May 2004
The Schmooze Factor
How Natural Products Expo and others customize the networking process and tailor the experience
By Maxine Golding
Forget chance connection. Instead think 24-hour networking community.
That’s how Natural Products Expo keeps growing, now 2,531 exhibiting booths and 36,000 attendees strong at its West event— an 18 percent increase over last year. “It’s not that we’re doing a lot of networking other shows aren’t,” says Frederik M. Linder, President, New Hope Natural Media, a division of Penton Media. “It’s our ability to seamlessly integrate everything.”
On the cusp of the latest networking trend, the show is morphing into a customized experience for each attendee through a combination of automated matchmaking and individualized advance planning. The simple reason is that new products, education, and general sessions — the lures dangled by show organizers to bring people together — are no longer enough of a draw.
Time-starved attendees and exhibitors today demand more than serendipity from the meeting place. As the Center for Exhibition Industry Research reported in its six-part study, “The Role and Value of Face-to-Face Interaction,” 69 percent of attendees rate interacting personally with industry or professionally with colleagues and associates very or extremely important in performing their jobs. They want immediate opportunities to make direct connections within a defined community of peers and customers.
All the more reason for shows to find new and better ways to schmooze. Here are five shows that are taking their networking know-how to higher levels.
True to nature
Constituents — from retailers to companies that make food, supplements, personal care products and raw ingredients — have come to expect exceptional networking from a show that seeks to own them 24 hours a day.
“If networking is not the No. 1 reason why people attend Natural Products Expo, then it’s a close No. 2,” says Brian Henderson, Executive Vice President, New Hope Natural Media.
For this industry that likes to play together, as he put it, the legendary dance party, concert, and international reception continue to be in great demand. So are the pre-opening group tours of retail stores, herb and produce farms, and arboretums, along with recent additions: a first-time exhibitor’s reception, a pre-reception on the show floor for people who set up their booths, and a wine-tasting event.
But Natural Products Expo has raised the bar big-time by tailoring the networking experience for each attendee and type of buyer. “The show had grown so large that networking one-on-one became a challenge,” Henderson explains. Networking opportunities “that are just events lose face time.” They must have value and maintain their freshness year-to-year.
The answer? Automate and customize the networking process. An online appointment-setting feature was implemented with the last show; a program targeted to individual segments invites large buyers and sets up individual meetings with exhibitors; and a networking program was created for large and small chains of natural food stores.
A major portion of the Natural Products Expo Web site now follows an “individual itinerary model,” where buyers can gather specific information and choose where and when to network. “It’s modeled almost exactly like online dating services,” says Henderson. A request for an appointment can be sent, and if accepted, a meeting time set up. The technology also enabled the show to automate how it managed networking of international guests. The result: a major spike in people using this feature of the online itinerary function.
“For a show producer it’s a fantastic tool,” Henderson says. “You can sit back and watch who’s contacting whom. It also helps us modify room sets, based on the popularity — or lack of interest — of the 70 conference sessions.”
The customizing goes deeper and depends entirely on the buyer. For a team from a small group of retail stores, Natural Products Expo set aside a room off the show floor for vendor meetings; reserved a block of rooms at an adjoining hotel; set up appointments on the show floor; and escorted them to exhibitors they might never have come across. All of this is complimentary. So is bus service for the East show, connecting New York and Philadelphia with Washington, DC. Some manufacturers have even asked to travel back and forth on the buses to connect with retailers.
The buzz generated around these networking events certainly helps to sell attendees and exhibitors on returning. It encourages partnerships, such as one between Expo East and Nürnberg Global Fairs that jointly launched Organic Products Expo — BioFach America. It also persuades exhibitors to time their own sales and board meetings around Natural Foods, creating a “Natural Products City” for days beyond its length.
Natural Products Expo West
Show organizer: New Hope Natural Media, a division of Penton Media
Dates and location of the next show: March 17-20, 2005, Anaheim Convention Center
Show Web site: www.expowest.com
Value of connections
It’s incredible what electronics systems designers can pack into the day and a half that the average attendee spends at electronicaUSA.
Used to working on tight deadlines — whether designing a cellphone, gauges in a car, or the Mars Rover — they dive right into the show’s many networking events, traditional and non: opening night reception among exhibits; informal discussions at the conference community center; continued conversations at the electronics community beer garden right on the show floor; controversial exchanges with industry chief executives at the C-Level sessions; and about 10 allied association meetings. That doesn’t count the 426 exhibitors in 110,000 net square feet on display, plus four technical conferences with 300 sessions under one roof.
