Convention Insider (Conventions.net)

One of the things that see a quite a bit is the fact that many exhibitors just show up and hope people will come to their booth and buy their products or services.  This is such a missed opportunity if you don’t take advantage of the fact that you are giving your customer a chance to meet face to face and experience your conversation first hand.

I try to make as many appointments wit all my contacts that I can. This helps me set a good schedule before the event and sets out my time.  I can stay on track that way and make sure I get the biggest bang for my buck.  There is also another underlying thing that happens, people talk about you and the fact that you will be at the event.  Many of the people that you make appointments with will talk about you to your friends, your competitors and others in your industry. You ge4t seen as the expert or as the person in the know about what is going on at the event.  You are seen as the person that they need to know and meet or compete with on the floor.  This increases your stock exponentially.  Make your contacts now and get your calendar set before the show and you will see great benefits.

I have been asking many of the event coordinators I know how they gather feedback from their attendees.  With all of the social media tools that we have that allow us to listen in online to conversations that others are having, we get a chance to hear first hand what many are saying.   We can see what they say on Twitter during the show and we can see what they say on their Facebook pages after they get home and finally blogs are a great source for reviews of how your event went or how the show was perceived by those in attendance.

Listening to that feedback can be invaluable when you are wanting to implement changes to your format, your exhibit space or other parts of a show to make sure you are keeping the sponsors happy, the attendees and the exhibitors.  I was reading recently that a convention that was taking place in Las Vegas is now moving due to the feedback received by the attendees.  This is a bit of a drastic move on the part of the organizers but it may provide to be the best move for their business. They listened to what was being said about the location and now are moving from Las Vegas to Anaheim.  Listening to your detractors is hard but you can make it a positive.

I am asked to speak at a number of events and conferences.  One of the things that I see is on the rise is the fact that many speakers are cutting there speaking fees to the bare minimums to get more work.  This is undercutting the industry for those that have been charging fees for their services for a number of years at the same rate.  The competition is creating price wars due to the sliding economy.

Some of the things that I see speakers are doing is not figuring in their normal fees are things like expenses for travel, expenses for being on site, and the expense of their time.

Conferences will often times pay for the plane fare to their event, pay for a hotel room for them to be at the event for the duration, and will provide the stipend for their speaking fees.  This is becoming a rarity for the event space or conventions and trade shows.  We are now seeing speakers lining up to speak at events for the exposure they get and not charging for those other areas.  They figure that this is a marketing or an advertising vehicle for their true businesses.  They are giving away their expertise on the bet that they may get business from the speaking gig.  If that proves not the case, they have lost that opportunity and they are then on to the next gig.

Meanwhile, speakers are devaluing their services and the services of their peers.  Their peers are unable to compete with those that are giving away services for free and not charging for things that they normally wold as they are hoping to make that up in the sales cycle.  The enabling of this are event planners and convention organizers that are having to cut costs and cut budgets for the content they are providing their attendees. We are seeing the economy change how we do business in this industry and speakers are being hard hit by the new changes.  How is the economy changing how you do business?  Would love to hear your opinions here.

Going the extra mile is what I have been preaching to others as I visit with event planners and convention planners at their events across the country.  I recently attended a conference and wanted to share something that I thought might also be going that extra mile that was done at this event.

Many of the attendees that go to events and have never been to the location or have never been in the city where your event is held may not know what the local best restaurants or the local best bars or attractions might have to offer. This is a great time to tap into the visitors and convention bureau staff to get the best places for a drink maybe the best late night dessert bar or even the best place to sing karaoke.  The conference I recently spoke at had a buy one get one free deal for anyone that showed their conference badge at the local ice cream parlor.  I decided it would be a good idea to buy one and take the free one too! I love ice cream.

Find out where these places are in the area and then see if they will give your attendees a little discount or a special offer.  The local business would love the additional customers and your attendees get a good deal on their wares.  It truly is a win-win.  Go that extra mile or even that extra scoop of ice cream.  Iy may make an attendee, or in this case, one your event speakers very happy.

I have been traveling all day and I had about 12 hours of airports, boarding this plane and carrying that bag.  I am currently speaking at an event in North Carolina and I really enjoy visiting new towns and places that I have never bee before and drink in all that place has to offer. It is part of the perks of having to put up with business travel like the day I just experienced.

I like to get to events and have a set place I can go for dinner and have most of the details worked out for me. Because I have had an all day excursion, it is nice not to have that next bit of problems with deciding where to eat, what parties to go to and what is the next thing.  Do you offer a stress free environment for the attendees or event the conference speakers for your event?  This could set you apart from other conferences and events that might be competing with yours.  Give a stress free itinerary to those tat have been going hard all day to get your event.  They will be refreshed when the event opens and will be one of your best evangelists.

My friend Dana Doody from The Expo Group sent out a twitter message this morning and I picked up on about 4 tips of things that exhibitors should not do on the show floor in their booths.

These are really good tips.  The one about speaking too much in your booth is a great tip and one that I have issue with in my own experience.

