What is co-location of conferences?  We know that co-location is defined as:  “to locate together; especially : to place (two or more units) close together so as to share common facilities.”  This is provided by Merriam-Webster, but what does it actually mean to us in the conference world?  To me it has a few messages.

Spreading out costs: I think one of the main points in today’s economy is that it allows a conference to partner with another conference to share in the costs of the facility or other costs.  If you have two companies that might have somewhat differing agendas but might share the same attendees, they can both share in the cost of the rental of the facility or the other costs that might be associated with putting on the event.  This also means of course that you would have to also share in the revenue of the attendees tickets and perhaps some of the sponsors but that is to be expected when dealing with partners.

Markets Join Forces: Many companies join together for a common purpose.  This is not much different from conferences joining together for a common purpose.  It may be that a single conference does not have the amount of content to support a full conference but if they joined with another conference that might also be too small to support a full conference, together they could make a full conference agenda of speakers and exhibitors for a better conference experience.

Management is Distributed: In some cases the companies that are putting on the events are too small but if they joined forces they could spread out the amount of work necessary.  perhaps Company A wil be in charge of the front facing marketing promotion and sales, while company B is responsible to the back end management of registrations, exhibit booth set up, housing and speakers.  With two companies each taking on all of the responsibilities necessary it spreads out the work load making it easier to accomplish all that needs done.

These are just a few of the simple ideas behind why conferences are co-located.  I know that we are beginning to see more and more of this as economic factors make it necessary to join forces and allow for more people to participate in attending conferences as well as managing them.  Are you a co-located conference manager?  Why are you co-locating?  What are some of the downfalls of co-locating conferences?  Would love to hear your thoughts.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about the idea behind a trade show manager that would wait up until the show date to cancel it and take the money and escape out the back way.  That sounds a little dramatic and perhaps it is just the movie of the week that is playing in my head when I imagine that actually happening but it could happen.  In fact in 1995 I remember a man organizing trade shows in Houston, Texas while sitting in his prison cell.  He would set up the event sell exhibit booth space and then cancel at the last minute and not give anyone their money back.  He would tell vendors and others that there was not adequate parking.  As I said, it should be the movie of the week.

Today, 15 years after the fact, the economy is struggling and people are having difficulty getting new businesses to work and flourish.  This is part of the other problem with trade shows, events and conferences that are failing and not getting off the ground.  There are not enough sponsors willing to fork over money for the events that are starting and the organizers have no financing to get a year under their belt and lastly, attendees cannot afford to attend.  It seems to be a vicious cycle and in among this craziness is people wanting to take advantage of others.

How do you protect yourself in a situation with new show organizers that have the opportunity to be a good event but must either cancel the event or have it be a failure when you show up and present your trade show best to very few attendees?  There must be ways for you to protect yourself from this.  I want to explore this more and would ask that anyone that has experience with this leave us a comment.  I would love to talk to some wily veterans that might have this knowledge and might know how to combat the problem.  If you have had this happen either as an organizer or an attendee or an exhibitor I would love to hear from you.  Let us in on what happened and how.  I am going to do some further research on this and run a series of information on Trade Show and Convention Fraud.  I might even throw in some of my own experience.  I think this is something that is very unfortunate and something we should all be aware of in this tight economy.

It seems that everywhere I go online and where I read most o my news about the trade show industry, all I can see is the worst of times.  The business and industry of trade shows and conventions is filled with gloom and doom.  Attendance at shows or events is down, and sponsors are difficult to get, and exhibitors are tough to get commitments for the events.  This seems to be the flavor of the month for the last few months until I read recently of a study completed by UFI The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry and their Global Exhibition Barometer.

It appears that across the world in most regions profits are on the ride from this time last year and in most case by more than 10%.  This is good news compared to the losses of years past.  It appears that most of the respondents in the study indicate that in the Americas and in the Asia/Pacific regions that we are on the doorstep of economic recovery being it will take place in the second half of 2010.  Those surveyed in other parts of the world believe that the economic recovery will not yet be seen until 2011.  Either is good news being that the economic slide may be over.

