May 2005
10 Strategies for attracting C-level execs

It takes more than a marketing campaign to motivate corporate officers to attend shows. Producers like Gartner make a compelling argument by offering quality content, exclusivity, peer networking and incentives that prove their value. 


By Maxine Golding

Let’s get one thing straight about C-level executives, power buyers, or whatever your market calls the glitterati. They don’t like going to shows, even when they need to.

Still, show organizers keep trying to cut through the competition for their prime customers’ time and get past their gatekeepers. It’s no wonder shows ranked “attracting VIP/power buyers” as their most difficult marketing challenge in 2004, according to the AttendTrend™ survey by The Frost Miller Group and Jacobs Jenner & Kent.

So, how do you motivate your most desirable targets to come to your event, when they are inundated with requests and offers? Give them quality content, exclusivity and incentives that differentiate your value proposition.

“They have to be educated and advised in order to make better decisions,” says Alister Christopher, Senior Vice President, Gartner Worldwide Events (www.gartner.com). “Great speakers often turn the tide for C-level executives to commit to our events. Being content-driven and right on target on issues allows us to attract the right demographics and highest-quality attendees.”

“If you move the needle for what they want to accomplish,” adds Greg Strakosch, CEO, TechTarget (www.techtarget.com), “they’ll want to be in the same room with people making the same purchasing decisions, the leading experts and the leading vendors.”

CXO Media (www.cxo.com), an IDG company, skillfully built its six conferences for chief information, security and marketing officers, knowing that time is the resource least available to them. At an event’s core is quality content — actionable information presented by peers, any of whom could be sitting alongside attendees. Surrounding the core is informal peer exchange, where exclusivity — attendees are all high-level — plays a major part. The venue — generally a resort property — fosters the networking that C-level executives so highly prize.

“Meeting in a relaxed, informal setting with peers helps them focus out-of-the-box thinking on critical opportunities and obstacles,” says Jennifer Richards, Senior Vice President/Executive Programs.

Strategy #1: Content Drivers
To have any chance to catch the eye of top executives (and not just the C-level), show organizers know their content must truly be compelling, timely and sharply focused. That’s why programming forms the nucleus at Gartner. While its largest conference, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, draws 600 C-level executives (10 percent of total attendance), fully 90 percent of attendees at its Midsize Enterprise Summit (U.S.) are director level and above.

Little is left to chance in delivering a strong value proposition to these targets:

• Gartner leverages information from its annual CIO survey to prioritize conference content. The program addresses the top 10 issues C-level executives face in their day-to-day jobs.

• At Gartner events with exhibits, there are no marketing or sales pitches, even on the show floor. These have morphed into “vendor solution presentations,” case studies of best practices by vendor clients.

• Key content is replayed around the show floor, hosted by Gartner analysts in small areas with a monitor and chairs. These give C-level executives, who might have missed the presentations, a chance to focus on specific solutions for their company.

Strategy #2: Qualify Buyers
After years of hearing complaints that attendees at large, horizontal shows were “not peers,” exhibitors weren’t finding their best prospects, and content represented vendor sales pitches, Strakosch built a new model for senior buyers. In five years, it’s taken TechTarget from four Web sites to $80 million in revenues from a dozen conferences, plus magazines, e-newsletters and Webcasting.

TechTarget structures quality content around specific technology sectors and job functions, strictly qualifies senior buyers, and invites 500 to 600 to attend at no expense. These attendees at vice president or director level must represent a company with 1,000 or more employees, be on the buying team, influence a $1 million budget at minimum, and be ready to make a major purchase in the two quarters after the show. “This model delivers 100 percent of the right audience to exhibitors who would have been happy with 50 percent,” Strakosch says.

Filling out a qualifying form is the first step. A team of 15 full-time interviewers calls each prospective attendee and conducts an extensive survey — hardware and software installed, current products looking to buy, top three vendors in each category of interest. Finally, that person’s boss is called to confirm the information is correct. Two of three who apply to attend TechTarget events are turned down, says Strakosch.

Beyond the attraction to only mix with true equals, “senior level buyers will spend time [at the show] because they want to make the right decision,” Strakosch says. What he didn’t anticipate was their eagerness to engage with exhibitors, who learned to bring a higher level of technical staff to answer attendees’ specific questions.

All this comes at a premium price for exhibitors: $35,000 for a 10x10 booth. Yet renewal rates in the high 90s are common, he says. Not so for buyers; TechTarget limits repeat attendees to just 15 percent, since few make major purchases every year.

Strategy #3: When VIPs Are Few
Many exhibitors still expect to write orders on site. For them, the presence of C-level executives — like the general merchandise manager who does not control the open-to-buy in consumer goods markets — can be of little importance.

This is true for many shows George Little Management (GLM, www.glmshows.com) produces in such industries as gifts, decorative accessories, home furnishings and stationery. Their exhibitors need to maintain many customer contacts and distribute product widely through independent specialty establishments. As a result, less than 10 percent of attendees at the company’s gift shows will represent volume buyers (revenues of $1 million or more), compared with CXO Media that focuses solely on the top tier.

Still, this show organizer takes specific actions to deliver the larger-volume buyer, says Dorothy Belshaw, Senior Vice President:

• GLM offers meeting space, events and networking opportunities to national retail groups that can serve as “multipliers.” The Museum Store Association is a good example. Some members, such as the San Diego Zoological Society with upwards of 20 Gourmet Housewares Show™ stores, fit the criteria of volume buyer.

• GLM reaches into relevant retail channels with special programming and one-on-one networking that give high-level executives without the time or buying responsibility an incentive to attend. Two years ago, GLM debuted a one-day conference for supermarket chain executives the day before its 130,000-square-foot Las Vegas show opened. This year, the show producer takes this template to Reed Exhibitions’ 650,000-square-foot National Hardware Show.