But the gem this year came pre-show — the pilot of EEQuorum, an Internet-based matching service developed with partner BD Metrics. This social networking portal enables attendees to profile their business needs and interests, and the technologies they work with; share demographic (but not personal) information securely with other participants; and connect with “matches” to schedule appointments.
“The real power of the portal is to quantify the potential business,” says Tim Avila, Group Marketing Director, CMP Media. “For the 12,000 coming to the show, we identified 6 million potential matches.” And there’s more: The technology can model the potential value of a specific connection and all the connections an attendee makes, plus the show organizer gets to see how many connections were made and how long attendees stayed.
Meanwhile, programs like Birds of a Feather sessions — essentially exchanges among attendees and specialists — pack a wallop relative to their low cost. The conference community center, beer garden and reception, all paid for through exhibitor sponsorships, are also very popular.
“But it’s the cumulative effect of everything that shows the power and value of networking,” Avila stresses. What works best is to create a framework of places, times and reasons to get together, and leave communities to self-organize, he says, “kind of ordered chaos.” The networking dynamics are further enhanced by large contingents from electronic centers of the world, including China, Japan, Taiwan, and Europe — one attendee in 10 comes from abroad.
Still, with nearly 70 percent of participants based within 100 miles of San Francisco’s Moscone Center, it’s easy for pre-registrants to get caught up in their work and miss the event. That’s why electronicaUSA embeds in its varied advance messages many specifics on how to effectively network throughout the four-day event, continuing to promote during the show through daily reminders and a look at what’s happening tomorrow.
Show organizer: CMP Media
Dates and location of the next show: Mar. 7-10, 2005, Moscone Center, San Francisco
Show Web site:
www.electronicausa.com
Names in light
A scrolling recognition screen has become one of the best networking tools on-site at Graphics of the Americas.
Initiated three years ago, this PowerPoint presentation — outlined with sponsor names — rolls during cocktail reception and dinner, showing the name, title, company and country of residence of everyone in attendance. Not only does it help people connect, it also shows the high level of attendees, says Christopher Price, Vice President and General Manager of the show, which is produced and managed by Printing Association of Florida.
With just over 400 exhibiting companies in 1,250 booths spread over 125,000 net square feet, Graphics of the Americas takes seriously its role as the first printing industry show of the year and direct conduit to the Latin American marketplace. For three days, it brings together more than 20,000 graphic arts suppliers and printing professionals, primarily from the northeastern and southeastern United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.
While networking has yet to eclipse the search for new product, show discounts, and new distributors among the top reasons to attend, it’s critical to the show’s success. An international business pavilion on the show floor, created five years ago, provides at no charge translators, faxes, phones, copy machines, bottled water, and two meeting closing rooms that help facilitate deal-making. It remains one of the most successful networking opportunities the show has created.
Expanding the attendee base goes far toward enhancing networking. As the first regional show to be endorsed by the International Buyer Program of the Department of Commerce, Graphics of the Americas attracts buying teams through this program. The assembly of Conlatingraf, an umbrella group of 14 Latin American countries, co-locates with Graphics of the Americas. And for its career awareness day, the show invites teachers throughout Florida and Latin America to attend free of charge, so they may bring fresh information and knowledge back to their students.
The more structured the networking events, the better attendees respond. What started off as a thank you breakfast for exhibitors has blossomed into a Salsa Party for more than 2,500 attendees and exhibitors the evening of the middle day of the show — and its busiest. For two more hours, business continues and new connections take place behind a set of drapes in one of the halls of the convention center.
Networking events, though, can only be successful if a show grabs people’s attention in advance. “I need to use every medium and not abuse any,” Price acknowledges. Pre-event, dynamic itinerary software on the show’s Web site enables attendees to set up individual appointments with exhibitors. But his secret weapon is about a dozen particularly well-connected exhibitors that partner in promoting the show’s events. And while electronic marketing has become an important tool, direct mail and print promotions are highly valued, because they’re the business of the target audience.
Show organizer: Printing Association of Florida
Dates and location of the next show: Feb. 4-6, 2005, Miami Beach Convention Center
Show Web site:
www.graphicsoftheamericas.com
After show hours
Partnership is the core of the licensing deal, but it’s networking that initiates the deal. For more than 20,000 retailers, consumer products manufacturers, agents, entertainment and publishing companies and corporate brands, Licensing International literally spells “extreme networking.”
This is not a typical product exposition with buyers walking the aisle and sellers in booths, but very much an “idea and concept” event. The 425 exhibits in 180,000 net square feet serve as the centerpiece of a show that, with international participation and ancillary activities, often extends for a week. “A lot of business is conducted before and after doors open and close,” notes Elizabeth Waiksnis, Licensing International’s Show Manager.
