Skyrocketing Costs Squeeze Event Budgets February 27, 2023 by Lisa Block Event organizers are feeling the pinch as industry suppliers, venues and transportation companies rebound from the pandemic. Travel costs are rising due to strong demand (led by the leisure sector). Following are considerations gathered from industry media, meetings market surveys and anecdotal reports from Velvet Chainsaw Consulting clients. Event venues are raising rates for basic … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model
Seeking a Hybrid Conference Steady State? Here’s a Framework August 3, 2022 by Dave Lutz With live conferences’ comeback, event organizers need to make complex decisions about how to incorporate digital product extensions into their business model. Based on our research, we estimate that there’s an even split between conference owners who are including synchronous or asynchronous hybrid options and those who aren’t. The half who is pursuing hybrid knows … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , asynchonous, hybrid conferences, hybrid experiences, hybrid meetings, simulcast, synchronous, virtual conferences, virtual meetings
Five Tips for Conference Sponsorship Pricing June 15, 2022 by Dave Lutz In my experience, most large conferences this year are realizing about 80 percent of their 2019 revenue performance. For some of the major annual meetings we’re tracking, sponsorship revenue has been a bright spot when compared to exhibit revenue performance. The textbook outcome of a successful sponsorship is improved attitudes and behavior for that brand. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , annual conference sponsorships, convention sponsorships, cost-plus pricing, event sponsorships, expense recovery, pricing, value-based pricing
2022 Conference Registration Pacing April 5, 2022 by Dave Lutz Before March of 2020, pacing data was a useful tool for predicting final attendance and revenue. If you were pacing behind, you could make midcourse corrections. As we come out of the pandemic, we need a different playbook to drive attendance and earlier commitment. Use these five tips to develop a plan for optimizing registration … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , marketing in covid, pacing models, registration pacing, worry-free cancellation
Will Use-It-or-Lose-It Budgeting Negatively Impact Expo and Sponsor Revenue? October 14, 2021 by Dave Lutz Our crystal balls are pretty foggy when it comes to predicting the return of in-person expo and sponsor revenue. Three of the big questions are: With the advancement of digital demos, will exhibitors opt for smaller booth spaces? If marketing budgets intended for show participation in 2020 or 2021 were reallocated, or not spent, will … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits
Game On! Returning to Face-to-Face October 1, 2021 by Lisa Block With many organizations actively planning for an upcoming in-person conference or tradeshow, now is the time to make firm decisions for your attendee-experience, staffing and safety plans. We recently held a webinar featuring leaders from two large associations that have held face-to-face events in recent weeks. Here are five of the top take-aways that can … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual
Risk, Revenue Recognition and Recovery April 14, 2021 by Dave Lutz For well over a year, we’ve consulted with dozens of associations on their go/no-go event strategies. One of our early — and still applicable — recommendations was for conference organizers to communicate and publish the date when they expect to make the decision for their in-person conference. Over the summer and the fall of 2020, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual
The High Cost of Hybrid March 15, 2021 by Lisa Block Our clients and leading industry associations (for example, PCMA’s latest glimpse or our industry’s future, the business recovery dashboard) are turning their attention to future hybrid and face-to-face (f2f) events. While everyone keeps saying that hybrid is here to stay, most association event pros have limited bandwidth and budget to plan and execute robust in-person … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , budgets, digital events, hybrid events, production values, resources, staffing, virtual conferences, virtual networking
What Risk Factors Are Top of Mind for Association Event Organizers? February 25, 2021 by Lisa Block We recently convened a roundtable of senior-level conference organizers to discuss risk tolerance and the forces that are shaping their 2021/22 event strategies and decisions. Three primary risk categories are emerging as organizations weigh their options for major conferences in 2021: Mitigating financial risk Member considerations and communications Health, safety and duty of care Mitigating … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , budgeting, contract negotiations, digital meetings, financial risk, hybrid meetings, virtual meetings
Normal is Over(rated) – For Now November 16, 2020 by Dave Lutz This is a guest post by Joy S. Davis, CAE, based on an email she sent to me after reading Lisa Block’s recent post, “I Am Sorry, But We Are Not All Fine.” Joy is Managing Director, Member Products, for the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Not too long ago, I gently asked my Executive … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , apology meetings, event strategy, hybrid conferences, return to normal, the new normal, virtual conferences
