The BusyEvent Blog

Your Event Sold Out – Now What? #eventprofs #assnchat #mpi #tradeshows

As part 2 of an ongoing series of posts about the marketing, management and delivery of successful events, it’s no longer enough to simply sell-out your event, now it’s time to deliver.

Deliver what?  Well, if your answer is “a long list of unqualified leads”, then you’re not alone.

As we’ve all seen, exhibitors and sponsors are hyper-ROI focused and it has nothing to do with today’s economy . . . because they’ve never been interested in meeting their competitors, the trick-or-treaters or tire-kickers.  What they want is introductions to qualified leads so the real question is; Will an exhibitor or sponsor invest in your event if their only return is a ‘list of the list‘?

And, if the obvious answer is no, then what are you going to deliver?

Previously, we’ve shared the ‘how to’ for qualifying leads, the many tools available for lead management, the precarious position any event puts itself in if they balance their event bottom line on unqualified leads, how to utilize social media to have a great event, and we’ve learned a great deal from ‘lead masters’.

You already know to take advantage of social networking (but how?) and you’ll do your best to pre-plan meetings and of course, put your best efforts forward to get the right people in the right room with each other through a variety of matchmaking services.

Then, of course, you’re going to provide fishbowl’s (to be avoided?) and assist your exhibitors through careful floor management and layout with any qualification process they may have – to help them size up leads at the booth. Much of this advice has not changed for the past 10 years and frankly, much of the equipment hasn’t changed in those 10 years, either. The only real difference is that the (un)qualified list is gathered at a greater speed and more efficiently as long as you can deal with the long(er) list – but are they qualified leads and even if they are, are your exhibitors ready and equipped to follow them up?

What HAS changed over the past 10 years is how people research and purchase.  The Internet has done many things including bring about a wave of information and connectivity that increases each year.  People head to a show with a pretty good idea what they want to see and who they intend to meet.  They collect information before during and after the event. They use personal technology and mobile technology to track it all and they like to share it in real time with their colleagues that couldn’t attend the event.

What happens after an event is a steep drop off in attention span. Follow up must occur within a week and if your event is judged on the ’success’ each exhibitor has, what are you going to do to help them?

Instead of working the list, what if the list worked for your exhibitors?

Let’s say an exhibitor met 500 people in their booth and each of those 500 attendees had a web page that stored all of their ‘meetings’, their connections, gave them the ability to bookmark those things they found interesting, enabled them to interact with speakers, exhibitors and other attendees and all of that connective information was shared.  Then, after the event, your exhibitors could go to their event web site and see which 50 attendees downloaded their brochure, clicked through to the web site, passed the information to their colleagues and event reached out to further the relationship with your exhibitors . . . and you had the ability to measure and monetize all of that information.

You must be spinning with ideas by now so I’ll give you just one more:  What if you tagged all the products and services, speakers and sponsors and attendees so that anyone could express interest and connect with people, products and ideas – all in real time, all conveniently organized in a ‘Facebook for Events-like’ interface and all for free?

Are you making it easy for your attendees to access the information they need, and providing your exhibitors with the tools to measure that interest in their products?  And, are you monetizing that?

After the event everything seems to blend together in the mind of many attendee’s. Some shows more than others . . .but imagine the virtual shopping list of items in each attendees “bag.”  They may not remember the blandly named technology company that sells wireless HD video transmitters, but they will remember that they can easily access their ‘online bag’, reach out to learn more and then easily purchase the items they otherwise wouldn’t have recalled, if you help them.

So a list of people doesn’t necessarily turn into customers. Buyers with specific needs turn into customers and modern lead management should help those potential buyers have an experience that looks more like how they traditionally shop. It should take advantage of modern social networking.

And above all, it should be easy to use so that everyone will actually do it!

OK, so now that you’ve built your audience and the exhibitors and sponsors are accessing quality introductions to people, products and ideas . . . what’s next?

That’s what our next blog post will be all about: Your Event is Going On Right NOW . . . Now What?

Be sure to follow BusyEvent on Twitter or via our RSS Feed to know what we’re discussing next.

We Can Now Call It – The Award Winning BusyEvent #eventprofs #assnchat #mpi

Shy and Retiring . . . we are not.

And as you know, we like to share our ideas and efforts for improving an industry that has brighter days ahead.

Right or wrong, the ideas that we share (both locally and nationally) are designed to encourage others to participate in the dialogue and it is this sharing attitude that helped us to receive the award for MPI New Supplier of the Year – St. Louis chapter.

2008-2009 has marked several advancements as we have had 2 major releases of event software and hardware:

1. Event Bookmarking is being called a “game changer” and we are proud to have made this type of impact, from the Midwest.
2. The BusyEvent Suite is the first mid-market suite of end-to-end tools that are focused on better, faster, cheaper and greener events.

