February 2006
Best Practices: Producing roadshows
Penton finds that IT pros are willing to pay for technical training at SQL Server roadshows
By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor

As the fourth installment in a series of roadshows that follow the Microsoft server product launch cycle, the Get Ready for SQL Server 2005 roadshow broke from a free-admission format and charged registrants $99 for a day of technical training. The strategy converted 90 percent of registrants to attendees, up from the 38–45 percent conversion rate for Penton’s free roadshows.

“We had two goals,” says Michele Crockett, Group Director, Windows IT Pro Custom Media (www.windowsitpro.com), and Business Manager, SQL Server Magazine (www.sqlmag.com), published by Penton Media, Loveland, CO. “One was to assign value to the content. This roadshow had deeper, more intensive and more expensive content than we delivered before. We also wanted to improve our retention. We accomplished our goal and exceeded our expectations for conversion.”

Launched in 2002 in response to flagging attendance at the DevConnections conferences (www.devconnections.com), the Windows IT Pro roadshows enable IT professionals to get technical training without the cost of travel. The SQL Server roadshow toured 22 cities in the United States and nine cities in Europe and the Middle East.

“With companies scrutinizing every penny spent, roadshows present a cost-effective way for IT professionals to learn about new technology and the gotcha’s that might be involved in implementing it,” Crockett says. “We get people who would never be able to get away for a four to five day conference due to time and budget constraints.”

Six full-time employees in the custom media group produce the roadshows. Each tour presents a keynote presentation to the general audience, then offers three sessions in three tracks for a total of nine breakouts. After lunch, three premier sponsors participate in a moderated session to present technical product information. Table-top displays give another 12 to 15 pavilion sponsors exposure.

For the first time this year, program content is delivered by expert speakers from three training companies.

“We’ve moved toward more robust content overall. Whereas, in the past, we may have had one paid outside speaker for the keynote, we’ve flipped that model to having Microsoft do the keynote, then all the other sessions are paid-for, deep technical content,” Crockett says. “That goes hand in hand with implementing the paid model. People expect to get more for their money.”

To promote registration, Crockett kicked marketing up a notch. At eight weeks out, the registration Web site goes live, and banner ads and editorial announcements begin to appear in the group’s 14 e-mail newsletters and network of Web sites, as well as on trade group sites. The group also works with Microsoft district offices to invite top customers. In markets where registration lags, radio spots air during drive time. 

 “Our marketing effort for one of these shows gets into the dozens of millions of impressions. The program has a street value of $1 million to $2 million,” Crockett says.

The payoff is sell-out shows in major markets. The roadshow drew an average of 251 attendees per city, with higher attendance in major cities like New York, Chicago and Boston, and lower attendance in smaller markets like Minneapolis, St. Louis and Kansas City. Attendance in Europe hit a high of 1,200 in Lisbon, Portugal.