Summer's Here! (Now what?....)

We are moving into a traditionally slow period in the Events industry – the 3rd quarter summer months. With a flurry of events to wrap up the first half of the year, June rolls into July and August, and a verifiable no-fly-zone for events is upon us. The 'best practice' is to not to run events over these two months due largely to the plethora of business professionals on vacation. Which leads to a calendar jam-packed with events to drive 3rd quarter numbers.

Although I don’t have a hard set of number to substantiate this, I’ve long thought the industry is doing itself an injustice by at least not testing the running of events over these two months. To keep with the summer metaphor, it’s a huge pool (of time) nobody is dipping their toe in.

My thinking goes along three lines:

The vacation argument is legitimate. To a point. In reality, however, the entire world does not go on vacation for two months. Employees coordinate schedules, get coverage, and work gets done. In sort, there is a sustainable universe of executives within your marketing universe that are not going to be out of the office the particular week you plan an event in July and August.

Secondly – June and September are, of course, huge months for holding events – primarily due to the dead zone of summer. Which means competition is fierce for attendees and sponsors post-Labor Day. For argument’s sake, say you increase your marketable universe by 15% by holding an event in September vs. July/August. By waiting until September and gaining those additional prospects, you are competing against a slew of other events companies for share of wallet/time.

For example (and this is admittedly over-simplifying the situation) assume you have 100 executives who are planning to attend an event this year. Removing all other variables, taking the above 15% figure, you have an opportunity to attract 85 of them to your event if held in July/August. If the event is held in September, chances are good there are at least two other events with similar topic/functionality being held that same week. So while you have an unbeatable product, these 100 executives will decide between three options – and if all things are equal your chances of attracting them is 33.34%. Again, there are other variables involved, but in a pure numbers sense odds are as good if not better of attracting audience in the summer months.

Finally an intuitive question: if summer is a bad time to hold an event, what makes it a wonderful time to market these events? This is, however, what happens in a typical event promotional cycle. Outbound communications, prospect planning for 2nd half calendars, etc., happen over these months for many September and October events. For example, pending your promotional cycle, if you launch a communication channel 12 weeks before an event, that would mean launching in mid-July for a mid-October event. So, I'd have to argue, if summer is a bad time for an event, it’s also a bad time to market an event.

This is not to advocate going gung-ho into summer months, just that it is worth exploring the possibility. Obviously a ton of variables come into play – sponsor sensitivities, hotel and logistical questions. This is just to argue that it’s certainly time to test or explore expanding the schedule.

As always, let us know what you think.

Good luck!

John
http://www.johnsgibb.net

For All the Peeps: EventPeeps.com

While the intent of this blog is not to sell or push products by any stretch of the imagination, I've recently signed up and posted my profile on EventPeeps.com, a Red7 Media property. [In the interest of transparency, yes, a couple of former colleagues work for Red7 and no, this post is not connected to those relationships in any way...]. Having spent some time on the site, I would recommend taking the time to create a membership and participate in their online community.

I don't recommend this site as a specific resource for the Event Marketing professional - as its not. The one thing that surprises me slightly is the bredth of the membership on EventPeeps, given the marketing bent of some of the Red7 content, including The Event Marketing Institute and Event Marketer magazine. Instead, I would recommend the site as a strong cross-functional (and cross-organizational) community-based portal; I've cited the need for this type of collaboration in the industry. This site is a good source for this functionality specifically.

The setup is very similar to other social media networks - specifically a mix of LinkedIn and Facebook: a mix of contacts, groups, discussions, and profiles. The beauty of it, of course, is that it is targeted to the Events industry; with 6000+ members you don't need to sift through the enormity of a LinkedIn; EventPeeps groups are also much more targeted than those you find on LinkedIn, both in content and in membership. (EventPeeps also has a dediacated LinkedIn Group which, ironically enough, with over 8000 members is larger than the actual EventPeeps.com membership.) The site also offers discussion forums, blogs, apps, pictures, videos and a job board (which links to eventcareers.com.) In short, EventPeeps offers an array of features well worth participating in.