So, thanks to the team at BusyEvent for working hard to bring these new tools to a market looking for cost-effective solutions and to MPI for honoring that hard work and dedication.

16 Things to Drive Traffic To Your Event #eventprofs #tradeshows #mpi #assnchat

Each of the three phases of an event are both strategic and tactical puzzles to solve.  We deploy tools and solutions that address all three phases and in this blog post, we address the first phase of pre-event tactics; “Getting People To Your Event!”

The ExhibitGroup/Giltspur is one of those really smart, really creative and really cool companies, in the events industry.  However, what makes them a company worth following via Twitter, is the items they share on their blog.

Their recent post, The Top 10 Things You Can Do NOW To Drive Traffic To Your Event (PDF Download) is another one of those articles that everyone should be reading.

Using their list as a starting point, we’ve included their 10 items and added a few of our own.

1. Search for your online audience. Use tools like Google Alerts, Twitter Scoop, TweepSearch, Twilert and perform general searches with keywords representing your target.
2. Reach out to past participants; ask them where they congregate online and if they will share your event information within their circles.
3. Look for similar/competitors’ events to find your potential audience. This is also an opportunity to gain perspective on effective and non-effective communication with your audience. See what they do, and do it better.
4. Look to relevant tradeshow/event websites and magazines within your industry and connect with their communities.
5. Ask your speakers and sponsors to promote your event or tradeshow within their networks. Link to their online presence from your own if they mention your event or tradeshow.
6. List your events with online community calendars. BONUS TIP:  Look for a registration system that does this automatically for you.
7. Promote your event on Facebook, LinkedIn and create a hashtag on Twitter.
8. BONUS TIP: Promote your blog and other communications using RSS aggregators like Feedburner.
9. BONUS TIP:  Sponsor weekly ‘topic’ chats using the event hash tag by your event speakers and other subject matter experts coming to the event.  Kind of like the #eventprofs weekly chat.
10. Create an event RSVP page and . . .
11. BONUS TIP: Promote and publicize your event attendees. . . in addition to your exhibitors and sponsors . . . with integrated links to their LinkedIn, Facebook, web site, blog and Twitter feeds.
12. BONUS TIP:  Make sure your registration system is easy to use and if you’re going to utilize an events social network like Event Bookmarking, Crowdvine, Pathable, EventVue or some of the others, make it easy to participate in that community.
13. Ask team members that will be working at the event or tradeshow to leverage their own online profiles and begin engaging with potential attendees and prospects.
14. BONUS TIP: Make special ‘people features’ that promote and publicize the ‘every day worker’ of the event.  In addition to your speakers, make sure your attendees know who to ask for help, by face, in advance of the event.
15. Research the name of your event and make sure it’s unique so that people can easily find it.
16. Create customer profiles to gain a deeper understanding of the online usage patterns of your potential audience: This will help you identify where to focus your online marketing efforts.

And I’m sure we’ve missed more than a few . . . care to share?  Add a comment and/or join the chat on #eventprofs on Twitter.

OK, so now that you’ve got your audience . . . what next?

That’s what our next blog post will be all about: You’re Events Sold Out . . . Now What?

Be sure to follow BusyEvent on Twitter or via our RSS Feed to know what we’re discussing next.

How Did You Get Into the Events Business? #eventprofs #assnchat #tradeshows @mmcallen

Everyone’s got a story, care to share yours?

Here’s the BusyEvent story, as told by our CEO David Schenberg to Mike McAllen of Grass Shack Events & Media.

The really good stuff starts at the 7-minute point.  It’s a real-life, “really happened” story of how Event Bookmarking is impacting the real-time/on-site/face-to-face event space.

Want to read a case study of how to provide quality introductions to People, Products and Ideas at your event?  Email us. 

9 Ideas For Re-Imagining the Business Conference #eventprofs #assnchat #tradeshows

I’ve just recently started reading an excellent blog by Mitch Joel, President of Twist Image.  Last week on Six Pixels of Separation, Mitch began a vital conversation about Re-Imagining the Business Conference from which I have excerpted some of the below.

Where’s the value in conferences?  Right where it’s always been, in the people! And NOW is the time that the events industry, and those that are tired of the traditional and inefficient ways of doing things, have been waiting for.

As amazing as technology is, there is still nothing like meeting face-to-face . . . and experiencing the types of things that technology can’t replicate like watching a speaker live versus on video. There’s a reason why people who love U2 (or watching their videos) will still shell out the big bucks to see them in concert.

The truth is that conference organizers have to turn these yearly gatherings into something much more memorable. The focus needs to be on the more “human” aspects of why people gather: To learn, to network, to celebrate, and to grow their business. A truly successful conference is one that leverages the many online platforms to create connections before and after the event, while leveraging the actual event by providing unique, original content, along with a place for those professionals to also share their own, personal experiences.  These are some of the reasons why we developed Event Bookmarking, to provide quality introductions to people, products and ideas.

