Fork In The Road Blog

Events: Technology. Design. Strategy.

Can the Trade Show Industry Innovate or Are We Just Too Damn Tired?

WARNING:  “The trade show industry is not innovative” is a blanket statement. Yes, there are pockets of new ideas. Yes, there are individual shows and organizers who are trying new things and taking risks. But, for the most part, as an industry, we have been doing the same thing, the same way for the past 50 years.

I realize that the term “innovative” is overused. In many ways it should be banned from the vernacular (or at least all press releases). However, that doesn’t excuse an entire industry which is clinging to the same business model, infrastructure, programming, floor plan design, metrics, and look (pipe and drape) for half a century. And here it is important to note:  Getting a mobile app for your show is not innovation.

Here are some other tell tale signs that this industry, our industry, the industry we make a living in, is lagging behind on the innovation curve:

  • The love/hate relationship we have with virtual/live hybrid events that represent the first breath of fresh air we have had in a decade for growing an audience, building on killer content, and saving a buck
  • The fact that we just can’t seem to crack the code for bringing down the costs to exhibit
  • The knowledge that we depend on a monolithic infrastructure of organizations, buildings, and business practices when the rest of the world is nimble, on-demand, customized, peer-to-peer, DIY, community-based, intimate, and virtual
  • The news that large industry suppliers continue to expand their offerings beyond trade shows, buying up competitors, and re-branding themselves rather than living within the self-imposed limitations of the “trade show” industry
  • The fact that some of the best innovation is NOT coming from the industry. It is coming from citizen innovators filling a void
  • The mounting evidence that innovation in content marketing, social media, and digital marketing is eating away at the corporate budgets previously reserved for trade shows
  • The realization that there has been virtually no increase in the number of shows in the U.S. in a decade

Why should we innovate?

 

The expectations from our stakeholders have changed. Attendees want trade shows that are transformative—personally and professionally. Exhibitors want clear evidence that trade shows are superior to other marketing mediums (not just that they have can achieve ROI from trade shows in general). Sponsors want an immediate, measurable rush of attention/leads/interest from attendees. To deliver these results we can no longer have attendees lumbering through the aisles, exhibitors unable to afford or understand how to effectively exhibit, and sponsorship opportunities that don’t keep pace with the real world. Being unable to innovate in AT LEAST these three areas makes our industry vulnerable. As the next generation comes in and the current one moves out, the current situation will only worsen.

Why don’t we innovate?

 

It all begs the question “why?” If we accept that the trade show value proposition is still valid, why are we flat lining? As an industry, do we not value innovation? Is the investment in infrastructure so large that we can’t innovate? Are we so overwhelmed by 9/11 and the Recession that we are afraid to risk? Do our customers and members have too little appetite for innovation? Are we married to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ideology? Are we earning too much to care about innovating? Do we think we’re innovative when, by the rest of the business world’s standards, we really aren’t? Are we afraid that true innovation will reveal structural deficiencies that we would be unable to overcome? Are we still using the publishing industry as a template (should I mention where newspapers and some print publications are now?)… Are we analog, when we should be digital?

 

Although there are those that argue for the need to ”innovate or die,” I’m not convinced of the advantages of innovation for innovation’s sake. However, I do know that companies and industries that are characteristically innovative also happen to be earnings leaders and job creators—think Apple computers.

The Takeaway: Innovation does not necessarily mean technology adoption. All the apps in the world will not save an industry whose value proposition is muddy. Innovation requires a concerted, transparent, industry-wide effort to examine the current business models, consider the competition (other marketing mediums), differentiate, address the structural weaknesses that keep the industry from growing, think out loud, experiment with new business and pricing models, deploy new technologies, and be open to change. It is in our collective interests to tackle these problems together. What are we waiting for?

Marketing Trade Shows as Content: The Sequel

My previous post, Marketing Trade Shows as Content, focused on the concept of using exhibitor-produced content to market a show and build a community. Traci Browne featured the topic on #expochat last week and the discussion yielded some excellent ideas on exactly how exhibition organizers can help exhibitors create and promote good content:

Helmet Cams—It started with disposable cameras. Organizers would hand them out to exhibitors and attendees and ask them to capture the most relevant moments of the trade show. With the advent of Flip cameras, participants were able to grab actual video footage of the event (in addition to still photos) and YouTube came alive with everything from cooking demos to flash mobs. But, as far as we can tell, no one has given exhibitors wearable cameras (dubbed helmet cams by the #expochat group) to chronicle the exhibitors’ experiences first-hand.

