I have a habit of buying business books then putting them in a pile to read later. I have considered a Kindle, but actually enjoy having a real book in my hand. For last week’s trip to Atlanta/Austin I brought with me Purple Cow by Seth Godin.
Here’s an article for those who interested in seeing a summary of the book:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/67/purplecow.html?page=0%2C0
So what? The essence of the book (for those who don’t want to read the book/article) is that it takes more than ever to be seen to have a remarkable product, and so many events are similar to others so you can’t differentiate one from the other.
How would I create a Purple Cow event?
- Get deeply into the markets you serve so your company can actually feel the issues of the market and have the ability to transform your event(s) into either a forum for others to find solutions or but programming that hits the hot spots and come up with solutions(or both). As opposed to being aware of the trends but not willing/able to react quickly enough to put into your events;
- Figure out what you need to do to get people who come to enjoy your events(networking, hands on labs, access to experts, trips to the local ball park/museums) so they can spread the word
- Invest in top class event staff who care as much about the above as you do
- Experiment on innovation in all areas(a new event app, a new format for sessions, unconference portions of the event, virtual/digital events, etc).
- Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone(or meet) and speak to your attendees/sponsors and find out how(what) they are doing.
Let’s stop ‘mailing it in’ on our events!