This survey was conducted in December of 2009 by 176 companies in 54 different countries and provides an overall look at the exhibitions industry.  If you want to get a look at the survey and its conclusions you can read the report at the UFI site.  How about in your industry, are you seeing the economic turnaround we all are now hearing about or is it still time to knuckle under and tighten the belts for a long hot summer or a long cold winter?  I am beginning to see the writing on the wall that we may have hit bottom. Now if we can only head upward I would be thankful.

I was reading Rachel Wimberly over at Trade Show Network News about the latest in the meetings industry.  A study was done by the Professional Conventions Management Association, American Express, and the PMCA Education Foundation where they surveyed 505 professional meeting planners.  The results revealed that their was in an increase of 15% more meetings booked in 2010 from 2009 and 24% more meeting booked for 2011 over 2010.  It seems that we are climbing out of the economic hardships that the meeting industry has see over the last few years.  This seems to be a trend in other industries as well.

Deborah Sexton was quoted in the article as stating:

“While it’s been a difficult 18 months for our industry, I’m encouraged to see both actual business, as well as business sentiment improving,” said Deborah Sexton, PCMA’s president and CEO. “There continues to be caution in budgets and cost controls, which is to be expected, but if we can stay on this positive trend path there are certainly brighter days ahead for meetings.”

It appears that their is still caution going forward with the meeting industry and companies are not booking at places such as resorts and cruise ships like they once did in previous years.  This is not surprising as the industry begins to creep out of its shell.  Hotels saw the most increase of bookings in the meeting industry as they are a safe investment for any companies out there.  They tend to see the benefits first when a change occurs.

I have been at the heart of this debate for quite some time.  I have been on the organizer side, and on the side of being one of the speakers looking to be paid. Scott Stratten recently voiced his opinion about the topic of paid speaking on his blog UnMarketing.  In this instance Scott was given the terms by which you can speak at the event, a speakers conference ironically.  In that instance the speaker had to register for the event and pay the fee to attend if they were chosen to speak.  I know that this is a way to keep the ticket prices for the event low and that if you speak at the event, the pay is actually the prestige and the honor it portrays.  As I have said, I understand both sides of this argument.

From an organizer standpoint, the real issue is whether the speaker can help them sell tickets and whether that value that the speakers are bringing to the event will make the organizer money.  Plain and simple it is a matter of economics in that regard.  Many speakers on the other side of the coin believe in their message and how well they do their job and with that comes the idea that they can sell out Yankee Stadium if they were to speak on their passionate topic.  Many times that is not nearly the case.  Both have merit and there should be a compromise somewhere in the middle.

As organizers we look to speakers to pay their way in and help us make money by adding that value.  Speakers that help sell tickets or promote the event through their networks are the best value for an organizer and many organizers that see that can and will compensate the speaker for that purpose.  If a speaker adds no other value than their message, it some times looks like a bad investment.   Why should I pay you you speak at my event if you don’t bring value.

As a speaker, I am taking my time to make sure that value is there by making sure the message is such that it fits their audience.  I am making sure I provide them an expert in the field which I know they are using to market the event.  If I can help them by promoting the event through my network to help put butts in the seat then I am happy to do that as well.  I could make money in other areas, and speaking is only as small component of my business, but I also realize that if you speak at events, you do get that recognition and exposure.  I factor in a small part of my speaking as a way to market me and my business.

Both sides benefit from this relationship.  It seems that where it gets lost is when one side cannot see the other side’s point of view.  What is your position?  Should speakers be paid?  Should speakers pay to be a part of an event? Is the going rate for speakers too high or too low?  I would bet your argument is slanted somewhat in your own economic position.

[photo via Photos8.com]

Happy Labor Day!  This is apparently a day that I am not supposed to work.  The problem is we had to get up earlier than a day I normally work to get the brisket on the BBQ to begin smoking for a picnic party.  I must have forgotten the memo on that one.  Actually, I looked it up just to make sure it wasn’t against the rules of labor or something, and found tat you actually are required to work harder on Labor Day having fun than you do performing work.  Well to those of you that are relaxing ad taking it easy on this day, please enjoy and those that are out laboring at fun, please be careful safe and ave a great day.

