Convention Insider (Conventions.net)

If you came here looking for a financial mathematical formula I’m sorry I have lead you astray on your search.  This Leap Year Convention is not anything like that.  In fact I tried to find a convention that talked about leap years or even if someone might hold their conventions every four years.  I’ll tell you the reason for my search in a moment.  As I searched for this type of convention, it dawned on my what conventions are leap year conventions — the democratic and republican conventions.  We elect president’s during the leap years.

Why did I go into this and why is it important?  Very simple.  On this day in 1964, a little preemie baby was born, 4 pounds 6 ounces and small enough to just cover a mother’s hand.  On this day I was brought into the world.  I can still remember when I was a child wondering when the next time was that I would get to celebrate my birthday on February 29th, and my mother would always remind me, “When we get to elect the president, you get a birthday.”

We here at Convention Insider understand the world of search and the power of Google.  One of my mantras is “We live in a Google world.”  We are constantly trying to rank high for search terms that will bring people to our site at Conventions.net.  When we bring them to our site, we are bring them to our customers, the people that list their services or wares on Conventions.net. 

I was recently doing some background checking and working on some keywords and phrases as it relates to the search term “convention.”  One of the things that I realized is the highest searched for phrase in that family of searches is “Silver Convention.”  Thinking that people were searching for a convention about the silver industry I decided to see what turned up by searching for silver convention in Google.  I think I really missed the mark on my idea of a silver industry show. 

Turns out everyone wants to find who that cool 70′s disco band was from their early years.

This dates me a little bit  but I too know of this group and I can remember using my best moves on the dance floor of the local disco with my bell bottom jeans and and long David Cassidy hair.  I’m not going to show any of those “moves” again for a very long time.  I’ll let the pros take you there.  Enjoy the video.

I am very close to Boulder so I tend to pay attention to what companies in the area are doing and what they are doing as a part of in the business world.  A recent announcement on TSNN.com lead me to find a company here in Boulder that is launching a new event called Healthy Foods International Exposition and Conference.  This expo is set to take place in June at the Dallas Convention Center.  The Boulder company that is partnering for the event is New Hope Natural Media.  New Hope is described in their website:

For more than 25 years, New Hope Natural Media has been the leading media resource and information provider for the natural, organic and healthy products industry. Our publications, events and e-business products and services deliver industry information and provide community-building forums that showcase the entire value chain of healthy products from start to finish. We provide integrated marketing solutions that connect you to your next customer…in print, in person, and online.

Obviously, they do a number of Natural Products Conventions as well, with the most recent scheduled March 13-16, 2008 at the Anaheim Convention Center.  With their experience in the natural product industry, the health food convention is a perfect match.  Good luck to the people at New Hope and to the Dallas Convention Center good job getting another very cool event.

As part of what I try to do here at Convention Insider, I get a chance to visit and see other blogs that are involved in the Trade Show or Convention industry.  I have found a few blogs that are in existence, but it is actually a rare find.

The folks at Exhib-It! seem to truly understand that a blog is a good way to communicate with their customers.  This directly from their CEO, DJ Heckes:

We are in the process of moving offices this month and although we’re only going a couple of blocks north, my staff and I have had additional responsibilities in accordance with our packing and moving schedule.  I watched as desks were taken out of offices one by one and were replaced with folding card tables for the few weeks remaining.  I am very proud of my staff for still caring on the tip top customer service and quick response to clients’ needs in these temporarily uncomfortable working conditions.  

I really like the way that Ms. Heckes explains their move and I like how she has personalized the process.  I even commend her for praising her staff publicly.  A classy move in her part.   The only criticism that I see is the ability for the customer to make a comment about what she has written.   Their blog is a great way to tell their customers what they are up to, but there is no ability for customer feedback.  Perhaps the customer had a good experience with their services perhaps they want to thank them by leaving a comment.

Congrats on DJ Heckes and all her staff on using a blog.  I would really love to see them use it to its full potential.  More postings from some of the staff she is so proud of and perhaps some discussion about their services and business.  Perhaps if I could leave a comment that I need some booth help in September in Las Vegas, you could gain a customer.

I went to the hardware store today to buy some replacement parts for a garbage disposal that exploded under my kitchen sink.  I walked down the plumbing supplies isle and a had a little chuckle thinking about the plumbing supply business.  It reminded me of when I was growing up watching TV shows like Happy Days, as I believe Mr. C would be going to a plumbing supply convention for his hardware store.  Perhaps it was thinking of “P Traps” or other plumbing phrases.  Yes, sometimes my inner 13 year old shows himself.  I was actually going to make fun of this profession a little, because as sitcom writers all know plumbing supplies are actually a funny profession, and it always seems like the conventions businessmen are going to back in the day of sitcoms were plumbing supply conventions. 

While kitchen sinks and toilet and toilet brushes are funny things to write in as characters, this is big business for the likes of the people at  the PHCC.  They recently had their 125th Annual Convention in Southern California. 125 years is a long time and obviously this group has some real staying power.  Their 126th Annual Convention and Trade Show is scheduled for September 29, 2008 through October 4, 2008 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.  I wonder if Mr. C will be in attendance.