The one element lacking - at this point - is a robust membership base. Doing a quick search, I only found a half dozen people "peeps" from my last two jobs currently registered as members, and have found many more Events professionals from these companies on LinkedIn. This of course is not a reflection of EventPeeps itself; rather it indicates a need for the community to grow ... which it should over time.

A positive, again, is the bredth of the membership - from marketing agencies to internal events teams to AV companies, EventPeeps.com includes a great potential of people to learn from and share with.

So again I'd encourage all to explore and - if it fits your needs - join the EventPeeps.com community - not to replace LinkedIn, but to augement your network exposure and provide you a targeted community of peers.

Good luck!

John

To Key Or Not to Key

A friend recently asked my take on some Keynotes for an event she was researching. After batting around names for a couple of minutes, she asked: “Do you think Keynotes are a draw for an Event?”

An interesting … and continuing … question. My take is that Keynotes unquestionably add value to an event. What I can’t get my head around is what … and how … to measure the ROI of a Keynote. The math argues against it being by attendance/attendee revenue.

The Investment is certainly known – and can be substantial (although it is, of course, negotiable). What falls into a grey area is the Return.

Say, for example, a speaker costs $30,000 all in. If your average attendee ticket price is $1,500, I’d be hard pressed to say there are any events I’ve worked on which surveys have had 2attendees respond “I attended XYZ Conference to hear John Doe’s presentation.” People simply do not carve 3 days out of their lives to hear a one-hour presentation.

What they are

The reality is that a Keynote is part of the event value proposition – the presentation gets an audience excited to be in a hotel/convention hall away from family (and work) for 3-4 days, and creates a platform from which to drive networking, discussions, etc. The value of the Keynotes, in short, is the onsite experience – and this is what savvy Marketers should work to leverage.

• Book signings are great vehicles. If the Keynote is recently published, negotiate with the publisher, acquire a bunch of books (at discount), and ask the Keynote for a half-hour post-presentation to, meet, greet and sign. [NOTE: I’ve seen arrangements whereby the Keynote spoke for free provided a certain volume of books were purchased – again, it’s all in the negotiation.] Do NOT sell books onsite – it comes off poorly to attendees.
• Alumni/VIP Breakfast: Pending the Keynote’s schedule, arrange a special invitation breakfast for Alumni, or as an “Early Bird” incentive, etc.
• Walk the Show floor: Again pending scheduling, ask the Keynote to do a quick round on the exhibit floor – great for attendee face-to-face and sponsor satisfaction.

What they are not

Keynote speakers are not stand-alone marketable commodities. I’ve seen situations in which part of the marketing touch strategy included specific messaging around Keynote Speaker A, B, and C. Again, I’ve seen nothing to indicate an attendee was driven to invest 3+ days time to hear one or two hour-long sessions. Attendees are savvy enough to know that, in most cases, Keynote speakers are there paid commodities, not as any sort of endorsement of your event/brand. Don’t insult their intelligence by framing it otherwise.

On a closing note, read this good – dated, but still germane – article debating the issue in Corporate EVENT magazine. (I especially liked the idea of testing noted in the article – a bit of an investment, but I think the results would be telling).

In sum – think strategically on how to use Keynote speakers – and BE ENGAGED in the selection process. Keynotes are part of the onsite experience – again, something marketers should be influencing on a regular basis.

Good luck!

John

Susan Boyle and the On-Site Experience

From my perspective, there are two things that keep the world going around – good marketing and insane social-media driven phenomenon – such as the whole Susan Boyle craze that has been in play since last Saturday night. Thirty two million views on YouTube really says it all.

In Susan Boyle, you may immediately wonder, what does an unemployed person of Scottish descent in their 40s have to do with event Marketing? [Those of you that know me: irony intended] This may be a stretch – but I have to argue that Ms. Boyle reinforces the importance of you, as a marketer, being intrinsically involved with the on-site/user experience at your event or of any product.

This is a leap of faith of an analogy, but Boyle is like a session at an event – a part of something individuals spent time and capital to attend (or watch). A session, granted, that attendees went into grudgingly, but came out with a “Holy Cow!” look on their faces. She is really about, in this context, first of all exceeding expectations, and, more to the point, capitalizing on the experience – marketing it - to the fullest. Boyle didn’t happen in a vacuum; the marketing team at Britain’s Got Talent had their ducks in a row and ensured that buzz was created.