Tags: Labor Day, Holidays, Conventions, Trade Shows

As I sit here with my leg immobilized in a Bledsoe Boot after an injury yesterday (yeah believe it or not this was an injury I received playing peek-a-boo, don’t ask) it made me think about what would have happened had I been scheduled to work a trade show or convention.  I would not have been able to go to a convention center and sit through a long day of meetings a sales pitches and all that would have been involved with that job.  What would have happened?  Realistically, I would would have had an empty exhibit booth and all of the attendees wondering what happened.  Not very professional to say the least.

Do you have a Plan B in place, or a disaster preparedness plan for when such things happen?  Generally speaking you would have a few people working your exhibit booth but what if you are a small business and you are the receptionist, CEO chief bottle washer and lone exhibit booth handler?  My suggestion is to have a plan in place.  Be prepared as the boy scouts say.  Are you prepared?

Photo via Bledsoe Products

Tags: Exhibit Booth, Disaster, Disaster Preparedness

I was recently in Seattle which I consider the a coffee drinker’s heaven since you have a coffee house on every street corner.  When you work 20 hours a day like I have been lately getting ready for my own trade show coming up in October you tend to fall back on coffee to get you headed to point B from point A.

An event I was hoping to make some day is Coffee Fest.   Coffee Fest is currently scheduled to take place in Seattle coming up on September 25 – 27, 2009 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.  One of the events that I am really interested in is the Latte Art Competition.

For those that are not up to speed with what this is, the competition is described as:

Attendees and exhibitors are invited to watch as top baristas from around the world, the cream of the crop — come to Coffee Fest to strut their artistic and espresso-pulling skills. In this case, beauty counts but only in the cup. Each barista is provided 5 minutes to warm up and another 5 minutes to craft up to three deftly designed drinks. The prettiest crema, decked out with the finest detail and most distinct design wins. Only the cup counts, as all three judges are "blind" – curtained off from the competitors and sheltered by headphones for the course of the competition.

My only question is how I might be the guy that gets to taste the art after it is judged–any ideas?

Tags: Seattle, CoffeeFest, Washington, Washington State Convention & Trade Center

I was reading a short report put together by Trade Show Week about the state of the visitors to Las Vegas in the month of May:

According to the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Executive Summary, convention attendance continued to decline in May in Las Vegas, with 341,846 attendees, compared with 509,482 attendees in the same time period last year, a 32.9-percent decrease. The number of conventions and meetings held in May also fell again to 1,643 from 2,208 last May, a 25.6-percent decrease.

I know that Las Vegas will weather the storm but I was just thinking about all of us having 25% less.  I can say that I would be feeling the decrease pretty hard.  The slide is continuing, but I am also hearing about people that are using some of the conventions and trade shows as networking events to find more jobs, to find more customers. They are going back to the basics and what has worked for them in the past.  They are planning on attending events that are upcoming to see if they can change their luck.  Something I am sure Las Vegas has heard before.

Tags: Trade Show Week, Las Vegas, Nevada, Conventions, Trade Shows, Meeting, Industry Events

I know that by now all of you have heard of Facebook, and some of the more prominent social networks out there.  I for one use LinkedIn regularly as well and Ning.com and lots of other social networks. Yes, I am a professional, or at least play one on TV.  I wanted alert everyone that might be lurking here or at least those of you that happen by that there is also a social network for you.  Yes, I am speaking about event people on in this case eventpeeps.com. From Canadian Peeps to Trade Show Peeps to even those interested in Twitter Peeps.  Social Networks are the new black and many of you are already a part of it.  I wanted to make sure to give a shout out to the conventions and event industry peeps as well!

Tags: Social Networks, Event Peeps, Facebook, Ning, Twitter, Events, Conventions, Trade Shows