinn marks another key acquisition with purchase of EV Charging Summit & Expo
Terrapinn has closed another major acquisition by adding EV Charging Summit & Expo to its portfolio of events. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition of the electric vehicle charging conference expands Terrapinn's presence in the United States and adds to its collection of electric vehicle and charging infrastructure events globally, CEO Greg Hitchen said Tuesday.
EV Charging Summit & Expo is held annually in March in Las Vegas and features more than 250 exhibitors and over 5,000 attendees. The conference serves as a marketplace for charging infrastructure and related services for charge point operators across North America.
Event entrepreneurs Galen Poss, Luke Vinci and Byron Mignanelli created the conference in 2022. The show has grown alongside the expanding electric vehicle charging industry.
"We've built a flagship event for the EV charging community," Vinci said in a statement. "Now it's time for a more expansive enterprise to carry it forward into its next stage of growth."
Mignanelli said the founders will ensure a smooth ownership transition for customers and stakeholders.
Attending IMEX America as a first-timer? Get the top tips from seasoned IMEX-ers!
IMEX America 2025 is just weeks away. If you're attending an IMEX event for the first time ever, here's some cool tips from seasoned IMEX-ers
Who is hiring?
This section highlights the latest job positions in the events and associations industry. Here are some new roles that have opened up:
Bridge
Event Marketing Lead
GSK
Global Congress Manager – Oncology
Sphere Entertainment Co.
Senior Director Event Sales
Interested in learning how peer-to-peer marketing can boost your event registrations and audience engagement? Book a chat to know how Snöball can help .