This is a great way to use a social media tool like YouTube and your own knowledge of your conference to help people have a better experience.  If you are an event organizer take a note here from someone that is using a tool that will help remind your exhibitors about how they can make your event better for them and better for the attendees and others.

Those of you that know me know that I love talking about what is going on in my own backyard here in Colorado. I like to talk about conventions going on here and what is happening at some of the places I visit here.  I was reading this week about Colorado’s convention center and the fact that they have made it to LEED certified status.

The Colorado Convention Center is operated by SMG and is owned by the City of Denver. In 2009 they hired a manager that began the 18 month long certification process and have finally reached that designation.  Gems Events reports:

According to CCC management, the facility focused efforts in energy usage, sustainable purchasing, green cleaning, building occupant comfort, improved air quality and waste diversion. Richard Scharf, president and CEO of Visit Denver, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, cited a study conducted by the Watkins Research Group that says four out of ten conference planners will choose the ‘greenest’ city for their convention. “That makes the LEED certification an important marketing tool in selling Denver for future meetings,” he said in a statement announcing the recognition.

It is important that a state that prides itself in the use of its outdoors and the theme of being good in environmental issues get this certification.  This is a proud day for Colorado! Consider your next event to be held here in Colorado.

I am constantly going over submitted speaker submissions for ideas about speaking at the events I manage.  Many of the speakers have much the same talk and it is some of the usual suspects that I see get a shot at speaking.  Some of the speaker agencies out there submit 10 applications to speak and all they do is change the name of their client and that can be especially frustrating when you are the one that has to read every application and determine those that make the cut for speaking engagements and those that you have to tell, “Maybe next year.”  It is tough to make those calls and it is even tougher to tell the folks their submission didn’t make it.  I think there are a number of things that can be done by speakers when applying to speak at events that can help your chances.

Be Unique – That may sound very basic but like I said many of the speakers out there all want to talk about the latest and hottest item in their industry and if you don’t stand out you can be assured you will be added to the “No Thanks” pile.

Know Your Organizers – This is not so typical of what I think is on the windshields of those that apply to speak but if you know more about those that are involved in the decision making process the better.  Do a little research on who those people are and what they do.  This can provide invaluable if you get a chance to pitch the idea later.

Keep It Simple – Organizers of events have a very limited amount of time to go through 100′s of submissions.  Keep your title catchy but simple and your pitch should be very much an elevator pitch.  If the organizer reading your submission has to spend too much time getting to the money portion of the pitch, you may end up on that pile quickly.

It’s Not About You – The worst thing I see in the pitch is that the applicant want to make the talk about them and how cool they are.  What you need to do is make it about the event and their attendees.  You pitch from the stage and you may never be asked back to an event. They want to make the best conference for their people. Make it about them.

Speaking at events is for some the best marketing you can have.  You get to be seen as an expert, you get exposure and you get to be the rock star.  Remember that organizers also are looking for the person that understands that from their point of view.  Your applications should be selling to the organizer and it should be your best stuff, but they see it as an honor for them to invite you to their show not that you have graced them with your presence.  Keep your egos and your chest thumping to a minimum.  Make it your mission to make their conference the best it can be and they will respond favorably when it comes times to make a decision on who gets to speak.

One of the things that is becoming common in the new world of new media is many companies are now publishing blog posts about their experiences at your convention of trade show.  Many companies are now blogging and they have Facebook pages that they are using to publish articles about your convention, your trade show and event the meeting they attended.  These articles, photos, and conversations can be re-purposed in recap posts.

Recap posts are feedback and review of attendee experience, exhibitor experience and sponsor experience.  These can be some of the best advertising for your event as it is generally not a biased opinion of how well you did in your planning, or your organization of that event.  You can also thank those that are writing about you by recognizing their blog post by putting it in a gathering of those posts in a single post on your own company blog.

Finally, by finding and listening to the content that is being generated, you can also get that valuable feedback that I discussed yesterday.  Feedback and reviews written are great opportunities for find out what people that how you did.  Publish they good bad and the indifferent and then follow that up with your own review and feedback of what you think went well and the things you intend improve on in the next event or show.

Are you providing the product that your attendees want?  That may seem like a simple question and it may be an obvious one but many organizers and people that are setting forth the program of a convention may not have a clue about what their attendees really want.  One of the best ways to get this information is through the use of surveys.

Many of the conference and convention organizers already have the ability at their fingertips to reach out to their attendees and find out what they want.  I am not talking about the post event feedback that we always look for, but as the event is being planned.  Many organizers are already sending monthly newsletters and those are perfect times to poll or survey their attendees with questions or what they wan to see most at the event as speakers and content being presented, and whether it be workshops or panels.

Facebook and Twitter are a great place to poll your attendees with questions about “chicken or beef” or even the most basic of questions about what they want at your event.  Listening to the industry in the social networks are great ways to find out what is hot in the industry and what the community is talking about and what is garnering their attention.  Keeping an eye on these areas can be quite revealing.

Finally, remember to refer back to those post event surveys that you sent to everyone when your event was over.  If you are not sending post event surveys, you need to find a way to do this to find out what people thought could be done better and then try to implement those changes.  Getting feedback from your attendees is important.  Implementing the changes to make it better is more important.