How Parking Today rebooted an event to compete with industry associations
When Kevin Uhlenhaker, CEO and publisher, purchased Parking Today, in 2023, the event strategy for their signature event, Parking Industry Expo, or PIE, needed a reboot.
Not only had the event programming dulled over 23 years, but it was also eclipsed by two much larger events run by the industry’s trade associations.
As a software developer who had been a vendor to the parking lot industry, Uhlenhaker was new to publishing but had attended many industry events and thought he knew what was needed.
His background in technology also enabled the company to create the technological solutions that supported these new strategies.
The top challenges
One challenge was a subpar vendor-to-attendee ratio, along with lackluster programming.
After 25 years, the conference had “atrophied a little,” Uhlenhaker said.
Another challenge was posed by two larger events in the same niche. PIE had about 400 attendees, while the other two had about 3,000 and 2,000 attendees, respectively. Industry associations ran both of the competitors, one focused on government parking lots, an integral part of the industry.
Attendees and sponsors perceived the larger events as more important, Uhlenhaker said.
In reality, Parking Today’s total audience, since it was not limited to a membership model, was much larger than the audience of either of the competing event producers.
Solving the attendee-to-vendor ratio
A critical step to address the attendee-to-vendor ratio was to leveraging the size of the Parking Today audience, and lower the price of attending to “virtually free.”
“Standard attendees,” as defined by Uhlenhaker, are people who run parking lots, while suppliers to the industry are called “Business attendees.”
For standard attendees, they set a ticket price of $350, but allowed attendees to apply for a sponsored promo code to get in free.
Since the purchasers in the parking industry often have multiple influencers, and the new pricing now meant more of these valuable influencers could also attend.
“When you are working at the university and paying $1000, you can’t bring more people. We want to be the place where they can bring more people to the show.”
The application process also acted to screen out suppliers attempting to get in for free.
“I know all the tricks, because I used to be one of those people,” Uhlenhaker said.
The promo code was sponsored by Duncan Solutions, a leading provider of parking and tolling management software and services. As the 2026 sponsor, Duncan’s brand is on the application, and the company is the only customer that receives actual emails prior to the show.
In addition to boosting the number of attendees, Uhlenhaker limited suppliers to 64, creating an 8 to 1 attendee to vendor ratio,
“Vendors really like that,” Uhlenhaker sid.
“I wanted to create a show people actually want to come to”
The second part of the repositioning meant finding new ways for attendees to meet each other, as well as the vendors, and connect at the event.
The slogan for PIE changed to “The Parking Industry Expo Built for Connection.”
To create a show that is “built around connection,” the team experimented with ways to connect attendees, including building an event app that let’s them connect at the show, and keeps them connected year-round.
It also powers a scavenger hunt, in which attendees can find cues by scanning each other’s name tags, giving them “permission to meet.” Prizes are awarded at the end of the show.
“It is an excuse to get people talking, to create community and connection. To have unique personal connections, they cannot get on an Zoom call,” he said.
Ge0-targeting and the Conference Companion
The team now geo-fences ads around both their own and competing conferences, using an agency, January Spring.
Around other events, the ads promote PIE, and can be sold to suppliers who have not purchased a booth.
For their own event, Parking Today produced a “Conference Companion,” a guide to nearby restaurants and activities in the city where the show is held.
They now also send a Conference Companion, distributed by email, for the cities where competing shows are held.
A sponsorship of the four-email campaign sent to Parking Today’s regular subscriber list, one per week before the show, sells for $12,000.
This has an open rate of 37% and a click-through-rate of 15%. The Conference Companion was an immediate hit. Attendees who downloaded the app at PIE can use the app to connect at other shows, too.
It’s still early days for PIE ‘s reboot, but this company shows how a little innovation goes a long way.
Many thanks to Kevin Uhlenhaker, CEO, for sharing these innovative strategies with members.