• GLM pinpoints underserved sectors. By launching Sources in New York two years ago for international manufacturers, artisans and importers and distributors that can consolidate container loads, the show producer dramatically increased its business with volume buyers who source internationally.

Strategy #4: Attract the Cream
The two International Security Conferences — West and East — face a similar challenge. Small, family-run dealers make up half the attendance, and just 10 to 15 percent represent the C-level or VIP — the owner, general manager or vice president. Yet they’re the critical sales connection between corporate or residential end-users and security system vendors, so these VIPs are crucial to the show’s success.

These entrepreneurs can find lots of reasons not to attend this 230,000 net-square-foot trade show, says Dean Russo, Industry Vice President, Reed Exhibitions (www.reedexpo.com). So his team builds a compelling case for attracting VIPs among the 14,000 attendees:

• Reed leverages relationships with a major trade publication, which provides the show with extensive information from a ranking by sales volume of 500 dealers and their decision-makers.

• Reed sets up exhibitor outreach through an “e-vite” program. A customized template lets each exhibitor input its name, products and booth number, and e-mail invitations to attend the show to its prime customer list. More than 40,000 e-mails have gone to unduplicated exhibitor lists and ISC’s own database, and the responses are high quality, says Russo.

• Reed produces the events in Las Vegas and New York because venue makes a real difference to these entrepreneurs. It’s a way for them to get out of the office for both business and vacation.

• Conference tracks for the owner and VP-level focus on how-to business courses to improve profitability. “In addition to all the reasons to come, you can take three courses taught by industry leaders and get three ideas to run your business more profitably,” he adds.

Strategy #5: Mix Models
Membership organizations like the American Bankers Association (www.aba.com) hold a decided advantage over independent show organizers. They can slice through the clutter surrounding high-level members, who are often active volunteers with a vested interest in the association’s success.

Quality content and new strategies delivered by the right speakers drive from 200 to 1,500 attendees to the 10 shows produced by the Professional Development Group at the ABA. These, however, attract high-level decision-makers with responsibility for business lines within financial institutions. The ABA Annual Convention draws CEOs and senior executives.

As a result, says Group Director Gail Kolakowski, the shows employ different models. The Insurance Risk Management Conference will deeply involve 12 to 15 corporate partners in the event and offer a draped table, but no exhibit hall. The Wealth Management & Trust Conference features a vibrant marketplace of 80 booths. But no matter the show model, all industry partners and exhibitors receive full conference registration; their active participation adds to the high quality of discussion, she says.

“Attendees want to come away with new insights and strategies that they can take back to their institutions and use,” she says. “That’s very energizing.”

Strategy #6:  Incentives Work
Make top buyers’ participation effortless, show organizers say, and they’ll come. Through its Gold Coast Buyers Program, the California Gift Show gives pre-qualified buyers of $1 million or more valet parking passes, better hotel rates, Internet and fax access, full-service on-site lounge and lunch on the most heavily trafficked days. The program also pulls together a goody bag of small product samples from the ABA. “I can’t think of a key decision-maker for whom a night in a hotel or free registration would be compelling incentive,” Kolakowski says. “It’s not an issue of resources. If something is worth their time to attend, they will be there.”

Strategy #7: Exclusivity Reigns
Events aiming for a high-level audience reinforce their exclusivity by limiting the numbers of both attendees and exhibitors/sponsors. MediaLive’s Web 2.0 Conference creates such an atmosphere by inviting the cream of the industry and capping attendance at 1,000 and sponsorships at  20. So does CXO Media, with its small pool of eight-to-12 sponsors compared with each show’s average of 300 to 600 executives.

Allow too many vendor partners and you water down the effectiveness of sponsorships. Strakosch cites one IT storage event where 40 percent of exhibitors were “platinum” and nearly 30 percent were “gold” — giving both levels little meaning. TechTarget shows max out at 50 exhibitors and eight sponsorships (with as high a price tag as $250,000), and there’s always a waiting list of suppliers to get in on an event.

Strategy #8: Cultivate Partnerships
The two International Security Conferences (ISC) leverage relationships with national or regional associations, for which security system dealers show a strong affinity. These Reed shows integrate meeting and networking activities for strong chapters; the California Alarm Association, for example, drew 800 people to an Industry Summit, where ISC hosted an exclusive breakfast event. “An owner-dealer will come to our show just for that,” says Russo.

Strategy #9: Target Higher-Level Exhibitors
CXO Media is not alone among show organizers in its requirement that sponsors bring high-level representatives comparable to attendees. Gartner Worldwide Events, too, is “very strict” about providers having senior-level executives on the show floor. “That’s who the C-level will talk to,” says Christopher. More importantly, these vendor executives establish a critical information flow with a premier audience.

“Sponsors are amazed by how open these executives are in engaging in conversation,” says Richards. They’re not trying to “get away” as they might at other events. Perhaps that’s because CXO Media facilitates interaction with living room sets around the show that encourage “meaty dialogues” — informal, one-on-one or small group discussions.

Strategy #10: ROI on Both Sides
For the days spent out of the office, peer interactions and presentations must help C-level and VIP buyers “move the ball forward,” says Richards. “Across the board, they vote with their feet.” Meanwhile, sponsors pin their ROI on branding and leads.

An executive format like CIO Perspectives® works to bridge this ROI divide. “Sponsors can do a lot of qualification in the relationship building,” Richards says. Yet, “these people do not want to get local sales calls or direct mail bombardment.” So her team strongly cautions vendors not to add the business cards they gather on-site to their traditional databases, but to pursue these relationships judiciously.