Gone are the days (and good riddance) when an event was about cocktails and entertainment. They’re about getting down to and doing business. Event managers that ‘get that’, will thrive and the tools they use to put on a better, more information rich, more ROI-focused events are critical to this evolution and their success.

Based on our experience, here’s what our clients are asking for:

• Create an event where the attendees, vendors, sponsors get out of it more than they have to put into it, and you’ll be successful.
• Traditional lead management is dead. It’s a list of a list, and an unqualified one at that. Foster the development of relationships and the distribution of meaningful information.
• Foster networking and by that we DO NOT mean ‘business card exchanges’. Help your attendees bring their virtual network to the event, communicate with them while they’re on site and grow their network while attending the event. Make it easy and non-intrusive and useful once your attendees / vendors / sponsors leave the venue.
• Data or information? A thousand business cards, which one’s to call? Thousands of dollars in brochures, which one’s were looked at? Dozens of conversations, which one’s were of any value? Oversubscribed, underutilized, wasted or efficient?
• Green . . . aren’t we all tired of ‘talking’ about that? How about doing something about it.
• Cut back on all the fluff – The coffee breaks, the luncheons, banquets, the gobos, etc and take those sponsor dollars to the education side of event.
• Sponsorship isn’t bad . . . it’s just misaligned.  So, align sponsorship with education and make the sessions themselves sponsor opportunities. This way, sponsors could be associated with the lasting value of education versus the coffee and pastry.
• Build Better Programs – Put money into developing killer programs using the latest social networking tools that will engage attendees before the event. (NOTE: We have released the premier Event Networking system that addresses this exact issue: http://www.EventBookmarking.com)
• Deliver Education! – Provide tools that facilitate learning in the best format possible for the learning styles present via links, flash sticks, or (gasp) printouts. Then offer links or options to get additional content if work products were produced at the event.

The events that are worth investing in are the ones that have transformed from the annual event business professionals are expected to attend, to the types of events that you would not miss for the world!

How do you feel about relevance and importance of attending a business conference in this day and age?

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.  #eventprofs #assnchat #tradeshows

Yogi Bera . . . we surely miss quotes like these not because of their statement, but because of their power to get us to think.

Which is exactly what happened . . . I started thinking about the state of the events industry and the fork in the road where we find ourselves today.

But not for long because hey, it’s Father’s Day and you know . . . I had relaxing to do . . . until I found Mike McCurry’s (@mccurrym) Tweet about leadership and his link to Michael Hyatt’s “20 Questions” article.

And as I read through those questions, I started thinking about our role in all of this . . . in essence, what do leader’s do when there’s a “fork” in the road?

Over the next several weeks, David and I will attempt to provide our perspective on these 20 questions and hopefully add to the conversation about where we want to take the events industry and where it’s going to end up without us.

Here then, “Michael Hyatt’s 20 Questions to Ask Other Leaders”

1. Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe some one who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?
2. What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your organization?
3. As an organization gets larger there can be a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening?
4. How do you encourage creative thinking within your organization?
5. Where do the great ideas come from in your organization?
6. Which is most important to your organization—mission, core values or vision?
7. How do you or other leaders in your organization communicate the “core values”?
8. How do you encourage others in your organization to communicate the “core values”?
9. Do you set aside specific times to cast vision to your employees and other leaders?
10. How do you ensure the your organization and its activities are aligned with your “core values”?
11. How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your organization?
12. When faced with two equally-qualified candidates, how do you determine whom to hire?
13. What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?
14. What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?
15. What is one mistake you witness leaders making more frequently than others?
16. What is the one behavior or trait that you have seen derail more leaders’ careers?
17. Can you explain the impact, if any, that social networking and Web 2.0 has made on your organization or you personally?
18. What are a few resources you would recommend to someone looking to gain insight into becoming a better leader?
19. What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
20. What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

Where’s the Value in Conferences?
#eventprofs #assnchat #tradeshows

NOW is the time that the events industry, and those that are tired of the traditional and inefficient ways of doing things, have been waiting for.

What two things have your clients been asking you for – and what are you doing to deliver?

To find out what we’re doing at BusyEvent . . . Click Here!

Not all of the bright ideas and cool new technologies are on the coasts.

Turns out . . . Some of them are right here in St. Louis.

From our office under a hot dog stand, the 6 members of BusyEvent are revolutionizing the event industry using social networks and mobile devices to connect people with products and ideas.

We’re doing what the companies in California, Seattle and Boston can’t; using local talent, local investors and a “can do” St. Louis attitude to bring better, faster, cheaper and greener events to our Fortune 1000 clients . . . all over the world!

To find out how a St. Louis startup is beating Silicon Valley at its own game, contact me directly.

