April 2006
Marketwatch: Conference content
Education continues to be an essential component for shows in 2006
By Danica Tormohlen

Twenty-two percent of show organizers plan to increase the number of educational sessions they offer in 2006 compared with 2005, according to the 214 show organizers who responded to an online survey conducted by EXPO Magazine and Exhibit Surveys Inc. in February 2006. Seventy percent plan to offer about the same number of sessions, while only 8 percent plan to offer fewer sessions.

On average, shows offer 69 educational sessions. Associations offer more sessions than for-profits. Associations average 74 sessions while for-profits average 57. Despite the number of sessions offered, only one-third of attendees go to conferences, while two-thirds of attendees are exhibit only.

Most shows (71 percent) have a speaker budget, which averages $43,500. More than half (56 percent) use celebrity/professional speakers. In addition, most shows (79 percent) have an advisory committee.

Do you use celebrity and/or professional speakers for general sessions or other educational programs?

Speaker budgets
Do you have a speaker budget?

If yes, what’s your speaker budget?

$43,500

Advisory committees
Do you have a committee that advises on educational programming for your show?

More on expoweb.com
Find additional exclusive Web-only content from this survey, including:
• How many shows offer a call for presentations and when they’re due
Do you have a call for presentations?
Yes -- 71%
No -- 29%

When are they due?
Less than 3 months -- 5%
3 to 6 months -- 33%
6 to 9 months -- 44%
More than 9 months -- 18%

• Conference content benchmarks by show type (association vs. for-profit)

Association

Number of Educational Sessions Offered -- 74

Number of Sessions in 2006 vs.2005
More sessions -- 19%
About the same number of sessions -- 74%
Less sessions -- 7%

Average Session Length
30 minutes -- 3%
45 minutes -- 5%
1 hour -- 33%
1 hour 15 minutes -- 13%
1 hour 30 minutes -- 25%
2 hours -- 5%
More than 2 hours -- 14%

Use Celebrity/Professional Speakers
Yes -- 59%
No -- 41%

Have Speaker Budget
Yes -- 70%
No -- 30%

Average Speaker Budget 
 $44,300

Have Advisory Committee
Yes -- 85%
No -- 15%

Have "Call for Presentations"
Yes -- 76%
No -- 24%

Deadline for Presentations
Less than 3 months -- 5%
3 to 6 months -- 30%
6 to 9 months -- 45%
More than 9 months -- 20%

For-profit
Number of Educational Sessions Offered -- 57

Number of Sessions in 2006 vs.2005
More sessions -- 25%
About the same number of sessions -- 67%
Less sessions -- 8%

Average Session Length
30 minutes -- 5%
45 minutes -- 19%
1 hour -- 38%
1 hour 15 minutes -- 11%
1 hour 30 minutes -- 21%
2 hours -- 3%
More than 2 hours -- 3%

Use Celebrity/Professional Speakers
Yes -- 49%
No -- 51%

Have Speaker Budget
Yes -- 68%
No -- 32%

Average Speaker Budget 
 $39,900

Have Advisory Committee
Yes -- 69%
No -- 31%

Have "Call for Presentations"
Yes -- 65%
No -- 35%

Deadline for Presentations
Less than 3 months -- 7%
3 to 6 months -- 33%
6 to 9 months -- 41%
More than 9 months -- 20%

• Conference content benchmarks by show size (less than 100,000 NSF vs. more than 100,000 NSF)

Less than 100,000 NSF
Number of Educational Sessions Offered -- 54

Number of Sessions in 2006 vs.2005
More sessions -- 22%
About the same number of sessions -- 72%
Less sessions -- 6%

Average Session Length
30 minutes -- 5%
45 minutes -- 13%
1 hour -- 37%
1 hour 15 minutes -- 13%
1 hour 30 minutes -- 19%
2 hours -- 4%
More than 2 hours -- 10%

Use Celebrity/Professional Speakers
Yes -- 61%
No -- 39%

Have Speaker Budget
Yes -- 73%
No -- 27%

Average Speaker Budget 
 $39,200

Have Advisory Committee
Yes -- 80%
No -- 20%

Have "Call for Presentations"
Yes -- 69%
No -- 31%

Deadline for Presentations
Less than 3 months -- 5%
3 to 6 months -- 25%
6 to 9 months -- 50%
More than 9 months -- 20%

