Best Practices
Even if you do everything in your power to green your event, exhibitors with environmentally unsound practices can cancel out your efforts. Why not encourage exhibiting companies to adopt your standards of environmental accountability?
The Great West Truck Show (GWTS) and the Great American Trucking Show (GATS) attract 16,524 and 44,669 attendees respectively, resulting in some pretty long lines at on-site registration. In order to improve the attendee experience and decrease wait times for the truckers and trucking executives who attend the shows, Randall-Reilly Events Group, owner of the Truck Shows, turned to a technology additional attendee communication or education about it. Each easy-to-follow screen prompted attendees for the necessary information, guiding them through the process.
PRINT Show attendees always say their top reasons for going to the show are to see new industry technology and compare different types of operating equipment under one roof.
Show organizers who serve prime rib, filet mignon or even cheeseburgers at the Anaheim Convention Center can rest assured that their groups are eating sustainable, local beef, thanks to the center’s recent purchase of its own herd of 75 cattle.
Event Technology
If getting the majority of your exhibitors to participate in an exhibitor training session is a Herculean effort, try giving them their own social network instead. IPC, the Association Connecting Electronics Industries, did just that for its IPC APEX Expo and IPC Midwest shows.
If you’ve ever wished you could use a remote control to navigate a trade show, BusyEvent’s Event Bookmarking service is for you. The service, which combines software with a key-fob-sized, wireless remote control called a BeLinker, allows users to click a few buttons to collect important data on the people, products and sessions that interest them at the show. Typically, two to three weeks before an event begins, communications are sent to inform attendees and exhibitors about the BusyEvent service and let them know they’ll receive a BeLinker device at registration.
Want to streamline your Q&A sessions? Take a cue from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), which used Twitter to manage a Q&A session during the keynote address at its Annual Conference & Expo in June.
EXPO Plus...
You stage a special session on a hot topic at your show, promote it heavily on Twitter and hundreds of attendees end up tweeting about it during the live event, getting others engaged and building buzz about your show. But then what? No matter how hot it may be at the time, once the event’s over, people quickly start to forget about the Twitter conversation.
Whether they’re used as a marketing vehicle leading up to the show, a way to extend your brand year-round or simply a place for your community to connect with one another, most organizers understand the value that social networks can bring to their events. But creating a network that serves as an industry destination and truly engages your audience is much easier said than done. Defining what you want your social network to accomplish is just the first step in launching your initiative, which we’ll examine here in the first of a three-part series.
Dreading managing your next awards program? mBlast’s Web-based, end-to-end Awards Management solution offers several features to help simplify the process and save time and resources for show organizers.
To create a memorable yet lighthearted experience for the opening general session at the 2009 ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership’s Annual Meeting & Exposition held in August in Toronto, PCI Communications, which produces the general sessions for the event, wrote a song for ASAE members to perform.
Feature Articles
You’re no stranger to technology — whether it’s using Facebook at home to reconnect with old friends or exploring virtual platforms at work to supplement your next event, technology is undoubtedly part of your life.
AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR, THE GURUS WHO WORK TO UNLOCK THE NUANCES OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN A RETAIL SETTING MUST FEEL SLIGHTLY HUMBLED. WHEN THRONGS OF CRAZED HOLIDAY SHOPPERS TRAMPLE THEIR WAY TO $29 DVD PLAYERS, ALL THE THEORIES ABOUT USING SOMETHING OTHER THAN LOW PRICES TO MOTIVATE CONSUMERS FLY OUT THE WINDOW.
When George Jage started the World Tea Expo in 2003, no one could have predicted the mark his brand would make in the specialty tea industry.
Openers
What it is: Trendwatching.com profiles the latest, greatest trends and business ideas, relying on a network of hundreds of “spotters” in more than 120 countries. Readers can get a free roundup of those trends sent to them in a monthly “briefing” e-mail. One recent briefing included tidbits on anti-energy drinks, “urge alert” advertising and branded pop-up shops.
Looking for new and unique (and, yes, inexpensive) ways to drive attendance to your show? Think video. It’s easy, it’s fun and it builds a buzz — at this year’s event and beyond.
Sure, you refresh your show or reposition a couple of elements every year. But how often do attendees or exhibitors notice and, more importantly, is it driving attendance or exhibit sales?
Publisher's Column
Sales and Marketing
Looking for a way to reinvigorate your sales approach? Try taking cues from the acting greats. Sure, there are a few differences between making sales calls and mugging for the camera, but there are also some key similarities between acting and selling. Both involve conveying a message to an audience and keeping that audience engaged during a narrative.
Q: I’m interested in implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) system in my office, but I’m worried that it’ll be tough to get everyone on board. Outside of the basic software installation, what are the key things that need to happen to make the transition go smoothly?
Publicizing your show — and your exhibitors — with a comprehensive press strategy is an important component of any event marketing plan. Smart show marketers are also tapped into the value of optimizing press materials for the Web.
The Buzz
A new event-networking platform allows attendees to scan online contacts on selected social, professional and e-mail networks and then matches them to the event’s registration database to determine who’s registered for the event.
|
 |
