Happy Holidays 2012

Thanks everyone for a great year. I put together a short Animoto video. It has a few pics of me with my family. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays 2012 - Animoto

3 Ways To Ensure the Long Term Profitability Of Your Conference

I talk to associations who tell me that their annual meeting is the bread and butter of the organization, not to mention upwards of 60% of the operating revenue.

Turning (or keeping) the event into a profit center is a long-term venture, tied to the attendees perception of value of the conference.

After serving hundreds of associations the past several years, here’s what I come up with:

1. Maintain or increase the value proposition. Don't look to JUST cut costs to increase the profit margin. Removing a valuable hands-on piece like a flash drive or large syllabus book  to go online may save you money now, but will it make your attendees see your event as less desirable-valuable? (Penny-wise…) Balance the educational content and tangibles with the fancy Hors D'oeuvres and coffee breaks.


2. Look for ways to increase revenue. Many of my customers are using their educational content as a carrot or leverage to increase membership and attendance. Some associations are having success with away some free content to attract new attendees. Once attendees have browsed a certain amount of content online, they are met with an offer to join the association, attend the conference or perhaps buy the content at a higher rate than members. (e.g. Amazon’s preview of the first few pages of books, or highbeam.com’s abstract view.) This has increased the conversion rate of people who browse to people who attend or become members.


3. Offer a choice in educational materials media formats, and charge attendees if they pick more than one. A current client of mine still offers their large syllabus book, but is transitioning to digital media by also offering the handouts on a USB Drive.  Everyone gets a book OR USB as part of their registration fee, but not both. If they want both, then they have to pay for both. Attendees make this choice at registration time and it seems to ‘culture’ them to a slow change. (What’s that old story about boiling the frog?) It also adds thousands of dollars to the bottom line!

Those are just some strategies and thoughts that have been successfully implemented as associations struggle to save money, and try to keep everyone happy.—a big challenge!

As a Meeting Planner, How Do You Get New Sponsors (and keep them happy at your event?)

As a sponsor of many events, I want to get the most bang for my buck. If I don't see value in sponsorship, (i.e. new business) I may not return.

1. Sponsors want to know how you will get attendees in front of them. Nothing is as disheartening to a sponsor as having a booth on the exhibit floor when floor hours run concurrently the educational sessions. Try not to have a sponsor room or exhibit floor that is off the beaten path from where attendees will be walking from session to session.

2. Encourage all of the attendees to approach and thank the sponsors and exhibitors for attending. If applicable in your situation, sponsors help keep costs down, and that should be acknowledged.

3. Sponsors want to talk to the right attendees. Help sponsors understand who the attendees are so they can determine if attendees are in the target segment.

4. Encourage the sponsors to offer a "special show discount”. The more sponsors can tie the ROI of sponsorship to new business, the more likely they are to return year after year.

Tune up and Clean up your iTunes Music Library

Social Media for Events, ROI, & The Attendee Experience

In The Beginning

Now that many of us are getting to the point where we don't tweet every waking moment (meaning we actually apply social media to a purpose), some people are asking, "What's the return on my money/time/investment to be on social media outposts"?

That's certainly a fair question. First, that depends if you talk about eating oatmeal or depositing your check in the bank on your blog, Twitter or Facebook wall.

Is getting an ROI the unattainable Holy Grail with social media for events? Some event planners are looking for social media alone to increase attendance.

Recently I have taken the added position of Community Manager for Engage365, which is a knowledge community devoted to the purpose of helping people learn about the use of social media for/by/during/before/after events.

It didn't take long for someone in the community to ask the question, "Have any of you have used social media to market your conferences, events, and if you have data on it, is it increasing attendance?"

The Proof's in the Pudding

There aren't a lot of data points to answer this question. Many people 'hem and haw' when trying to answer it. It's difficult to see whether or not 2009 was made a little better or maybe just stemmed more bleeding because of marketing via Twitter, et. al. What I can tell you is that something IS happening.

