Open the Doors for Your Exhibitors’ Success!

Published by Paul Wehking on January 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Meeting Industry, Paul Wehking

Hey, association folks… as a regular sponsor and exhibitor, I want to ask you a question… are you really – really – giving your exhibitors the best opportunity to succeed at your show?

I consider a successful show one where I am able to make connections with people who may want to use the solutions that Omnipress offers. I will gladly pay the thousands of dollars for travel, freight, booth space, badge reader rental and even carpeting if I know I will be able to share a description of our services with the people who come to your show.

Yet more and more I find barriers to being able to reach those people when I go to shows. Take opt-out lists, for example. Many shows now include a checkbox on the registration form that allows attendees to opt out of receiving information from exhibitors and sponsors. We’re all being careful about legal issues these days and making sure we respect attendees’ privacy, and a lot of the most important organizations in our industry seem to be doing this (such as ASAE, PCMA, MPI, Association Forum, etc). But when you cut off our connections to people, you eliminate the benefit I get from attending.

The simple fact is that if we exhibitors cannot market and sell to your attendees, eventually we may decide we are not going to be able to justify the price of your event. I know you’re already challenged to keep your exhibitors coming to your events – do you really want to take away more of the value we expect?

Consider these proposals for…

A better system to help your exhibitors get value from your event

1. Offer multiple registration rates for attendees

• Lowest registration fee for attendees that accept mail and email marketing from exhibitors and sponsors. Their registration fee is $395.
• Those who accept snail mail only = $495 (emphasizes green marketing practices)
• Those who decline all marketing = $595 (Don’t want to play…then you gotta pay!)This pricing strategy sends a clear message to the attendee that the exhibitors and sponsors are paying for a considerable portion of the expenses while still offering them the option to opt-out… but now it has economic context.

2. Put the opt-out logistics on the exhibitors’ side

• You could make it clear to exhibitors that the first information they send to a new contact after a conference will have clear, easy opt-out instructions. Most exhibiting companies are very respectful to our contact list, and we certainly don’t want to send out communications to people who don’t want to talk to us.

3. Charge for a trip to the exhibit hall

• Make the exhibit hall a pay-to-enter area where attendees actually have to pay to get in. The reality is that there are solutions galore on the exhibit hall floor to make an attendee’s life better. Every problem an association may have can be solved there – why not elevate this part of events to a more honored position?

4. Help brand your exhibitors as the consultants they are

• FREE consulting always given out to the inquiring attendee who never buys or is just gathering information. That’s part of the game! Industry events are put on for the education, and there is often as much education being delivered in a vendor booth as there is in an educational session. The beauty of the booth is that you can hire someone to do a particular thing versus having to trudge back to the office and try to implement some learning from an educational session on your own.

5. Stop mixing lunch with expo hours

• Although we as exhibitors love a free meal just as much as the next company, free meals in the exhibit hall floor brings in “qualified eaters” versus qualified buyers. Let’s focus on ways we can connect with attendees who need our services, not just attendees who need lunch. Create blocks of time that the expo floor is open, but not associated with lunch. Some expos are so large an attendee cannot meet everyone. Having dedicated expo hall times on different days separate from lunch places value on meeting suppliers.

So, what are your ideas for bringing more value to your exhibitors? I’m all ears!

Guest Post by Paul Wehking

The Value of Face-to-Face Meetings

Published by Chris Uschan on January 19th, 2010 | Filed under: Chris Uschan, Meeting Industry

Can web conferences and other virtual meetings replace the value of face-to-face contact?

A Forbes Study (Summer 2009) of more than 750 businesses provides a strong argument for the value of face-to-face meetings. It also supports my very own belief that in-person meetings go deeper than the “at your desk” webinars and virtual events.

Their study (free download), “Business Meetings: The Case for Face to Face,” highlights the following:

• 80% of the executives said they prefer face-to-face contact to virtual meetings.
• Top three reasons executives preferred face-to-face meetings:
  (1) To build a stronger, more meaningful business relationships (85%);
  (2) Allows them to read body language and facial expressions (77%)
  (3) To have greater social interaction (75%)* The less than 20 percent who favored virtual meetings feel that the technology saves time (92%), money (88%) and offers more flexibility in location and timing.
• When asked to choose the meeting method most conducive to fostering specific business actions or outcomes, executives overwhelmingly preferred face-to-face meetings for achieving almost every business objective, including
  • persuasion (91%)
  • leadership (87%)
  • engagement (87%)
  • inspiration (85%)
  • decision making (82%)
  • accountability (79%)
  • brainstorming (73%)
  • strategy (73%)
• Web based conferences were preferred only for data oriented presentations (44%) and information dissemination (43%), although they held less than a 10 percent margin over face-to-face meeting in those two areas.

According to John Russell, chief executive of NYLO Hotels and former chairman of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, “People don’t want to sit in their office looking at each other on computer screens. That personal interaction–getting together to talk over dinner, drinks or a cup of coffee–is the foundation on which business relationships are built. It’s what drives business.”

>> Download their Free Study

What does this all mean?

It means face-to-face meetings are important and associations and meeting professionals need to demonstrate how their meetings will offer their potential attendees AND exhibitors a something better than average.

