Archive for March, 2009
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
An incredible display of ‘thinking outside of the box’ – using sheep as entertainment/art. Enjoy!
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
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I love this wonderful creation by designer Florian Kräutli. She has created magnetic curtains that can be molded and shaped as you wish. No more strings or tie backs – just scrunch and enjoy.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
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The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Eventprofs TweetChat Recap for
March 16th, 2009 9pm EST
Note: This TweetChat showed a strong international presence from Australia to Europe
Topic 1 – Strategies for Business growth in a Down Economy:
• @Jeffhurt mentioned using virtual events to augment decline in f2f meetings
• @jefferyhansler mentioned that re-distribution may be a better way to describe the current trend towards virtual events.
• @ready2spark: {moderator} Growth thru acquisition? new products? new services? partnerships?
• @GregRuby mentioned cost control vs. growth from the supplier end of the market
• @Andreagold mentioned looking for opportunities as well as creating them
• @jeffhurt: 56% of our companies have new travel/hotel corp policies 4 ’09.
• Strategic partnerships are becoming a focus as a tatic to survive.
• @mab397 pointed out that growth is possible if your product remains relevant and scalable.
• @marksylvester: Great example of virtual conference was major pharma in Sept – dealer training conf – was 500K, cut to 175K going virtual
• @jessrafferty new strategy is government contracts, can be recession proof
• Questions raised about the perception of virtual events. Do you charge? How much? What is the ROI/ROO?
• Need for new sales techniques mentioned. Specifically mentioned we are not order takers per se, do need to show client value of product even more.
• @Heypeterman, @jefferyhansler, @marksylvester added to discussion on topic of which comes first, the virtual or the live event?
• Consensus made that f2f will always thrive, virtual is useful in it’s own right.
• @marksylvester shared that exhibitors and sponsors on the decline, taking budget dollars for overall conference with them.
• @EventNewsCenter: tradeshows are still a bargin as far as biz dev goes when you look at the cost to meet face to face with qualified prospects
• @nicolejensen raised concern for using SM at event while maintaining confidentiality.
• Consensus was reached that f2f will always remain and virtual can augment live meetings and events. Down side is when virtual replaces almost all live events. @ringettechick: my old company moved to 1 major F2F event per year & the rest virtual. It was good for the delegates, but not good 4 my resume
• @eventbootcamp shared: http://www.cci-leadershipstrategies.com/cci/Blog/tabid/81/EntryID/6/Default.aspx. Excellent article on the next generation of leaders and their adaptation of SM and web 2.0
• ready2spark: {moderator} What do you pros think r the best ways 2 use virtual 2 augment f2f and deliver best ROI 4 attendees + organizers? (Re: @nicolejensen . Video blogs, interviews, streaming, podcasts, blogs, online registration, e-mail marketing… list is endless!)
• Point made about shorter attention spans at conferences and meetings. Should start weeding out bad presenters and making for stronger content.
• Many points made to post event surveys and blogs to keep the momentum moving.
• @dwheller11 says looking to offer future free virtual attendance to live meeting attendees.
• @Jeffhurt “The good spkrs lrn to use twitter/texting to their beneift w/aud. It works. I’ve got scores/evals that show it.”
• @GloNelsonCSEP in Response to @GregRuby’s question about when only virtual meeting is best: “Greg, if you look at Virtualis and what they’re doing in SL, you’ll see some good examples when/why .”
• How to use Twitter to engage audience by @OliviaMitchell: http://ow.ly/10h2 courtesy of @JeffHurt
• TED conference used as example to tools available after live conference. Also great example of event/meeting where people want to be for f2f
• Point made that virtual can help with collaboration between people thousands of miles apart while containing travel expenses
• Still a long ways to go within several industries (i.e. banking, pharma, etc.)
• Interesting Stat: Jeffhurt: @ronnyes We found that 74% of our members age 35-65 (insurance types) now use social media and were not afraid of virtual
Topic 2 – Industry Certifications
• Consensus from Cert holders that clients paying more attention to certs. Shows dedication and training
• Non-Cert holders seem to agree that experience trumps certification
• @nicolejensen mentioned that price to obtain cert can hold one back. ronnyes: @nicolejensen MPI has scholarships to help
• @GloNelsonCSEP made the point that certification with up to date experience is best.