At the 2009 ASAE Annual Meeting in Toronto, Bruce MacMillan, CEO of MPI (Meeting Professionals International) shared some compelling statistics in his session on Business Meetings of the Future.

 

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Meet Different 2009 - Satisfaction Survey

2008      85.4%
2009      94.8%***

WEC 2009 - Satisfaction Survey

2008         84%

2009         92%***

***Mr. MacMillan reported an 8 % and 10% increase (respectively) in attendee satisfaction at both of their main events. He attributed a large part of the improvement “directly to the engagement on the social network site”.

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Which Social Networking Site?

MPI used a conference community site to bring together the handouts and social networking, giving attendees one place to discuss the conference topics, and download the speaker materials, and most importantly, get to know one another prior to the event, not to mention stay in touch after.

Attendees, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors all networked on the site a month before, on site, and a month after the conference. Typically MPI's conferences are 3-4 days long. Now the conference experience for the attendees was months long!

Yeah But...

Now, this isn’t data that shows direct increased attendance. That’s tough to do in a year like 2009. However, it’s not too much of a stretch to say if an attendee had a better time than they did the year before, he/she will talk about it and come back next year.

Try It, You'll Like It

How do you increase attendance using social media? One way is to ask your attendees to spread the word through their social media profiles. By simply asking your members, attendees, speakers to talk about your event on their social media outlets and to their friends and followers, you are reaching far beyond your database.

As the old saying goes, "It's a numbers game". The more people who are exposed to your message, the more people will embrace it. Some will say "no" but some will say "yes".

If you want to know more about how to grow attendance with only social media, I encourage you to read SocialFish's Case Studies Page and Living Case Study of Buzz2009.

Many people tell me increasing attendance is the most important thing when planning their event.  However, don't forget about who's already coming to your event. Don't think of social media as a tool to only increase attendance. Consider using social media tools to enhance the experience before during and after the event.

What if:

• A speaker can reach more people, get better exposure, and collaborate with attendees, would you encourage the use of the tools that would foster this?
• A conference organizer could engage with the registered attendees, the public and other conference participants?
• An exhibitor had an opportunity to connect with attendees before the conference, set up appointments and meet the right people vs. leaving it to chance
• An attendee could walk into the event's opening reception and recognize several faces and not feel intimidated to talk to anyone?

They can if you apply certain social media to your attendee's experience.

The application of social media to your events is "worth it" because it can not only extend your marketing reach. Even if, worst case scenario, using social media tools doesn't increase your attendance by one person, (highly unlikely) it gives the conference participants a better experience. (See MPI example above) 

Now that's a return on one's investment!  

P.S. Still think it's all a bunch of hooey? Here’s another great video about the impact of social media marketing from the folks at Socialnomics.

P.S.S Want more Information on measuring Social Media and ROI?

Cited: Bruce MacMillan, Business Meetings of the Future, ASAE Annual Meeting 2009

The DOs and DON’Ts of Participating in an Online Event Community

An online event community helps sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and attendees get engaged with an event and connect with people before, during and after the event.
Participating in an online event community isn’t much different than communicating face-to-face. However, sometimes when we inject the word “online” into the mix, people need to be reminded of some simple rules of “online” interaction.
Follow this list and your chances of meeting the right people and building a positive personal brand at your next event will be maximized.

