You Can Develop the Next Blockbuster Event
You might be thinking, ‘Sure. How? I’m just a lowly (fill in the blank.) How am I going to come up with an idea for such an event? Or, conversely, you might be thinking, “Sure, but I’m a senior executive and I have people to do that kind of thing. I have neither the time […]
How to Stop Your New Agile Competitor from ‘Eating Your Lunch’
Are you worried about your next competitor which comes from out of nowhere? I asked my friend, industry renowned journalist and thought leader Michael Hart on his views of how to avoid getting killed by a new competitor.. Here’s what he had to say: ———————————- You run the flagship annual event for your industry. People […]
How to ‘take the temperature’ of your event sales effort
If your organization is not hitting its event sales goals consistently, then as the sales manager you’re responsible. How can you diagnose what and where the problem(s) may be? Here’s a handy checklist to figure it out: As a sales manager, are you within 10% (whether higher of lower) of your total annual sales goals […]
An Event Wellness Check: Weeding Out Potential Problems Before They Kill You
At a recent speaking engagement, a number of people asked me whether I could come up with five questions to determine the health of an event and whether they had had their ‘finger on the pulse’ of their market they were serving. Here’s what I came up with- these are questions you should ask […]
How can we get people to line up for our events?
Sound counter-intuitive? After all, the logistics goal for every event Is to keep your registration lines short. To explain, let me highlight two amazing memories recalled from my first Macworld: The presence of Steve Jobs’ Mercedes, without a license plate, at the rear of the Moscone Center The image of Macworld attendees who were […]
Like It or Not, We’re All Measured on ‘Outcomes’
Given that it’s summer, I’ve had a chance to catch up on some reading. Most recently, I enjoyed an article by Phil Fersht, CEO and Chief Analyst at HFS Research, discussing how we, as ‘doers’ and ‘producers’, are evaluated. The post speaks for itself, but there may be readers who belong to one of my […]
Who is Going to Take Your Events Business Away?
Profitable Event Business Models of the Future: Platforms and Networks, Not Products or Services Watching Barry Libert (who is both a former client of mine and a previous SISO keynote speaker) on this webcast left me quite impressed with how he had segmented business into four distinct models. His thinking caused me to consider […]
How to Innovate in a Traditional Event Market
Not a lot of innovation happening in the business, so I asked my friend, industry renown journalist and thought leader Michael Hart on how innovation on traditional events is possible: —————————————————————————— The same old dull thing Maybe you run a state trade association’s annual conference and tradeshow. Or a modest event in a niche […]
The Grit That’s Needed When Things Are Unknown
The recent completion of the launch of a client’s new event has given me the opportunity to reflect a bit. As with any new project, there was plenty of uncertainty that required educated guesses, as supported by the best possible research done prior to the launch. The Launch At first, there’s the excitement of […]
Reversing Poor Event Sales
One of my favorite speakers in the industry is Dan Cole. On several occasions, I have had the pleasure of speaking with Dan, who is the Senior Vice President of Trade Shows and Exhibits Sales for Hargrove Inc. Perhaps one topic we’ve discussed that sticks with me the most concerns his views as to how […]