Keep Doing That and You’re Going to Fail! #eventprofs #tradeshows #assnchat

That’s the message I woke up to this morning. . . I’m glad I work out on Thursday mornings!

As we continue promoting the Event Bookmarking tools and more people engage in the conversation, it’s a good sign that someone is going to disagree (based on the surface impressions) of what we’re doing and why.

And that’s what happened today.

The first Tweet came in last night: 2 be honest, your product seems too much like (name of failed product) to succeed.  Then, after responding we got this: ask urself how many similar single-application gadgets have succeeded & why can’t the functionality B ported 2 a cellphone?

And that’s when the problem became clear . . . he thought we were promoting a hardware solution – and we’re not.

Now, I’d like your opinion, based on what was sent to us on Twitter – how would you have responded?  Something stronger or do you think what I wrote will start a flame war?

More importantly, even though it’s a bit lengthy, does our response help clarify what the Event Bookmarking platform can do – and that it’s independent of hardware?  In other words, ‘do you get it’?

Hi there (name of Twitterer):

Thanks for reaching out on Twitter. It’s interesting you should latch on to the ‘device’ element of the Event Bookmarking system.  Since that’s not how we promote the web accessible Event Bookmarking SaaS platform, your perspective is an insightful one.

First, a little background and in advance, I apologize for the length of my response.

Event Bookmarking is a web-accessible communications system (think of it like a Facebook-for-Events) that allows people to tap into their passions, at events.

Based on our experience, those passions are:

• Connect with each other – via tag-based matchmaking, tapping into personal and professional networks and creating links between the people they meet at events.
• Learn about things – via the bookmarking of sessions, speakers, products, exhibitors and other people.
• Participate in the conversation – via audience response tools such as polling and surveying, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook feeds and
• Communicate pre, during and post event – with the people, products and ideas that they were exposed to and want to maintain a relationship with.

In addition to the above, Event Bookmarking (which is an embedded or stand-alone module of our Meeting Manager platform) has a significant “green” impact by allowing exhibitors, speakers, sponsors, attendees and the event producers to ‘leave the paper at home’ and instead, link to or upload their information into the Event Bookmarking system.

Other than the positive economic and ecological impact, content owners can also track (like a WebTrends tool) who clicked on or downloaded their information and clicked through to their LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter feeds, which fosters lead management, connectedness and the tracking of a communication thread that other tools can’t provide.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, none of the above mentions a specific hardware solution.

And as I’m sure you’ll agree the use of smart/mobile devices (although on Twitter you mentioned the use of cell phones which is a path we have already evaluated and rejected) offer a greater flexibility (with the inherent distractions – which create their own issues) than a single purpose device, which is why we offer smart device tools, as well.

If we were only an event management company running ‘tech focused’ events for 1000 or fewer attendees, then likely we’d only offer the BusyEvent LIVE ‘mobile device’ solution.  However, since we run corporate and association events of 500-5000 attendees (with1,000 exhibitor booths) and consumer events with up to 50,000 attendees (and 3,000 exhibitor booths), offering a ‘smart/mobile device’ solution alone would be short sighted.  To give you a greater insight to a specific event, I’m attaching a case study from the (name of client) event held mid-May.

Our goal is to assure that everyone at any event has access to the information and communications channels that matters most to them.  Event Bookmarking allows every event participant to contribute to, participate in and access all of the information streams available at an event via whatever hardware they carry and if they don’t want to use their personal hardware, they can use ours; the BeLinkers.

Thanks again for reaching out . . . I look forward to continuing our conversation about how these tools can impact the events you are involved with.

———————————

So, based on what was sent to us on Twitter – how would you have responded?  Something stronger or do you think what I wrote will start a flame war?

More importantly, even though it’s a bit lengthy, does the above help clarify what the Event Bookmarking platform can do – and that it’s independent of hardware?

If you’re interested, let me know (via comments) and I’ll let you know what his response is.

How Tradeshow Information Can Drive Revenues #eventprofs #assnchat #tradeshows

“Spend” is down so how can revenue opportunities be up?

That’s what Tim Patterson, VP of Interpretive Exhibits in Salem, OR recently discussed with BusyEvent CEO David Schenberg – Sharing ideas and techniques for driving revenues in the tradeshow environment.

From the exhibitors that utilize the expo to create opportunity – and the tools that are now available to help qualify leads and activate them – to the attendee looking for information, less expensive products or a better supplier all the way through to the event producer who has the same challenges as last year, with 1/3 less budget to work with . . . there are revenue opportunities readily available in the tradeshow environment.

How can we leverage them, take advantage of them and create revenues from them?

Sit back and learn about the tools, methods and creative approaches these two events industry leaders have brought to their clients, and the events industry at large and in 15 minutes, use these ideas in your business.

The Tradeshowguy Podcast – Creating Revenues and Opportunities in the Tradeshow Environment