And it’s our job to remember to do this – on a smaller scale – on site at events. When you’re on site (and you should be on site – as I commented on earlier) you should make sure you’re:

• Attending sessions – seeing and learning first-hand what the attendee is experiencing
• Talking to attendees – getting feedback on their “wow” moments
• Getting On-Site survey results ASAP – and leveraging what was seen as valuable.
• Pending budget and time, filming attendee interviews for content.
• Tweeting – and encouraging attendees to Tweet – about their on-site experience.

And, post-event, acting on the “wow” moments – developing content from edited session clips, interviews, etc. and uploading the content to YouTube (and/or your site). Develop podcasts. And get this content out on the Web. Get your PR – and your buzz going – submit releases to relevant portals including the links to the content you’ve built.

Not that you can expect an event or piece of content from an event is going to get eight-figure (and counting) hits on YouTube within a week of posting. But not sure the folks on Britain’s Got Talent really did either. But it was a great story communicated and marketed quickly and efficiently.

Good luck!

This Is Not a Test!

It’s an article about testing.

In a recent article in BrandWeek, Karen Gedney was interviewed for some pointers on tricks of the trade in today’s online marketing environment. As the article points out, behind all the buzz about online marketing lies … principals of Direct Marketing 101. The legacy tactics may be in decline – the Age of Spray ‘n Pray is behind us – but testing, digging deep into results and incorporating them into future campaigns or efforts is still what it’s all about.

In my early experience working at Global Business Research, a conference company, we were constantly testing list segments and acting on results. However, I decided to test paper stock – we (and other events organizations – which operated in a “me too” environment) traditionally printed brochures on 80# coated stock. I decided to test uncoated vs. coated – obviously would not have shiny brochures, but would it impact attendance numbers? End of the day it didn’t – a simple A/B between the mail drop produced no variation in registrations; moving forward we saved $ by printing on uncoated stock.

Obviously testing can be more complex – while at Gartner I hired Karen for her creative services for several campaigns for us, including one in which we tested single vs. dual campaign communication for two events running a week apart which had a large audience overlap (another issue for another day).

Today, of course, the Internet has brought testing to a new level – both in timeliness and complexity. Results can pretty much be gleaned in real-time now, and action (if need be) taken much faster. To that end, a couple of quick suggestions on methodology:

• Keep email testing simple, utilizing A/B splits to test subject lines, messaging, offers, etc. independently of each other. Get a grip on one element before testing others. Given the challenges in generating clicks and views via the email channel, I’d suggest keeping it simple – as numbers will be relatively small, you want to have a good sample size from which to make decisions.
• Use your Web site for more complex multi-variable testing. Work with your internal Web team to ensure proper analytics are in place (and work with someone versed in statistics to ensure the test is viable), and use the Web to test headlines, copy placement, images, etc. – with the ultimate driver of course being registrations (although measure of leads generated vs. conversion is also a good metric.) Your site visit numbers will be more robust than email results, so take advantage of the larger audience to gain insight from larger datasets.

In short, use online marketing as a channel – but keep the legacy practice of testing in place as you develop and roll out your online initiatives!

Good luck!

John

P.S. Thanks for all the positive feedback I’ve gotten on http://www.johnsgibb.net. In the process of working on some additional efforts – stay tuned!

Does the Early Bird Get the Worm?

Full Disclosure: I HATE the phrase “Early Bird.” Always have – it strikes me as out of place in a business environment, and more with savings associated with an early dinner. But having not come up with a better phrase (much less one that would be embraced industry-wide) I’ve long since given up the fight to change it.

But a recent – and growing – challenge has been that the Early Bird cash discounts do not generate the results they once did – they have, I would argue, evolved into a commoditized incentive. It's expected, there is nothing particularly compelling about it, and while certain audience segments do register early to gain the savings, it no longer drives the incremental registrations/revenue it once did. This is a shame, as these deadlines have traditionally been strong early indicators of an event’s overall ultimate performance.