Start with its members-only networking reception the night before the show opens; its sister publication’s opening night cocktail reception; and the industry association’s awards presentation and gala on the show’s second night. Then, move to roundtable breakfasts and idea exchanges in conference sessions, and finish with the many special events that exhibitors host at showrooms and other venues around New York.
The show’s newest tweak is technological, and surveys show it’s a winner. About three quarters of exhibitors are taking advantage of a free virtual booth on the show Web site to outline what they’re featuring. Not only can attendees learn more in advance of the show, the technology also allows them to e-mail exhibitors and line up appointments before coming to New York.
Licensing International is also making a push toward a more customized, hands-on approach to connecting people. Concentrating for the last three years on Germany, for example, the show has facilitated delegations from top manufacturers and tours around New York and its environs to see how retail stores are set up and licensed products promoted in the United States.
Meanwhile, the more relaxed and casual the networking is, the better, one sign of generational changes among attendees. The International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association awards gala, which used to be a black-tie event representative of the “old boys’ network,” has loosened up, as have surrounding entertainment and activities — martini bar, cigar bar, computer golf games and the like.
A similar rethinking is influencing the mix of media used to promote networking events. The pendulum that swung far toward e-mail campaigns is moving back to “a little of everything,” says Waiksnis. “Everyone has been bombarded by e-mail, to the point of becoming desensitized to it.” As a result, Licensing International has brought back direct mail from the wayside and targeted telemarketing blasts to business phone numbers.
Show organizer: Advanstar Communications
Dates and location of the next show: June 8-10, 2004, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City
Show Web site:
www.licensingshow.com
Hottest ticket in town
Deene Alongi has no illusions about why 5,000 planning directors, commissioners, city planners and consultants — upward of 15 percent of American Planning Association (APA) membership — attend the annual meeting. Networking and education are clearly the top reasons, says the Director of Conferences.
While they like chance meetings in corridors, structured events — like the awards luncheon or three networking breakfasts for planning directors, planning officials, and partners — are the hot tickets. For the breakfasts, about 250 attendees sign up to sit at roundtables featuring specialized areas of interest and exchange knowledge with their peers. “They want a structured networking event in a room full of people just like them,” she explains.
To further enhance networking and also expand its reach into particular member segments, APA initiated suites devoted specifically to planning officials and planning commissioners, so they can mix and meet their peers. This year, to encourage more planning directors to become part of the organization, APA’s chief executive is hosting a suite for this group and arranging special topics to be covered in small group meetings.
Finding ways to structure networking on the show floor itself is always a challenge, but APA generates a mix of people in the exhibition pavilion through an innovative series of book signings by authors — as many as a dozen. And its Washington, DC, venue this past April allowed APA to arrange one of the most desirable of networking opportunities — Planners’ Day on Capitol Hill. Conference attendees connected with their elected representatives in Congress and received in advance special training on key messages and materials to provide to congressional offices.
Like many associations, APA is widening its reach to the next generation of prospective members through expanded student programs that include a student exchange, lounge and separate reception. Job Connection provides interview rooms and computer access to employers and job seekers on all levels. “We are doing more and more with students, who have the opportunity to both present and attend workshops,” Alongi notes, and at press time she anticipated record attendance from this segment at the April meeting.
Some items, though, still adorn her networking wish list. If APA can grow the 50,000 net square feet of exhibits beyond 100,000, the organization will tackle appointment matching. And a leadership reception in the exhibition hall would enhance the camaraderie between industry leaders and exhibitors, Alongi believes.
Show organizer: American Planning Association
Dates for the next show and
location: March 19-23, 2005,
San Francisco Marriott
Show Web site: www.planning.org
Maxine Golding has covered the meetings industry extensively during a 25-year career as editor, writer and publisher. E-mail: maxinegold@earthlink.com
As show organizers seek just the right blend of networking opportunities, they’re ever mindful of the bottom line. Which high-value events really score?
Exhibitor Reception. “Exhibitors want to talk to key people,” says Deene Alongi, Director of Conferences, American Planning Association. Personal invitations for exhibitors to mingle with an organization’s president and board and with key industry executives always bring great response — and reinforce the value of the event to the exhibitors.
Business Lounge. “Our gala is wonderful, but it can only enable quick introductions. Our matchmaking program is good, although limited,” explains Christopher Price, Vice President and General Manager of Graphics of the Americas. What really packs a wallop is the international business pavilion, which lets people continue their discussions in a more relaxed atmosphere, with all the services they need — from translation to Internet connections — at their fingertips.
