This post is written by Dave Lutz and was influenced by his recent experience preparing for conferences including ASAE's 2010 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, CA. Conference and show Websites need better user experience. “More cowbell” wouldn’t hurt either! In my consulting biz, I look at a lot of major conference and trade show Web sites. I’m looking for what floorplan tool is being deployed. How the education program is laid out. How the show is selling and marketing their sponsorship and … [Read more...]
Six Suspicious Tradeshow Areas That Need Exposing
Note from Jeff: Dave Lutz is on a rant. A good one in my opinion and all meeting and event professionals, nonprofit organizations and associations, and tradeshow organizers should heed his advice. It's time for the meetings and tradeshow industry to be more transparent about add-on fees, kickbacks, payouts and relationships. Here's his post that first appeared on TSNN. Read Dave's rant. If you dare. TSAE's Red Diamond Congress White Paper Causing A Stir Have you been paying attention to … [Read more...]
Ten Criteria For Choosing The Right Core Event Tech Providers
How do you choose which core event technology providers you're going to use? Core event technologies include your registration system, online event website and electronic marketing, event eCommunity, exhibitor sales management, tradeshow floor plan, lead retrieval, event management, event mobile app and others. Do you base your decisions on price, customer service, newest features, meeting your needs and wants or some other factor? Do you use a selection grid, blind choice, employee voting or … [Read more...]
Attracting & Engaging Peeps To Your Tradeshow
It's more than coincidence, luck, serendipity or synchronicity. It's your deliberate actions that will attract and engage stakeholders to your next tradeshow. So are you deliberately doing all you can to attract and engage more stakeholders - attendees, exhibitors and sponsors? What specifically should you do to attract, convert and transform more stakeholders for your next show? What does successful show engagement look like? What are your colleagues doing to increase their attendance, … [Read more...]
5 Reasons To Increase Your Online Exhibitor Presence
This post is by Dave Lutz, Managing Director of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting. Recently, I reviewed some very telling analytics from several of the largest tradeshows. Here’s what I learned: Exhibitors that completed an online booth profile received twice as many page views as those that didn’t. Attendees also bookmarked them for an onsite visit. Exhibitors that purchased online booth upgrades received four to five times more online views than those with basic listings. Exhibitors with an … [Read more...]
Want To Attract More Millennials To Your Next Tradeshow? Try These Tips
Exactly who are Millennials? Well, the answer depends on who you ask. Defined as much by mindset as by birth, Millennials are those molded by cultural norms, demographics, the economy, parenting styles and more importantly, the Internet. These 18-29 year olds have begun to forge their generational traits as change-embracers, confident, liberal, self-expressive and upbeat. So why do Millennials matter? This age group is more than 80 million strong, with an unyielding purchasing power. They … [Read more...]
Six Best Practices For Creating An Online Interactive Exhibitor Listing That Gets Results
I’m blogging as part of the TSNN blog team. My posts will focus on technology and business processes that help move the needle for growing your show. Here's my first post. We all know that measuring ROI from tradeshow participation is like painting a moving car. Buyers are at various stages: awareness, consideration, preference and purchase. Often, it takes multiple touches to move buyers closer to purchase. Face-to-face interactions tend to either accelerate or better qualify the … [Read more...]
7 Annual Meeting Improvement Tactics During Tough Economies
In a down economy, an organization's worst survival tactic is to make budget or staff cuts. A weak economy should provide the impetus for us to work smarter and pull the trigger on those initiatives that may not have gone over well even in better times. Organizations that make the right moves will rule the day over their competitors. Here are a few ideas that will help give your conferences and events an edge: 1. Retention before attraction The economy will make it more difficult to … [Read more...]