Content Marketing Tool Kit—Not everyone understands the difference between shareable content and a sales pitch. Perhaps exhibitors would benefit from training and materials on how to convert press releases, show demos, and YouTube videos into shareable content. The kit would also include advice for exhibitors on how to roll the costs for ebooks, case studies, and research into their trade show budgets.

Exhibitor Concierge—The concierge idea shouldn’t be limited to theater tickets and restaurant reservations. An exhibitor concierge can help match exhibitors with opportunities—made available by the organization—before, during, and after the show to share their content.

Exhibitor Innovation Support—Show organizers from TS2 2010 (co-located with the IAEE Mid-Year Meeting) helped The Expo Group promote their in-booth broadcast studio called the In Zone, “an interactive communications pavilion,” by publishing the In Zone schedule on their website. The live-streamed coverage from the In Zone gained visibility for The Expo Group and attracted attention for the event.

Trade Show TV—Not every exhibitor has the resources to build its own in-booth studio, however, organizers can provide space and/or equipment and resources for a TV station to capture content on site. In 2011, The International Housewares Show organized in-booth interviews with a roving reporter like this one:  Another option is third-party platforms such as the Pulse Network, or TMCnet.

Digital Content Carousel—an updated version of the brochure carousel might be coming to a trade show near you. This example of kiosks in Mexico City that allow citizens to download music, ringtones, audio books, and videos street side is a prime example of the types of support that organizers could offer to exhibitors in the future. Live attendees could obtain digital content—white papers, videos, ebooks—by connecting an external storage device to the kiosk on site and remote participants could access this “one-stop-shop” via the Internet.

Takeaways: Once trade show organizers begin to think about exhibitor offerings as valuable assets, the innovation process can begin. As part of the new rules of marketing, event producers can and should take an active role in supporting the creation and dissemination of exhibitor content.

Marketing Trade Shows as Content

Two recent posts from Midcourse Corrections on leveraging content marketing and face-to-face events as part of a content marketing strategy, helped me visualize trade shows as content. As such, trade show organizers can begin to think about new ways to market their events and build their communities by becoming content curators, viewing their exhibitors as content producers, and positioning the live event as the “product” being offered for sale.

To adopt this line of thinking, exhibition producers must take one very big leap of faith by believing that the distribution of exhibitor content outside the framework of the live trade show will NOT diminish the value of the face-to-face event (the old “why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free” adage) and will, in fact, drive attendance and exhibitor participation at the live event.

In the “tradeshows as content” strategy, exhibitors are reservoirs of content, filled to the brim with product brochures, white papers, product demos, press kits, video tutorials, and sales presentations. Organizers curate, and re-purpose these sales pitches into a continuous flow of solution-generating, idea-sparking, and valuable content that sells registrations.

The concept of exhibition organizers as content curators isn’t new.  A decade ago, trade publications, owned by or in partnership with the exhibition producers, filled the role of curators by pushing exhibitors and attendees to the live event with ads, case studies, and editorial.

Today, event organizers have transcended print magazines (in many cases) and moved to other more profitable or far-reaching platforms for exhibitor content distribution: virtual trade shows, Webinars, online publications, blogs, and mobile apps. This move has solidified their positions as curators.

Here are some specific ways that exhibition organizers can tap into the vast content resources at their disposal to drive business:

  • Create an online (accessible, searchable) resource library of exhibitor white papers, ebooks, case studies, how-to articles, and video tutorials.
  • Appoint a content marketing officer to sift through exhibitor content and re-shape the resources to meet the needs of the audience.
  • Make all of the content shareable on social media channels.
  • Stop selling the event and start sharing the information.
  • Create a steady (daily) flow of content accessible through one portal—the organization’s blog.
  • Offer excellent content.
  • Ask exhibitors to guest blog.
  • Develop an editorial calendar that covers content from all of the market segments the show covers.
  • Send frequent emails of curated exhibitor content (links back to the show blog) to an opt-in list of recipients.
  • Highlight and promote content that exhibitors have created and posted on their own websites through the show blog.
  • Take the content marketing to the trade show floor, as Jeff Hurt suggests, by asking exhibitors to demonstrate how they are innovators and providing more informal education on site.

With all content marketing initiatives, there are benefits when the program is executed well. Content lives on after the live event concludes. Good content brings good SEO to the organizer’s website. Using exhibitors as resources helps create a pipeline of content that organizers won’t have to develop from scratch. Exhibitors receive additional exposure and niche content positions the event organizer as a central resource for information on a market segment—the Holy Grail for associations and independents. Oh, and it sells more product, i.e., registrations.

