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 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.

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.

Is your convention or event accessible? I am not speaking about the ADA and whether persons with disabilities are able to attend, I am talking about whether the event itself is easily accessible.  I recently agreed to speak at an event that is in a very nice place that is out of the way in a quiet setting. We have a very nice location and the hotel is going to be a very beautiful setting.  The problem is not the location as it relates to the experience while there, the problem  as I see it is how to get into and out of the location from all over the country.

I will be flying a few hours to get to the nearest large city, will then have to rent a car to get the the smaller town that is not as accessible by commercial airlines.  This creates a hardship on the speakers, and those attendees that will be coming from places that are not necessarily easily traveled by car.  This needs to be taken into account when making plans or when planning the date and location of your event.

I love speaking at smaller events that provide a good setting for learning and for a closer dialogue between the experts speaking and the attendees. I really like a out of the way place that also allows attendees and those involved to have a near vacation like experience.  The problem is it has to be accessible and it has to be able to allow people to get there and out of the location as quickly as possible and with the least amount of cost. This will allow you to have better attendance and a better overall experience. These issues will allow you to have better attendance for years to come.

I talked about it becoming convention season in the last post and that means it is back to setting up and tearing down your exhibit booth space.  If you are a small business it means probably getting the most bang for your buck in the area of a display that is easy to set up can be done with only one person and can be checked in as luggage when you travel.  I have been looking around recently at some of the display companies because I too will be needing to get a display booth that is for people on the move.

I spend about one week a month in the first six month of the season going to a couple of large shows and then a few small events and then a final large one before going in to work mode.  I am always looking for ease of use.  There are many companies out there that offer a portable display that is easy to set up and can make your company look professional and certainly won’t break the bank.  In today’s economy, the latter part of that equation is a must.  You can’t spend a whole bank account of your marketing budget only to not be able to recover that cost on the road.  I am actually in the market for a portable display that will fit nicely and look professional in the 10 x 10 booth space or in the corner of a small event.  Portable displays are a great asset and if you find a company that provide this service let me know I would love to speak to them.

I am not sure if that is the case for all of you, but when my kids head back to school, it means I need to gear up for my own convention season.  Many of my conventions in the social media world begin in the fall and run through to the beginning of summer again.  I am not sure if this is a trend in all of the convention world, but it seems to make sense that while we parents are freed from our kids being under foot during summer we get back into the swing of conventions.  My kids finally go back to school today and I for one am looking forward to freedom of herding them, keeping them entertained, and trying to make sure they are not playing in traffic.

My first convention I will be attending this year is in Vegas and in fact I will be an exhibitor and a speaker, and I am actually helping run a track about non-profits and causes in the social media world.  Stay tuned as I get ready for that to kick off and you will be hearing more about what I have in store for that show in Las Vegas in October.  I have some smaller events that I am going to be attending and some I will be speaking at and will report my progress as we get back into the swing of convention season.  In the meantime, parents be happy those kids are headed back to school!

Photo via Avolore

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.

The catch to the title of this post is ironic.  I am attending some interviews of some key figures and players in the industry at the TS2 conference but I am not actually in Boston.  I am in the comfort of my own office from Colorado.  I did the same thing yesterday as the crew in the Boston Convention Center put together an online stream of the convention floor called #InZone.  That is the hashtag that is being used on Twitter and across the online world.  You can follow along with what is happening on Twitter and online if you choose.  The link for that may change and be inoperable but if you see it today you may still have time.

The online presence is being sponsored by the folks over at The Expo Group and my friend Dana Freker Doody is helping put that on.  It is how I heard of its existence.  She reached out to her community and told all of us that it existed. The other sponsors to the event include the MCCA, 3DMedia, Emilie Barta, CORT, IEP, and Digitell.  All of them put this together to make it a great experience.  I will talk about this more and perhaps even get an interview after the show is over with Dana Doody about the post show recap.

Canceling an event that never seems to get off the ground can be a difficult decision.  There are many things that go into making that decision, be it sponsorships that are on the fence, and attendees coming on board or speakers that will make or break both of the foregoing.  I was watching around the Internet this weekend and noticed that a recent tech event in Italy was canceled by organizers here in the United States.  It was not a great story to read as I too have been part of a failed conference and it was a difficult time for all.  There are sponsors to answer to and their are attendees to work out issues with and finally making things right for speakers that are making commitments can be a hassle.  All-in-all, I don’t wish a failed event on anyone.

When is it time to call it quits or when is the time for that pass fail grade for your event?  For many it seems to revolve around money.  If an event does not get the number of attendees for their needs to pay hotels and facilities, the answer is simple.  You cancel the event by necessity since the money is no t in the bank to support the event.  Some sponsors want certain criteria to be met before they will provide the check for the vent and if that does not happen, that too is a trigger to call it quits.  In this particular instance it seems that a combination of money and logistics caused the event to fail.  They had to cancel the location of the event as the hotel required a deposit that was not paid and they themselves pulled the rug out for organizers. This is very unfortunate as there are tales now of attendees showing up for an event and not having the event take place.

I am also disturbed by organizers that are putting together events and have no intention of having the event take place.  I have heard of some fraud going on in our industry and that is very disturbing.  Making exhibitors pay for booths and sponsors to pay for sponsorship of events and when the time comes for the convention or conference to take place the organizers are no place to be found.  This is a practice that seems to give us all a black eye.  When is the best time to cancel an event?  My hope is never.

I have been traveling around the state of Colorado for the past week and most of the time has been spent in the high country of places like Vail, Aspen, and Steamboat Springs.  These are normally known here in Colorado as Ski Country USA.  At this time of year however there is no skiing going on when the heat reaches temperatures in the summer of more than 80 degrees.  That may not sound hot but when Denver and Grand Junction on either side of the mountains is in the 100 degree area, the mountains are normally 20 degrees cooler.  This can help you beat the heat when you want to plan an outside event or an event where you can enjoy the out doors.

Vail, Colorado is a relatively new town having only been conceived in 1966 after the ski area opened in 1962.  My grandparents purchased 65 acres f land on the North side of the highway that ran through the valley in the 60′s and I had an opportunity to see the Vail Valley grow into what it has become today, an oasis in the rocky mountains where celebrities come to be seen, where skiers come to learn their craft and where events occur year round for corporate retreats, meetings over every kind and even a trade show or two.

If you are planning a conference in the summer and want to find a way to beat the heat and everyday look and feel of a conference in the big city, try thinking about having your show in the mountains of Colorado.  Vail has everything the big city has, airport access, restaurants, conference centers, and also something the city might not have in the summer, cooler temperatures!

[photo via Wikimedia Commons]