Online Event Community Participation DOs and DONT’s

1. Do Connect… Don’t Collect
Online event communities trust that other participants are registered for the same reasons they are – to make connections, have discussions and share resources. Don’t spend your time collecting names and trying to force relationships. You’ll reap more benefits in the long run by giving to the community instead of taking.
2. Do Engage… Don’t Promote
No one likes a spammer who jumps into every conversation with blatant promotions of his company. Instead, engage with other participants by asking and answering questions, reaching out to find common interests and sharing resources with the community. Exhibitors who spam may be banned or frowned upon from the event community.
3. Do Discuss… Don’t Disparage
An event online community may be open to all sponsors, exhibitors, attendees and speakers. You may see your competitors participating in the community. Please refrain from making negative comments about other companies or different points of view. Discussion is ok… insults are not.
4. Do Participate… Don’t Sit Back
Get involved! The more you put into the community, the more you’ll get out of it. Start discussions, chime in on conversations, find people with similar interests. Now’s your chance to really get to know the attendees.
5. Do Be Original… Don’t Copy & Paste
An online event community loves to share resources. Please make sure your contributions are your own or are properly credited to their creators.
6. Do Ask questions… Don’t Give Speeches
Online communities are not podiums for monologues. The beauty of a participatory community is getting feedback from multiple points of view. Take the time to respond to other people’s comments about your conversations, rather than stating your position and leaving the conversation. You’ll find that event attendees prefer a real discussion over a one-way presentation.
7. Do Be Yourself… Don’t Put on Airs
Online communities value authenticity. They are much more likely to engage with a fellow participant who shows his personality, not just his company’s tagline. Upload your own photo, and add personal tags to your profile. You’re likely to find people who are interested in you as a person with ideas, rather than a company with products.
8. Do Seek Colleagues… Don’t Stalk Clients
You may find some online event community members are very open to connecting with exhibitors, and others prefer only to interact with other attendees. If you reach out to an attendee and he doesn’t respond back, don’t keep pursuing. You should have plenty of opportunities to find attendees who want to interact.

Reblogged with permission from Chris Uschan, author of http://blog.omnipress.com.

Ground(swell) Control to Major Tom

Every day I talk to customers considering using a private label community like Conference 2.0™ and the same question comes up: “We want to keep control of the community; can I delete something if someone says something bad?”

This is a learning moment for two reasons.

One, I learn that even after all the talk about Groundswell and Forrester Research, and the Keynote Speech by Charlene Li at ASAE Annual in Toronto, some don’t understand one main thing: You do not have control over your members, your community, or their behavior in social media (if you ever did).

Two, It’s a teaching moment for me. I try to break the news gently, if not challenge their thinking: “You never had control”.

I try to explain that your organization’s constituents, members, and customers have the control and they ARE talking about “you”. If you exhibit control, your members will go other places and talk. And, even if you offer the best online forum for talking, you might only get to hear what you want to hear.

Associations came to be because of likeminded people wanting to get together to share knowledge & perhaps get behind a cause. Occasionally people disagree with the direction or initiative of the association. As an association leader, dealing with “rabble rousers” is a delicate balance. Exerting dominion over them may turn them off and cause them to jump ship. They could be just be trouble makers, or…they may have a valid concern.

If they have a valid concern, do you really want to quell that? This concern or difference in opinion could turn into a “groundswell”.

You can’t fix what you don’t know about, so give your members a place where they can voice their concern, and don’t wince when they do.

If you haven’t read the book Groundswell, and are considering a foray into social media for your association, STOP RIGHT NOW. Read the book; and understand that you do not have control over the “groundswell” But you can harness it.

“THEY” are talking about you. Now, do you want know about it...or not?

The Eighth Twitter Best Practice for Dummies!

8. Keep Twitter Personal. Stop with the sending of DMs when I follow you. Auto DMs are unnecessary and annoying. http://turnthisthingoff.com/ Still want to send me a message? see #6

What's In It For You (Part 3 of 3)

You provide an active space for your attendees to engage and learn before, during and after your event. This increases value to the attendees, making them more likely to attend in the future and provide word-of-mouth marketing for the event.