More than 100,000 NSF
Number of Educational Sessions Offered -- 83

Number of Sessions in 2006 vs. 2005
More sessions -- 22%
About the same number of sessions -- 68%
Less sessions -- 10%

Average Session Length
30 minutes -- 3%
45 minutes -- 12%
1 hour -- 36%
1 hour 15 minutes -- 10%
1 hour 30 minutes -- 26%
2 hours -- 4%
More than 2 hours -- 8%

Use Celebrity/Professional Speakers
Yes -- 52%
No -- 48%

Have Speaker Budget
Yes -- 69%
No -- 31%

Speaker Budget Amount
$48,300

Have Advisory Committee
Yes -- 77%
No -- 23%

Have "Call for Presentations"
Yes -- 73%
No -- 27%

Deadline for Presentations
Less than 3 months -- 5%
3 to 6 months -- 40%
6 to 9 months -- 38%
More than 9 months -- 17%


• Conference content benchmarks by show revenue (less than $2 million in gross revenue vs. more than $2 million)

Less than $2 million in gross revenue
Number of Educational Sessions Offered -- 52

Number of Sessions in 2006 vs 2005
More sessions -- 20%
About the same number of sessions -- 71%
Less sessions -- 9%

Average Session Length
30 minutes -- 4%
45 minutes -- 15%
1 hour -- 34%
1 hour 15 minutes -- 11%
1 hour 30 minutes -- 21%
2 hours -- 5%
More than 2 hours -- 10%

Use Celebrity/Professional Speakers
Yes -- 66%
No -- 34%

Have Speaker Budget
Yes -- 74%
No -- 26%

Speaker Budget Amount
 $41,000

Have Advisory Committee
Yes -- 76%
No -- 24%

Have "Call for Presentations"
Yes -- 62%
No -- 38%

Deadline for Presentations
Less than 3 months -- 4%
3 to 6 months -- 18%
6 to 9 months -- 55%
More than 9 months -- 22%

More than $2 million

Number of Educational Sessions Offered -- 84

Number of Sessions in 2006 vs2005
More sessions -- 24%
About the same number of sessions -- 69%
Less sessions -- 8%

Average Session Length
30 minutes -- 4%
45 minutes -- 11%
1 hour -- 40%
1 hour 15 minutes -- 12%
1 hour 30 minutes -- 23%
2 hours -- 2%
More than 2 hours -- 8%

Use Celebrity/Professional Speakers
Yes -- 48%
No -- 52%

Have Speaker Budget
Yes -- 68%
No -- 32%

Speaker Budget Amount
 $46,600

Have Advisory Committee
Yes -- 81%
No -- 19%

Have "Call for Presentations"
Yes -- 80%
No -- 20%

Deadline for Presentations
Less than 3 months -- 6%
3 to 6 months -- 43%
6 to 9 months -- 36%
More than 9 months --16%