So what to do to revive the glory days of Early Birds? We need to move away from a straight cash discount and link it to the prospect whenever possible. A few thoughts:

• As a straight incentive, personalize it as much as possible. Pending audience size and leverage you have with a hotel, I have successfully utilized a "room upgrade" raffle (who wouldn't like the opportunity to walk into a suite vs. standard hotel room?) as one example.
• Given today's challenging environment, another thought would be to appeal to people's sense of social responsibility - while frankly I have not used it as an Early Bird incentive, I have conducted market surveys utilizing a small charitable donation for each response received; this tactic can certainly be translated to a small donation for each registration received prior to a certain date. (The amount/charity can also be called out on site, bringing the organization additional recognition.)
• Content-based incentives – white papers, on-site meet-and-greet with speakers, special networking events all continue to be effective ways to get people to act early.
  The one common denominator of the above, again, is that they are personal – they have direct benefit/impact to the person receiving it (as opposed to saving a couple hundred dollars – a corporate savings, not a personal one.)

One additional note - while early registrations are a key indicator to an event's success, I also suggest you ensure you have an attendee retention strategy in place. Individuals who register early also have a high cancellation rate (as Early Birds are more predisposed to having plans change than a person registering a week or two before an event), negating the good work you do to acquire them. Having the registration team prepared with a talk track, emails in place for individuals canceling online, and a strong ‘buzz’ leading up to an event to keep registrants engaged are all important elements to incorporate into the Early Bird retention efforts.

Best of luck!

P.S. In a fit of self-promotion, I invite everybody to check out – and Tweet (if you Twitter) my new site, www.johnsgibb.net

Developing Win-Win Partnerships with Exhibitors

In a similar vein to enriching Media Partnerships, another low-cost channel a successful Event marketer should fully explore and leverage is partnering with event exhibitors/sponsors [from here in referred to as exhibitors].

The concept is simple – for events with exhibitors, all parties have a common goal – to drive as many feet to the event as possible. And exhibitors have a goldmine of information to tap into: internal databases of unique, qualified clients and prospects you would not typically have access to. These clients and prospects are individuals the exhibitor would, certainly, like to meet and greet at the event. You, on the other hand, have the resources, knowledge and bandwidth to effectively communicate to these individuals. To that end, partnering to ensure the exhibitors’ clients and prospects attend the show is a win-win.

Communication channels can be varied; a few samples are:

• A co-branded email, highlighting the exhibitor’s participation in the event.
• A high-impact letter or direct mail piece to some key clients.
• Lead generating Webinars and/or podcasts highlighting exhibitor presentations, case studies, etc. that are part of the event content.
• Web presence on the exhibitor Web site, calendar of events.

One item to include in these communications is a premium to the attendees these efforts generate (i.e. a discount) – another win-win, as it affords good will from you to the exhibitor, and allows the exhibitor to extend goodwill to their client/prospect database.

Do remember that this effort should be one of you, the marketing department, providing complimentary, back-office services as a value add. The effort needs to be seamless for the exhibitor; they should not be expected to spend manhours coordinating or implementing these campaigns. It will be your responsibility to manage the process; the only facet you would need from the exhibitor would be their providing specs for banner ads, the appropriate list segment from their database, etc.

This can be a hurdle in itself – understandably organizations are reluctant to release details of a proprietary database. To that end I would recommend engaging a bonded 3rd party to handle names (assuring exhibitors you would never access the list) and, as SOP, have a standard Usage Agreement (specifying the list would be provided to a 3rd party for one-time use, would be destroyed after use, etc.).

Another facet to keep in mind: experience has shown you need to start working on this early in the campaign. Exhibitors are not events organizations, it typically takes time to educate and build awareness around what you are trying to achieve. It is essential, early on, to communicate this offering, educating exhibitors on why they should participate, and (most importantly) that it is of no cost and effort to them. Developing a flyer/PDF/email detailing all of this is advisable; be prepared to follow up with a phone call.

So schedule kickoff of these efforts early, be prepared for a lengthy process to implement, but persevere - one email/outbound communication to these hidden audiences can be invaluable to tapping into new audience segments and developing new alliances. (As a side note - also falls in the "business development" skill set for your professional development).

Good luck!