• Provide an incentive for all participants to register and engage early
• Measure attendee involvement and identify future speakers and leaders of your organization
• See increased attendee satisfaction which leads to member retention and repeat attendance
• Improve communication to and amongst attendees
• Generate revenues by charging exhibitors a fee to be a part of the community

A Better Conference Experience with an Online Event Community Webinar

Join me on September 30th as I makes a case how conference-focused communities improve an attendees' experience and their overall satisfaction with the event. I will talk about current event challenges and how to leverage LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to your advantage, instead of allowing them to fragment your attendees across many platforms. Plus, you'll get a sneak peak at our Conference 2.0 event solution.

7 Twitter Best Practices, for Dummies

1. Do unto followers as they did unto you. (uhh.. follow who follows you!)

2. Cull the "Herd". Use www.twitblock.org to surgically remove spambots and constant retweeters who don't actually share content.

3. Use the @GuyKawasaki method of "share something interesting" not what are you doing now?

4. Show some Personality. 90/10  or 80/20 business/personal

5. Just because you can schedule tweets to happen every hour, doesn't mean you should. I know you are not putting out educational info at 2am, 3am. 4am..6am. Don't you ever sleep?

6. Say thank you to people who Retweet or Mention you!

7. Want to be Retweeted or Mentioned? Retweet and Mention.

Got more? add a comment below!

Are Social Media Just Fads?

Pretty soon you won't be able to say, I'm too old for social media. The Boomers, Gens X, Y, and Milennials are all active in social tools and the cloud. Pretty soon we will be the old people.

Still think social media and tools are a fad? Watch this.

New Sheriff in Town Part 2 of 3

There's a new way of servicing attendees:
* Facilitating interaction of/with all conference participants, before during and after the conference.
* Helping people network before the conference, solving the "wallflower" syndrome
* Making better use of time at the conference, and learning more
* Extending the conference to months before and after the conference dates.
* Acknowledging the need to give more value to sponsors/ better ROI
* Providing social tools and handouts, education and learning under one roof

Attendee Satisfaction Make higher quality connections with the right people before, during and after the event Meet more people Able to contribute ideas, knowledge and resources to the topics being presented by speakers Single place that aggregates handouts, social media and networking

Your Benefit Increased renewals Increased referrals

Social Media Marketing Attendees can tweet links to profiles Aggregates blogs and tweets Part of your social media marketing plan

Your Benefit Increased awareness Increased attendance Earlier registrations

Sponsorship Satisfaction Improved exposure to engaged community New marketing channel to reach their audience Easier to engage with attendees

Your Benefit Increased package sales Higher-tiered sales

Conference Wallflowers Part 1 of 3

I love going to conferences. I love the fancy foods, traveling to new places, and meeting cool people. What I don't like about conferences is getting to networking receptions a bit late where people are already talking, and I feel I'm butting in.

I'm no introvert, but if anybody says they don't feel awkward at a networking social...they're lying. I also feel like I didn't get to talk to enough people.

This is the old way of experiencing meetings and conferences. I'm tired of it.

Thankfully, conference organizers are becoming more and more aware of the old way of doing things:

• One way education
• Not being able to connect with other attendees
• No interaction with the speakers
• Not meeting the "right" people (hey, for spending $1500 to attend a conference, amongst 1000 people I need to be choosy!)
• Great ideas in the hallway and after sessions are lost forever
• The conference is only a 3 day experience.
• Relying on social media tools that only serve to fragment information across web 2.o.

Make The Logo Bigger!

This is a funny video that is the biography of every creative services, web design and graphic design person in the world: Make The Logo Bigger!!!

I vow to never say this phrase again.

Developing New Relationships

Developing New Relationships

There is no such thing as a first-time, low-ball, trial price that ever migrates to higher prices. If you want to get the value you deserve, start by asking yourself a few questions:

• Is this the right customer? Will they appreciate the value we provide? Do I really want them as a customer?
• If so, do I truly know what is of value to this prospect? Did I listen?
• Have I done the best job I can in articulating and demonstrating the value the prospect will receive?
• Did I discover how important this assignment is to the prospect and his company? In other words, do I know the impact of this assignment on the prospect?
• And last, but not least, do we (everyone in our company) understand and believe that we do provide a service that offers more value to our customers? Can each of us articulate it? Are we really selling the filet or just tacos? After all, it is just cow, right? (Watch the video again!)