• Verbatim responses from respondents on their biggest frustration with conference programming
Internal coordination, confirming content early enough to market properly, providing exhibitors speaking opportunities without compromising the integrity of the program
 A software solution for managing this
 Abstract submission
 Assuring an audeince
 Attracting high level keynoters and speakers with limited monies for honorariums and reimbursement.  Also, balancing between "star quality" and industry experts.
 Attracting well-known speakers at low to no cost.
 Audience generation
 Balance of education with networking
 Balancing the continual need to find fresh new speakers with top flight information against the desire to have proven speakers who we know can deliver the goods.
 Budget
 Buy in from staff
 Collecting current data on the coordinators, moderators and speakers.
 Coming up with ideas to keep it fresh for attendees & exhibitors alike.
 Coming up with relevant topics and speakers
 Communications with chairs
 Competing with the floor
 Confirming 100% of the speakers.  It is easy to get 80-90%, but never 100% before the deadline.
 Confirming dates & times
 Continually coming up with new topics and new speakers who are relevant to our industry 
 Convinving leadership to offer value in educational programming, to offer cutting edge and even outside of the box adult learning processes such as free form meetings.
 Determining the content.
 Developing relevant topics / staying in tune with the industry
 Direct Marketing to the right attendees.
 Ensuring that the topics are timely.
 Even quality of speakers
 Exhibitors would prefer dedicated hours for the show.  No education conflicts
 Expense of food, space, etc in some destinations.
 Filling in for cancelled speakers
 Finding enough meeting room space to expand programming requirements.
 Finding enough speakers
 Finding enough time to accomodate all of the sessions.
 Finding good speakers
 Finding good speakers within our industry
 Finding independent speakers for 90 sessions, and developing relevant content for a changing market.
 Finding new MD/DO's to market too.
 Finding new, relavant speakers for our industry
 Finding technical speakers that have engaging presentation skills.
 Finding the right mix of speakers.
 Funding
 Gaining concensus on winning program 9 mounths prior to delivery
 Getting a "sponsorable" speaker through our national association. We have had and not had sponsors in the past and are keenly aware that this year we must get a sponsor for our CEU.
 Getting attendance that then visits the show
 Getting enough educational content, and still allowing enough time for attendees to visit the Trade Show
 Getting information in a timely manner
 Getting new attendees / participants and keeping the old ones. The biggest factors are then the cost of the event itself - from registration to hotel costs to travel.
 Getting programming for all the different types of attendees we have and staying within budget.
 Getting qualified speakers with little or no budget.
 Getting speakers to submit call for presentations on time
 Getting speakers to commit
 Getting speakers to comply with all the guidelines
 Getting speakers with a proven speaking background with a limited budget.  Once they commit keeping them focused on the various deadlines.
 Getting the attendees there.
 Getting the right speaker or speakers for the Opening Session to commit 9 months out.  We use industry related speakers for our conference program and find that sometimes other committments come up that change their plans.
 Getting topics and speakers that are timely and generic
 Guessing on the number of attendees from year to year
 Having everyone on the same page, with a large conference you have a large selection of "opinions"
 Having good content!
 Having program committee members meet deadlines.  Also, some of our committee members make offers/commitments on behalf of the assn without authorization.
 Having relevant content at the time of the event.
 Having topics that are of interest to attendees
 High quality speakers to meet the interests of the attendees
 Honoraria and travel costs
 Intellectual stimulation
 Interesting topics without spending a lot of money
 Keeping content fresh and to meet the establish guidelines by our accrediting boards.
 Keeping the content fresh and finding new speakers.
 Keeping the topics relevant to attendees
 Keeping them interesting, timely and relevant to current market/technical conditions
 Last minute requests
 Making sure topics are timely enough 6-9 months out from a show.
 Marketing
 Marketing to attendees for second tier cities; cost vs. content;
 Matching programming with sponsors
 Meeting room availability
Meeting Rooms
New CME Guidelines and rules
 New exciting topics
 New speakers, new sessions from old speakers
 Obtaining quality speakers and education of value
 Offering very brand new topics, conflict with other annual meetings
 Our call for papers closes more than 3 months before the meeting because of the enormous size of our meeting (over 8000 individual speakers in an average of 520 half-day sessions), which makes it hard to be flexible or reactive to new or 'hot' topics. Also, closing "only" 3 months before the meeting makes it very difficult to do any pre-show publicity about educational content.
 Overlapping programs, venue, life cycle,
 Picking the right/most viable topics/content
 Pooling needs for AV efficiency.
 Producing a larger "Wow" factor with less staff and other resources.
 Purity of content-protecting from infomercials
 Quality speakers and commitments
 Quality speakers that attract interest.
 Recruiting industry speakers
 Reducing the classes submitted to classes to be presented.
 Satisfying all the various requirements within a finite budget
 Scheduling speakings and confirming topics.
 Securing programming from the user community rather than the vendor community
 Selecting 300 best sessins from the 1200 abstracts submitted.  Selecting the most relevant session topics.
 Serving the needs of everyone
 Speaker cancellations
 Speaker fees
 Speaker management and FDA / CME Guidelines
Timing of speakers fitting in the the show
 To find topics about the newest technologies and more on to find speakers connected with this kind of topics.
 Too many paper submissions for available slots
Topics
Trying not to overlap the most popular sessions so that attendees can see their favorites.
Trying to find meeting space to hold 50 simultaneous tracks
Visas for international speakers.
Volunteers
Working with a committee
 

EXPO Magazine has partnered with Exhibit Surveys Inc. to conduct the Marketwatch surveys and report the results. For more information about Exhibit Surveys, visit www.exhibitsurveys.com or call 800-224-3170.