The most glaring reality I’ve pointed to previously in this space — that three out of four B2B buyers conduct the majority of their research before talking to a salesperson — greatly affects the sustainability of the tradeshow business model. That, and the others explored in the five realities of today’s B2B buyer post, and how those insights can be applied to evolve the traditional expo, remain major issues today. Add to that fact the high cost of purchasing, setting up and staffing an … [Read more...]
B2B Buyers Have Changed, Expos Haven’t
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 most. From our view, most industry mega-shows continue to thrive. The slow death of expo revenue is not an indicator that meetings don’t mean business any … [Read more...]
Time to Retire Your Platinum, Gold and Silver Sponsorship Levels
The most effective sponsorships are all about the attendee — the fan, the sponsor’s target market. If they don’t win over the attendee, the sponsorship may not be sustainable. The same could be said for the naming of your sponsorship levels. It’s time to reimagine the precious metal sponsorship categories — and unless you’re the International Association of Gems, it’s also time to retire Diamond, Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire levels, too. As part of the competitive intelligence we gather for … [Read more...]
10 Ideas for Improving Your Pay-to-Play Conference Presentations
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. Why? As more sponsors embrace content marketing or thought leadership as arguably the most powerful strategy for improving attitudes and perceptions of their brand, … [Read more...]
Exhibitor Priority Points System that Rewards Loyalty
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 the past couple of years, we’ve studied dozens of priority-point models to formulate best practices for progressive expos. … [Read more...]
Back to School for Trade Show Organizers: Build In More Ways to Learn and Connect
This is the second in a series of posts on the findings of reports published by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) based on research recently conducted on attendee retention strategies. The way we buy has evolved for both the B2B and B2C sectors. Trade show organizers who have re-imagined their expo floors into a solutions-based destination rather than one of a hard-sell shopping place are winning at delivering attendee value. Results from a recent CEIR study bolster that … [Read more...]
Your Trade Show Attendees: What Do They Really, Really Want?
This is the first in a series of posts on the findings of reports published by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) based on research recently conducted on attendee retention strategies. It’s likely that the Brexit vote last week is on my mind and that’s why the Spice Girls’ tune, “Wannabe,” popped into my head as I wrote: “Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.” A key takeaway from Part One of CEIR Attendee Retention Insights study, is the schism between … [Read more...]
Conference Sponsorship As An Investment In Relatedness, Connections And Community
Often we feel that conference sponsorship is a necessary but unpleasant activity to support an event. We are uncomfortable asking organizations for money to support our endeavors. Sometimes that uncomfortable feeling is more a reflection of our personal beliefs about money than our beliefs about our conference’s impact. Raising conference sponsorship dollars should actually be proclaiming what we believe about our event in such as way that we offer other organizations the opportunity to … [Read more...]
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