The Right Rewarding Student Strategy For Your Conference January 11, 2019 by Dave Lutz Many associations struggle with the right strategy for involving students in their organization and events. Some attract students to join and participate in the organization’s programs and services while still in college. They offer significant membership and registration discounts as well as ample presentation opportunities. They usually have a “get them while they’re young” and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , conference student strategy, customer loyalty, early-career professionals, get them while they're young, job hopping, loyalty, measuring student conversion, membership student strategy, mid-career practitioner, put the kids in the show
B2B Buyers Have Changed, Expos Haven’t March 2, 2018 by Dave Lutz The way B2B professionals buy has dramatically changed, but our dependency on expo revenue hasn’t. There are two primary segments that leverage the traditional exhibit business model — conferences with an expo and expos with a conference. Based on our deep analysis of dozens of shows, the former are the event business models being disrupted … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , b2b buyers, bite-size learning, exhibit hall, exhibitors, expo hall, show floor theater, solution center, trade show
More Marketing Isn’t the Answer November 6, 2017 by Dave Lutz A strategic look at your marketing spend, as well as what you spend on your attendee experience, can be telling. According to Convene’s most recent Meetings Market Survey, on average 6 percent of a meeting’s direct expenses fall in the marketing/promotion category. After studying 100 or so meetings’ profit and loss (P&L) statements in great … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , attendee experience, benchmarks, conference marketing, conference marketing spend
10 Ideas for Improving Your Pay-to-Play Conference Presentations August 22, 2017 by Dave Lutz There’s a place for sponsored content in conference programs, if you’re thoughtful in your approach. The seventh of the TED Commandments — “Thou shalt not sell from the stage: neither thy company, thy goods, thy writings, or thy desperate need for funding; lest thou be cast aside into outer darkness” — is especially timely advice. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , association, association best practices, content marketing, education champion, Pay-To-Play, sponsored content, sponsorship, thought leadership
Why Your Conference Should be Target-Audience Obsessed July 10, 2017 by Dave Lutz In order to design relevant education and networking experiences at our conferences, we need to be focused to the point of obsession with our target audience. Over the past 18 months, we’ve carefully scrubbed and analyzed the attendance of 20 major conferences. These projects had an aggregate attendance of 110,000-plus participants with registration revenue in … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference planning, meeting design, target audience
The Rise of the Gig Economy and What It Means for Conferences May 23, 2017 by Dave Lutz Work and life are transforming at a rapid rate. When considering long-term conference or organizational strategy, it’s wise to future-cast the impact major workforce trends may have on your profession, particularly because conferences are about people first and content second. You need to determine who (target audience) you’re designing for before you address the what … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , future trends, gig economy, trends, workforce trends
Mediocrity Is Your Biggest Conference Competitor March 6, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Your real conference competition is not that event held six months after yours. Nor is your competitor time, money and resources. Your real competitor is mediocrity to paraphrase authors Karin Hurt and David Dye. You’re In A Difficult Position: Look Backwards Or Forwards For Programming? Today’s technology driven, hyper-connected, instant gratification, real-time world puts you … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Event Planning Tagged With: , audience expectations, average, conference best practices, conference experience, mediocrity, originality
Exhibitor Priority Points System that Rewards Loyalty September 29, 2016 by Dave Lutz Your Points System Should Influence Current Spend Decisions Like any storefront business, exhibitor booth selection is heavily influence by three factors: location, location, location. Most trade-show organizers use a priority-points system to help determine the order of booth-space selection for next year’s expo and their system has been in place for quite a while. Over … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , exhibit sales, Exhibitor marketing, exhibitors, loyalty, sponsor acquisition
It Is Time For Some Conference Metrics Maintenance June 3, 2016 by Jeff Hurt If you own a car, you don’t want to ignore preventive maintenance. Rotating the tires, checking the oil and getting scheduled inspections are important to a safe ride and keeping you from expensive future repairs. Just like regular preventive maintenance for your car, your conference needs regular preventive maintenance. The first place to start with … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , actionable metrics, conference metrics, metrics, vanity metrics
Conference Organizer: Proceed With Caution! February 23, 2016 by Dave Lutz Danger, conference organizer! Danger! Did you ever watch the late-’60s sci-fi TV series Lost In Space? Yeah, most of you reading this are too young to know or remember it. Still you may have watched it in reruns or at a slumber party. It was known for its iconic robot that served as an early-tornado-type-siren. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , actionable metrics, conference best practices, conference evaluation, conference indicators, conference performance indicators, KPI, KPIs, metrics, shatterpoints, vanity metrics