Appointment-setting Technology. The goal behind electronicaUSA’s matching program is to stimulate economic activity between buyers and sellers, thus increasing the show’s value. “We think that the more connections they make, the longer they’ll stay, effectively increasing attendance,” says Tim Avila, Group Marketing Director, CMP Media. Adds Brian Henderson, Executive Vice President, New Hope Natural Media: “It’s a very efficient use of dollars for Natural Foods Expo, but it’s nothing without other networking in place.”
Roundtables. People who attend these exchanges during Licensing International are serious about learning from both industry experts and peers, reports Elizabeth Waiksnis, Show Manager. The ability to hold one-on-one discussions, throw questions at colleagues, and receive real-world feedback helps participants build relationships as they talk business. Similarly, morning and afternoon “Birds of a Feather” topic-specific sessions — eight each day — at electronicaUSA heighten the level of interaction of attendees and industry experts.
Charity Events. After 10 weeks of move-in, Press Days and Industry Preview Days, the Charity Preview is the single most effective get-together at the North American International Auto Show. An extraordinary number of concurrent networking and co-branded events competes with high-powered meetings for attention. However the manufacturing, supplier and dealer community stops for one three-hour cocktail party, which this year raised $7 million for 11 charities in a single night, says Bob Thibodeau Jr., Bob Thibodeau Ford and member of NAIAS’ Executive Committee of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association.
What’s better than connecting people face-to-face? Matching them in advance, so that they get the most from their time at an industry trade show or association meeting.
“It’s very haphazard for attendees to look at badges and hope for chance meetings,” says Corbin Ball, CMP, President, Corbin Ball Associates. “Matchmaking over the Web is a perfect paradigm for meetings.”
Here’s a sampling of matchmaking products and how they work.
• Instead of peering at name badges, attendees can find the people they want to meet through Rio from CRG–Total Event Solutions (www.crgevents.com), which provides event planning and registration services. As attendees register for shows that use Rio, they can also opt to register for Rio. Attendees complete a profile of five to eight event-specific questions that qualify their needs and interests.
Users can access the profiles of other participants, search on any criteria based on the profile questions and request a meeting, but contact information is automatically restricted. To help maintain a layer of privacy, the request comes from the show, not from the attendee, although the attendee making the request and the subject of the meeting are visible to the recipient.
When both parties mutually agree to a meeting, Rio schedules the time, 15 minutes at its shortest. Set aside at the event is an area with tables numbered to correspond with meeting assignments. “This is very structured and works like speed dating,” says Leasa Mayer, CRG President and CEO. “Participants can plan longer meetings if the interest is there.”
• SmartEvent from ExpoExchange, a Conferon Global Services company whose services include registration and lead management (www.expoexchange.com), is new software that uses predictive and behavior modeling to analyze data and optimize a show organizer’s business relationships.
For networking, this translates into a private, encrypted portal for every attendee and exhibitor who suggests matches by product, job or related issues. A dashboard-like HTML page sports three buttons. The first allows users to look up matches and sort them into groups. The second directs users to related products and services. The third manages the active connections, so users don’t have to understand the technology, just click and act.
“Pre-event planning will make the event most meaningful and put information in people’s hands justifying their decision to attend,” says Michael Godsey, Senior Vice President, Client Services. To pump up attendance, the program delivers a report that shows prospective registrants what they can get out of the event, which can be presented to their bosses. More than 70 reports provide similar analysis for use in such areas as exhibit sales.
• After developing compatibility matching and appointment scheduling software for its National Lawn & Garden Show, Controlled Marketing Conferences (www.cmccentral.com) is marketing the technology to other show organizers. Through a Web-based interface, the show organizer can outline the parameters of the event, block times and lengths of appointments, and invite exhibitors to apply for appointments with attendees, explains Lisa Wieland, Director of Business Development. The software also allows on-demand appointment scheduling while the event is live.
• Among Venue Maitre’D’s wireless services through a Pocket PC is a profile-based matching feature, enabling users to make business or social contacts at a convention venue (www.venuemaitred.com).
• Through a handheld running Linux, Spotme by ShockFish, a Swiss company (www.shockfish.com), allows meeting participants to access information and photos in an attendee database; message for appointments; display through a radar function people within about 30 yards; spot targeted contacts who come within 10 yards; and exchange electronic business cards. At the end of the event, a personalized contact log with collected cards and photos is e-mailed to the participant.
|