• Consensus that Assoc and orgs need to educate their clients and staff about the value of hiring an industry certified professional
• Point made by several that some contracts require certification while others do not.
• Several testified to the benefit of the classroom learning environment for Certifications. Many taking classes have substantial field experience and can be valued asset of said curriculum.
• Jeffhurt: BTW, go 2 http://wefollow.com/ & enter Eventprof (without s) so that you’re listed as event prof in twitter directory
• @marksylvester: How ISES markets their members: http://bit.ly/qufy
• nicolejensen: Australia’s main event industry bodies would be http://www.meetingsevents.com.au and http://www.eeaa.com.au
• goseedo: The cert discussion remind of an Ad Age piece that found that non-MBAs are more effective in marketing than MBAs (Interesting…..)
• Great point: Those in industry look for cert, clients don’t always look.
• A number of clients don’t have a clue what the cert acronyms stand for, more education is needed to general public about our education and standards
• Overall, Certs serve to boost the quality and integrity of our industry as a whole.
• Lastly, you cannot measure ROI on a cert.
The above notes were generously taken by Chris De Ormande of ShowTec, Inc. All notes were taken with the intent of being unbiased and best capturing the essence of the discussion. If you would like to add to them, we invite you to comment in the comments section below.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Once again, a great big thank you to Christopher De Armond of ShowTec Inc (@ShowTecAE) for recapping our last 3 eventprofs conversations!
Eventprofs Recap for
March 8th, 2009, 9pm EST
Topic: The current economic climate and its effect on events
• @rachelES mentioned Jack Welch gave up props in BizWeek. http://tinyurl.com/bpsdmf http://businessweekdaily.com/magazine/content/04_43/b3905032_mz072.htm
• http://bit.ly/XEgnj – Sen. Kerry’s response to the letter writing campaign
• @marksylvester inquired if there were other organizations other than MPI working to defend the industry.
• @ready2spark mentioned that ISES Canada is actively working to defend the industry as well. @AlissaHurley mentioned National Meetings Industry is coming up in Canada – April 16th. Main topic for NMID will be the impact on the economy. Facilitated by CBC News host Carole MacNeil. Good for media coverage!
• @jeffreyhansler mentioned his association talking about letting the hammer fall on Auto industry. May also be for our industry. Sort of like a hard reset; let it fail and it will come back stronger from the ashes
• Many mentioned the need to get word out faster to the masses.
• @Mizcity cited www.ises.com has link on main page to letter writing campaign
• @rachelES has list of at least 10 websites advocating for our industry, asks for patience. (It is a big ship to turn.)
• Consensus on that we need to start generating hard figures and facts. (this has started to a limited degree).
• @jkhewitt mentioned getting the mayors (other than Vegas) to start talking about the impact of loss of tax revenue on their cities.
• @samueljsmith asked if CVB’s would have any facts or figures to contribute. The consensus was yes, but they may be limited in their amount of info.
• @rachelES pointed out not enough pro-meeting stories. We need to start collecting the humanitarian angle and distribute to the appropriate outlets.
• @rachelES posted this great link to pro-meeting stories: : http://tinyurl.com/bykchl
• It was generally agreed on that we need to get every employee of the industry to sign the petition at www.keepamericameeting.org
• @GloNelsonCSEP added that the local MPI chapters have a list of Press contacts to distribute stories and facts to.
• @GregRuby responded to the call for Press with pointing out that the CIC is an umbrella org for multiple affiliations.
• A few attendees mentioned that local cities are starting their own blogs detailing the effects of meetings on their local economy.
• @GregRuby mentioned the Destination Marketing Association International has hard figures and facts on website. (Info seems to be limited to release to members only.)
Topic: Social Media in Events
• @marksylvester gave example of O’Reilly ETech conference using SM to monitor conference for feedback, problems and requests.
• Several stories given in regards to SM generating new leads/business. (i.e. Facebook, Blogs, etc. Twitter, not so much).
• Consensus reached that Twitter helps to open doors, still need f2f to close the deal.