[photo via Lou's Plumbing Supply]

With the ever rising need to be more like online communities such as Facebook, and MySpace, Vegas decides to try their own hand at social networking with MyVegas.  According to Brandweek:

The Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority this month is planning to launch a social network for people planning a Las Vegas vacation. Modeled on sites like Facebook and MySpace, MyVegas gives tourists a virtual meeting place where they and their friends can choose a hotel, buy tickets to events and interact with other visitors.

I can certainly see that they will have some people scrambling to get in on the action as people that are very targeted with be signing up to be a part of the network.  Many hotels and casinos will be falling on themselves to be listed as advertisers.  But will the trust factor be significant enough to make people turn over information about themselves?  That will be a big question.

Like other social networks, MyVegas, found at VisitLasVegas.com, gives users a profile page on which they can list their interests, upload photos and network with other users. But unlike sites like Facebook, MyVegas actually encourages its members to pretend to be something or someone they are not.

I am always concerned a bit with the idea of privacy and what the network will do with the data that they collect on their users and what they do with that data once it is collected.  I will keep an eye out for what this network does and more importantly what they will be doing to their users and the information their users provide.  If you are one of the people at MyVegas, you definitely need to get listed on Conventions.net.

As one of my many sources of information related to the world of conventions, besides of course my parent site, Conventions.net, I read Meetings and Conventions Magazine.  I especially took notice of their “On The Cover” article about “Where Bed Taxes Go.”

This is an amazing read about how they finance things by selling hotel rooms.

Guests still experience sticker shock when it comes to hotel tax, which now frequently adds between 12 and 16 percent to bills (usually between $10 and $30 per room night), even in second- or third-tier cities. In places like New York, or at high-end properties in smaller cities, hotel tax easily can add $40 or more per day.

I always notice on my bill when I leave that there are certain taxes that are paid but, I never really realized what the charges were and where they went.  Read through and see just what huge amounts of cash are generated and the way it can change with a simple law change.

So the boss just put you in charge of running the booth at the next SUPER WIDGET WORLD SHOW.

Here is the first post in a series with some simple sure fire things you can do to improve your chances of success.

1. Set appointments. Depending on the size of your industry, pick the 10, 20, 50 or 100 top customers that you would like to see most at your booth. Call them and get them to set an appointment. It isn’t hard. Just ask for a few minutes of their time to stop by to see your new widget or review your new programs for the year. You won’t land everyone but at least half of them will agree to set an appointment.

Why do you want to do this? First of all serious buyers are always pressed for time and they need to schedule their time in advance to be effective. Some attendees will only see exhibitors they have set appointments with before the show begins. Second, it is human nature for a crowd to draw a crowd. By setting appointments you make sure you will be giving your sales pitch throughout the show and while you are showing your product to your appointment I guarantee other passers by will stop to listen in on your pitch and words of wisdom. 

Finally, when you set an appointment you raise the expectation level of the buyer. This is a business meeting. They aren’t just dropping by to pick up whatever chochkie it is your giving away. You have a much better chance of closing a sale with a pre-set appointment than you do a walk up customer.  After all the success of that booth you are in charge of running is going to be judged on you closing deals.

I am coming to the conclusion that nearly every industry has a convention or trade show.  I guess I’m not totally surprised.  Some are small and some are quite large but I have yet to speak to someone in an industry that does not have some annual convention or some big event that takes place each year.

I was speaking today to a person at Where.com.  They have a cool platform where people can make cool widgets for their mobile phone.  After we discussed this a little they referred to a convention where they wanted to make a splash called Navteq.  It’s a convention for developers and others in their industry.  They also wanted to make sure they were a part of another part of their industry called Where 2.0 Conference.  Appropriately named for their company as it stands.

After I hung up from the call, I pondered the idea that this small company in a very niche business, had two very large events that it planned to take part in and it made me wonder how many small business or even large participate in events.  As I tried to wrap my mind around the number of events there must be in a single year, I started to lose myself in the numbers.  Conventions.net has it’s work cut out to keep up with numbers such as those.  You can help, make sure Conventions.net knows about your event, convention, trade show or conference.

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Conventions.net and Convention Insider.  Yes I know Valentine’s Day is already over but as I sit here this evening wondering what to write about given the holiday and being that I am pretty much dried up for creativity, I decided to find out if there is such a think as a Valentine Convention or Trade Show.  If you read here much you know Google is always where I start my online research.

My first result after searching was a Wedding site.  This is a reasonable bridge between Valentine’s and Weddings,  but what about those candy hearts and the cards and the packages and ribbons and everything else?  I did see some results for a Be My Valentine Trade Show in 2004 but not much else.

This is exactly what Conventions.net is trying to do with their resource site.  Being able to find trade shows in every niche.  If it has to do with Valentine’s or rocket science you should have a place to find your trade show or convention.  If you want to list your convention and trade show for people to find, try listing it at Conventions.net they would be happy to promote your event.