We’ve been following a fascinating conversation started by Eventvue founder Rob Johnson, about the future (or lack thereof) of the tradeshow and events industry.
Rob’s basic premise is that while 2009 will be a challenging year for the events and tradeshow industry, ‘the fix’ has been a long time coming and the kinds of tools that his company and BusyEvent produces, will form the nucleus of Events 2.0.
His blog post (Tradeshows May Be Dying, But Permission and Community Will Save Them) is good reading from someone we’ve enjoyed getting to know over the past 18 months. In reply, our thoughts about the tradeshow and events industry, and our role in fostering its health, are below.
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Rob:
We love the premise of your article . . . it’s the reason we started BusyEvent and why our clients continue to work with us. Tradeshows and Conferences are in fact NOT dead, but as you say, they indeed need to be fixed.
Because of tools like Eventvue, and we like to think that BusyEvent is also part of this change, attendees want more direct contact on a personal level with the rest of the event. But it doesn’t stop with attendees, vendors & exhibitors want closer relationships with possible customers, sponsors want to target their efforts to make maximum use of their marketing spend, event managers need to know what works and what doesn’t to plan a better event next time and everyone needs to get more for their effort than simply a ‘stack of business cards’ and a really cool “pen, lighter, mint dispenser with a glow in the dark logo”. As you say, the current model is a relic.
That’s why we’ve penned our Jerry Maguire document “Tradeshows, Where Good Leads Go To Die”. That, and a number of other supporting thoughts and documents forms the central premise around which Events 2.0 must be formed; community matters but relationships are the foundation (much like the one we started with you and Josh more than a year ago).
So, at our core we believe in essentially the same things however, much like TV didn’t kill Hollywood and MTV didn’t kill radio and the internet didn’t kill bricks-and-mortar, 2009 won’t kill big shows nor should we want it to. Profit is good and viability is essential and as long as people get what they came for, everyone has the opportunity to leave happy and ROI’d. Big shows, big expensive and expansive shows play a very important role in the events industry. One of our clients hosts an event for 5,000 people each year. It’s their most important gathering and there’s no way the zeitgeist and community energy could be generated by 10 regional events. On the other side, another client of ours uses our tools to manage 75,000 attendees at 5,000 events each year. Small focused events are critical as well but they’re not the be-all-to-end-all. What’s common to both of these clients is their desire to foster and build relationships and that’s why they’re successful.
Again, going back to the core, what’s important is that no matter how many people attend the event, can they all ‘participate’ in the event, getting real ‘value’ from the event and come away from the event wanting more – the next day, or next year? The goal of every event should be to assure that relationships are made and fostered. Using tools like Eventvue can help that, because eventually people go home to their lives and families and the rest of their world gets in the way of the 3-day experience.
Events should be inspirational and help people focus on what’s important and up-and-coming and passé so that they can continue to learn and grow and yes, enjoy! And, as John put it, contribute and give back.
The subtle shift between yesterday’s event industry and tomorrow’s will occur at the booth level; at the level of the person where it really matters. Where Eventvue focuses on the before-and-after, BusyEvent focuses on the ‘during’ where all of the talking becomes action. It’s not enough to want to meet, events have to facilitate the meeting. It’s not enough to be interested, events need to foster the connection. It’s not enough to raise your hand, someone has to be listening and for too long, events just weren’t, didn’t and haven’t. That’s all changing and it has been for several years but the downturn is going to significantly accelerate all of that and for those of our companies that are positioned for the scale (either through growth or attrition), we can form the nucleus of Events 2.0 but we have to remember not to be too big for our own shoes.
So much of what Michael said, above, should be at the core of all of our beliefs; meetings, conversing, engaging, contributing, living. Virtual isn’t real even if it’s in real-time. Deals, the exchange of ideas and relationships are made between people who actually know each other. That’s what events can do and that’s what they should be – a community, a town square, the place to meet and exchange and foster each other.
Whether we’re building software or creating events, or investing in companies that do any of that, the human connection is the critical ‘last foot gap’ that will have to be closed in order for events to continue to succeed.
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