• Also, agreed that SM is showing a generational gap in adoption
• @marksylvester and @GloNelsonCSEP shared stories of boosting attendance to a talk at conference by using Twitter.
• @marksylvester shared this link: http://pistachioconsulting.com/twitter-presentations/ showing usefulness of Twitter at conferences.
• Idea mentioned for SM consultants. Training for corporations, groups and associations on how to adopt SM. @GloNelsonCSEP made an excellent point about most companies scaling back on expenditures.
• Consensus on the importance of f2f at Conferences and events, SM helps to continue the experience.
• Many conferences and events with on-site training in SM have been a huge crowd draw, people want to learn how to adopt new technology.
• @jkhewitt mentioned time where group could SM like pros, had nothing to say to each other in person.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
1. Word of mouse – It’s simple. Events become viral when people want to talk about them. So figure out what makes your event unique and what will get people talking about it. Once you’ve figured this out, the rest is gravy (well…kind of).
2. Find your target – Think about what you’re trying to achieve. Are you hoping the media will pick up the story? Do you want to engage potential attendees? Or, do you want to provide your existing attendees with unique ways to stay in touch with one another? The possibilities with social media are endless. Social media can be time consuming, so the keys to a good strategy are clearly understanding what you want to achieve and focusing your efforts on the sites that will garner you the highest rate of return.
3. Create your home – Why just create a website for your event when you can create a blog to provide constant updates and promote dialogue or a Facebook page to encourage guests to upload their own photos / videos, provide comments and share with their friends. After all, that’s the beauty of social media. By allowing people to participate in shaping your event, you in turn get people excited about your event…and entice them to keep coming back to your home to add content.
4. Cast your net – There are many tools available to event professionals to help you spread the word: blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, EventPeeps, Youtube, Flickr and the list goes on. Find out where your target influencers live and craft unique and engaging ways to communicate your event to as many people within your target as possible. Bloggers are always looking for great content to share with their readers. Use them to help spread a word about your event (just remember, to concentrate your message on ideas that will engage your target, not simply ‘selling your event’). Once you’ve created your home, share it with your ‘followers’ and encourage them to share it with theirs.
5. Keep feeding the fish – So, now you’ve got a whole bunch of people following your event. Now what? Find ways to keep them engaged. For example…Create contests. Provide valuable updates. Encourage guests to dialogue with one another. If you’re going to use sites like Youtube, Flickr or Twitter, tell people what keywords to use so that others (and you) can easily find their movies, images and tweets. Find ways to keep bringing this information back to your home (i.e. your website, your blog or your Facebook page) – this serves to keep your site interesting and helps your target find all the information they need in one source.
6. Identify your influencers – Much like using bloggers to help spread your message, you can use attendees to do the same. Remember, you may have 100 event followers, but your followers each have their own followers (and so on). Identify potential influencers and ask them to talk about your event. One of the best ways to do this is via Twitter. Have them tweet about your event leading up to the big day by providing them with snippets of ‘behind the scenes’ info. And, get them to tweet about the event while they’re there. This helps to spread the word about your event and also helps to create desire with those who can’t attend.
7. Keep it going – Once the event is done, your job is not. Social media is fantastic for garnering feedback from attendees. Track social media sites to find out what was said about the event. Collect the images and videos that your attendees took and compile everything you want to share on your website, blog or event page.
8. Evaluate – Unfortunately this part of the process is often overlooked. Don’t forget to evaluate what worked and what didn’t and use this learning for your next event.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Tags: Social Media Strategy
Earlier this week we finished the tent installations for LG Fashion Week. After creating the venues for some of New York’s most high profile shows, it’s wonderful to come back home!
For the latest on LG Fashion Week, visit Fashion Television, the event’s official media sponsor.
Photo credit: Ian Muttoo
Video credit: fashionmotion.ca
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
One of my new favorite things is Tastebook. Although Oprah beat me to this find, I’m sure she didn’t tell you why it would be great for events. Tastebook allows you to easily create your own custom cookbooks – using recipes from sites like Epicurious, AllRecipes, blogs or even your very own tasty secrets passed down generation to generation. A Tastebook would be a wonderful personalized guest gift at a wedding or a unique giveaway at a gourmet-themed event.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