1. Offer Better Sessions and provide a meaningful takeaway for your attendees. The elimination of handouts sort of makes sense from a cost-savings perspective (and maybe because speakers are not creating a “good handout.”  And, I’m not talking about those 6-up PPTs in the breakout room or online. I want something I can sink my teeth into. >> Read our Best Practices for the Best Session Handouts to get some ideas.
2. Provide more networking opportunities before, during and after your event. If you are doing the same thing you did last year at your meeting, expect worse results. An online event community can help (a) create  event awareness and (b) provide pre-event networking opportunities between attendees and speakers. Mike McCurry, a Strategic Account Manager for Experient, shares how he has met extraordinary people by using social networking sites in his article, “Face2Face Connections Enrich Your Online Network!“>> Omnipress’ Conference 2.0 solution offers an event communities to help facilitate attendee interaction and engagement.
3. Provide more value to your exhibitors and sponsors. Remember, this group of conference participants pay A LOT more than the attendees do in most cases. They are a great source of event revenue (expo booth fees, ads, etc). Allow your exhibitors to market to your attendees beforehand and set up your breakout sessions so that it optimizes attendee/exhibitor time.

Taking Notes on Conference Flash Drives

Published by Chris Uschan on January 11th, 2010 | Filed under: Chris Uschan, Conference Materials

Watch this video and see how Omnipress allows your conference attendees to take notes on flash drives you provide them.

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Custom Flash Drives by Omnipress

Flash drives can be customized in many ways. Let Omnipress help you achieve your new media objectives. Be sure to check out our web site for more information.

–> Flash drive options and styles

3 Reasons To Have Your Presenters Create Videos to Promote Their Session

Published by Chris Uschan on January 8th, 2010 | Filed under: Chris Uschan, Conference Marketing, Meeting Industry, Social Technologies

If you’re looking to create a more dynamic and engaging online program for your conference or meeting, start with your presenters/speakers. In addition to having a brief session description in your program (which is essential in the printed program), have them record a short video highlighting topics they will be presenting on. Then put that video on your online conference program.

Three Reasons Why Your Online Program Should Include Videos of Your Presenters

1. It provides potential attendees with an opportunity to hear directly from the speakers which can influence them to register and attend your event.
2. It helps registered attendees choose which sessions they will attend.
3. And probably most important. Once your speakers have created a short video, they will want to share that video with their followers via email and social media. This will help you reach an audience of potential attendees you otherwise would not be able to directly communicate with.

Help Your Presenters/Speakers Create a Promotional Session Video

Making a short video session overview isn’t that tough. Most point and click cameras take video, laptops have integrated web cams and sites like youtube.com make it easy to quickly upload, share and embed videos.

You can help your presenters overcome their anxiety about creating a short video to promote their session. Feel free to share this informative video with your presenters or faculty. This video overviews things like cameras, lighting and how to effectively create a short video. Not to mention it’s entertaining.

Want to Some Real Samples?

See how Corbin Ball overviews a webinar he is hosting at Engage365.org.
Corbin Ball at Engage365 (scroll to bottom of page)

Watch KiKi L’Italien discussing end of 2009 and beginning of 2010 on SweetSpot Epidsode – IFDA wins sweet spot award!
Kiki on SweetSpot

Create a Customized Flash Drive to Make Your Event More Memorable

Published by Chris Uschan on December 11th, 2009 | Filed under: Chris Uschan, Conference Materials

For many attendees, attending an educational event is kind of a big deal. They have to get permission to attend, take time off from work and usually make travel arrangements to get there. Since both professional education and travel budgets have been slashed at many companies because of the economy, the investment attendees make in an event means more than it used to.

I’ve written before about the importance of giving attendees conference handouts to increase the value of their investment, but a little twist with a hot technology can add value to their event and help with the event branding.

Custom Flash Drives are Hot!

Even though they’ve been around since about 2000 (which is almost the Stone Age for technology), Flash Drives are still hot (like this credit card sized flash drive). Attendees love to receive the free storage capacity on the drive, and they appreciate having the conference handouts in electronic format they can pass around the office). They’ve got a certain “cool” factor about them, and they’re becoming more and more affordable.

The coolest thing about flash drives from a meeting organizer’s perspective is that attendees take them with them, and they keep them forever! In my desk drawer I have several flash drives I’ve received at events, and each time I use them I recall both the event and the organizer. What’s more… the more creative you get with the customization, the more likely it is that your flash drive will be the one they save and use again and again.

Here are a few tips to make sure you tailor your flash drive investment to your attendees’ needs so your flash drive becomes their favorite.

1. Size Does Matter
Consider the amount of space your conference handouts will take up on the flash drive as you pick the memory size. Customizable flash drives these days range from 64MB to 16GB and larger! Make sure there’s plenty of room left over so your attendees can make use of your drive after the event.

2. Form and Function
Flash drives come in every shape, color and material: bracelets, pens, key chains and plain old sticks. You can order an elegant wooden drive and engrave your logo with a laser, or simply choose a custom color on a cute little drive and include a black-and-white logo. Match your flash drive to your event so your attendees will instantly think of the whole experience they had with you each time they see your memento.

3. Quality Over Quantity
Let’s face it – not all flash drives are created equal. Some of the ones that I’ve received pretty much fall apart the first time I use them – the plastic falls off, the USB port doesn’t work, the key ring breaks. Flash drives are fairly affordable these days, but you might want to consider paying a little more for something a little higher quality. The last thing you want is for an attendee to toss your drive out because it looks or feels cheap and unreliable.

Attending a Conference is a Luxury

Before I leave this topic, a quick reminder that your attendees might love you if you provide their handouts on flash drives, but they may love you MORE if you provide both paper handouts (or something meaningful in hard copy) and a flash drive. Going back to the idea that attending a conference is a luxury rather than a given these days, it’s important to add as much value as possible!

For a cost-conscious way to do both, consider a Conference Learning Journal. And yes, I have numerous Conference Learning Journals laying around my desk branded with the event information, the organization logo and all my notes inside.

Learn more about Flash Drives from Omnipress: Conference Flash Drives