Growing a brand requires the utilization of several platforms—Web engagement, show floor optimization and meeting the needs of exhibitors and attendees. But when trying to reach the next level for a brand, launching a break out event can be the right strategy for generating buzz, securing profits and building a wave of momentum. 

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers [AEM], the producers of several shows, including CONEXPO/CON-AGG, announced dates last week for the third AG Connect Expo, a break out event launched in 2010. EXPO checked in with the new show to see how planners identified—and successfully executed—a new event while also propelling it into the future.

“Agriculture has been an industry that AEM has served for a number of years,” says Sara Truesdale Mooney, show director for AG Connect Expo. When asked how the association identified the opportunity to launch a new event, despite the tumultuous economy, Truesdale Mooney says the group’s agriculture executive committee had discussed the need for the event, the market place and the show model and value proposition back in 2007, three years before the first attendees hit the show floor.

“It’s always been under consideration and I guess it’s been 30 years in the making,” she says. “It’s been a long discussion and journey to get to this point but our agriculture members have always been interested in having a show that’s run by the industry and for the industry. There were focus groups with producers who are farmers, that’s the attendee base, and the focus groups were done to determine exactly what the needs were and what they were looking for in that next generation of agriculture events.”

One trick for launching a break out event is judging what already works in current events within a portfolio. The association looked to CONEXPO/CON-AGG and World of Asphalt as a framework for what a new event could be. AG Connect took steps through evaluation of the current structure of AEM’s largest and most successful events to generate a proposition of how the new event would function.

“This is our one and only agriculture show at AEM and its similar to some of our other shows in the construction and utilities industries,” Truesdale Mooney says. “We continue to use the same building block model, which is to create an industry gathering place, work with leading industry organizations and create that gathering place through working with those groups and inviting them to co-locate team meetings and events at the show. There’s a lot of industry collaboration that goes into the AEM show model.”

One key in reaching out to the industry when identifying the opportunity for a break out event is timing and implementation. Truesdale Mooney says to begin talks with the industry early on to identify needs and invite the “key groups” to participate in talks to build on an attendance base at a meeting.

Frequency of a new event is also important in ensuring it’s successful—depending on the market need and vertical, having a show too frequently or spaced too far apart can hinder a favorable outcome for growing a brand. The first AG Connect Expo was held in 2010, the second in 2011 and the next will be in 2013.

“It was always meant biennial in odd years, we just held the show in 2010 and 2011 for momentum purposes,” she says. “Now that we’re settled into our show cycle, the reason for the biennial schedule was that our members drove what they felt would be a good schedule in terms of new product launches and innovation, that’s what determined the schedule.”

In addition to evaluating the needs of attendees and exhibitors when determining schedule, AEM also looked to the agriculture industry and evaluated the frequency and importance of other events.

AG Connect alternates with theGerman based show AgriTechnica. The events are held in the same calendar years, but at opposite ends—AG Connect was held in January 2011 and AgriTechnica will be held in November 2011.

“Its as far apart as we could make them and we’re alternating with them because that’s the other big global agriculture show,” says Truesdale Mooney. “It’s in Europe so it was felt that the alternating schedule would fall into the global market place and DLG, who is the owner and producer of AgriTechnica, is our European partner and they work with us on selling exhibit space in Europe, attendance and promotion in Europe—it’s a great partnership with them.”

For the first event in 2010 there were 312 exhibitors on 167,800 net square feet—the 2011 event had 382exhibitors on 174,491 net square feet. The show’s first year drew 14 co-located meetings and events, totaling 7,756 registrants with 19 percent coming from international locations. The 2011 show saw a 45 percent increase, with 11,337 registrants, 20 co-located meetings and events with a 17 percent international AG Connect audience.

The show’s management committee not only surveyed exhibitors and attendees for indications to continue the event after the first expo in 2010 but it had in depth conversations with members, key exhibitors, media partners and association partners to ensure that the show could get the “go ahead” to continue.

“You get a lot of feed back in those groups,” she says. “I think in terms of the attendee base, we had a 92 percent satisfaction rate among producer attendees and 90 percent said the show was valuable to their business. When the attendee base is happy, you know you’re doing some things right. Those are some of the key drivers—the feed back from exhibitors and attendees to tell us we’re going in the right direction.”

Truesdale Mooney says the group also reached out to agriculture industry experts to help design and build topics for education and speaker selections. 

“I think the exhibitors were really pleased in terms of the show model and what the show ended up looking like,” she says. “It’s a very professional b2b environment for agriculture and that’s what they were looking for.”

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