Maintaining Existing Relationships

Unfortunately, we too often take existing customers for granted. We assume that because we have worked with them for months or even years, they understand the value we provide. But ask yourself:

• Do I truly know what my customer thinks of the value I provide to him? When was the last time I asked? Is there a legitimate service hiccup?
• Have I sat down with my customer to walk through what we are doing? Have I made it clear how we are adding value?
• Is there a missing person (CEO, CIO, CFO) who is looking only at my invoices and does not feel or see my value? How can I be certain s/he is getting the full picture, before the invoices show up on his desk?
• Is there a new dynamic that has developed since I began working with the customer, e.g. a new, cheaper competitor?
• Am I doing only the work that needs to be done? Are there activities, tasks, or parts of the project that made sense three months ago, but no longer are what is best for the customer?
• In the end, whether we are talking about a new customer or an existing one, it all comes down to, "If I were the customer would I feel that I was getting value for the product/service we're providing?"

Content Credit given to Jill Konrath-"Selling to Big Customers" newsletter

Facebook & Farm Town Addiction

My wife Rhonda is addicted to Farmtown on Facebook. I can now freely give her a hard time because this woman that I love used to give me a hard time about playing video games, especially ones that were strategy and hours and hours of building (a la Starcraft).

My son is also playing quite a bit; but so far I have resisted the temptation to plow, harvest, and grow.

Please. help.

Publish Post

me. resist......

Whistler, BC

Thinking about going to Whistler, BC or Jackson Hole, WY for a ski trip next year. Anybody know anything about those places. As you may know we went to UT last April and had a blast!

Looking forward to taking Brendan on a men only trip again!

Pretty soon Andrew can get on some skis too!

How to Sync Goldmine with your iPhone (or any phone that syncs with MS Exchange)

Since 2002,I've been syncing my personal calendar and contacts from Outlook to my Palm OS PDAs, Window Mobile OS phones, and now iPhone. It wasn't until the last few months that I cut the Outlook "cord" and put all of my info in the cloud.

However, ever since my new job, I've been more and more tied to my work calendar which we have in Goldmine. This isn't convenient though, as I'm rarely in office to manage my appointment. Since I live by my iPhone, I was looking for a solution to sync my work calendar (only) with my personal calendar.

I wanted to avoid any monthly fees that normally come with such software and services. A while back I figured how sync my Google Calendar with Nuevasync, an MS Exchange service. I synced my Google calendars (Mine, wife's Son's, etc all through Google Calendar) This is great as we can all edit, view & manage our calendars either on our phones or on Google Calendar itself. What was missing was bringing in my Goldmine calendar in amongst my personal ones.

After much research, I purchased CompanionLink Pro, and I am able to avoid a monthly sync fee. Even the people at CompanionLink were impressed at my connection. Admittedly, it's a bit hodge podge, but it works, doesn't cause duplicates and is pretty much instantaneous.

Disclosure: I don't work for any of the companies mentioned. I don't sync contacts from Goldmine, only my calendar. So there's my back-story.

Here's how my data flows:

This article assumes you have Google Calendar already in action. (some do use Outlook at work for email at work but we do not.) CompanionLink can sync and route data through many programs, but this is how I use it.

I highly recommend that you create a "work calendar" in your Google Calendar for goldmine and companion link to sync to. I tried bringing my appointments into my personal calendar but ended up with duplicates.

If you have questions on actual step by step set up, I will be happy to publish another article with screen shots. Please email me or leave a comment!

Follow me on Twitter!

I am on Twitter and you can follow me. I mostly talk about work stuff so unless you are really interested in social media and social technology, you might be bored stiff. Fair warning!