The Takeaway: Not all exhibitors and sponsors will have gotten the “share, don’t sell” memo about content. Organizers will have to provide guidance and work with them to convert their traditional sales pitches into desirable content for potential attendees; however, this extra effort can be monetized. That said, organizers have two choices: they can charge exhibitors for the curation service as part of a promotional package and realize some short-term benefit, OR they can go for the long tail (by not charging) and consider it an investment toward consolidating their communities of stakeholders and positioning their organizations at the center of the conversation year round.

20 Tips in (Less Than) 20 Minutes: The Meeting Professional’s List for Promoting Yourself or Your Company on Social Media Channels

Last week, our local MPI Chapter produced its own version of the Learning Lounge developed for PCMA by our friends at Velvet Chainsaw. We called the program “Thinking Outside the Room: New Technologies for a Changing Industry.” It was orchestrated by the magical people at CornerstoneAV and I was invited to speak in one of the theaters about social media in the meetings industry. The audience consisted of both meeting planners and suppliers–mostly hoteliers. I don’t profess to be a social media expert myself. Like most everyone else, my knowledge on the subject is the culmination of many many hours of reading, listening and experimenting with social platforms. I do know about the mechanics of the meetings and trade show industry and how to apply social media principles to the marketing and promotion of event industry brands. Here are the “20 Tips in (Less Than) 20 Minutes” that I offered to session attendees last week.

  1. Develop a social media strategy. Even if all you do is scratch out a few bullet points onto a cocktail napkin, you need to decide ahead of time what your message is, what your goals are, who your audience is, and where your audience is.
  2. Follow your clients and prospects on social media channels. Create a list of the top 25 or 50 accounts (people) you want to have or keep as customers and follow them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or their blogs. The content they create will give you an idea about their needs and preferences so that you can be the person or company to come to the rescue when the time is right.
  3. Follow your competitors online. If they are doing nothing—you already have an immediate advantage. If they are doing something mediocre—you can do better. If they are doing a great job—you can do something equally brilliant or at least not anything like what they are doing.
  4. Look for someone needing help online and help them. It creates an impression among your followers that you are resourceful and builds “social capital.”
  5. Make sure your online profile is complete. Make it easy for your clients and prospects to reach you (include your telephone number and real email) and avoid being too clever or cryptic. I’d rather know that you can help me solve a problem than the fact that you love Maltese puppies and Good and Plenty candy.
  6. Select the best channels for your audience. Your customers may only be on Facebook or LinkedIn. Wherever they go, you should go.
  7. Spend two hours a day on social media tasks. Read your Alerts. Connect with 5 (valuable) people on LinkedIn. Read/send tweets. Jot down some bullet points for your blog. Post on your Facebook wall. Answer a question on Quora.
  8. Develop content continuously. Social media platforms don’t run themselves, your content powers them. Always be thinking about and/or working on your checklists, articles, blog posts, case studies, customer reviews/testimonials, and whatever else you can produce on a regular basis.
  9. Add social contact information for your clients and prospects to your sales and marketing database. Twitter handles, LinkedIn profile links, and Facebook company page URLs should be in the database alongside your customers’ names, addresses, and emails.
  10. Make yourself available to customers on social media channels. Let them know that they can tweet you, send you a message on Facebook, or mail you through LinkedIn.
  11. Put your social media contact information on your business cards. If you or your company are on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or a blog site, let your clients know.
  12. Make sure your content is shareable. Put share buttons on your Website, emails, blog posts, and any content your produce to increase readership.
  13. Share. Don’t sell. This is the mantra of social media content. If you want friends, respect, followers, and clients don’t be the person always hawking your product. Instead, solve a problem, share a resource, or provide assistance.
  14. Place different content on each channel. Use Twitter for short quips and to share links. Use Facebook for contests. Use LinkedIn to demonstrate your thought leadership. Use your blog for informative how-to information.
  15. Create your own personal brand on social media channels (with a disclaimer..”these ideas are my own and not my employer’s…) if your company chooses not to pursue social media marketing.  Your brand is portable. Your following can land you another job some day.
  16. Find the new water coolers online and hang out there. The meetings industry has plenty: Engage365, Eventpeeps, #Eventprofs and #Meetingprofs on Twitter and tons of other groups on LinkedIn.
  17. Develop a personality online. I’m not saying find a gimmick. I’m just saying try to be memorable.
  18. Be deliberate about building your community. In addition to following your clients and prospects, try to be selective about the people you would like to have following you.
  19. Listen more than you “speak” online. This is solid Chris Brogan advice and it works.  Spend a lot of time reading and thinking about the implications of what you read and hear.
  20. Blend your social media efforts with traditional media if that works for you. The two channels–social and traditional–are not mutually exclusive.

The Takeaway: The platforms are changing constantly but the strategy is the same. Find your voice. Go where your clients and prospects are. Ask them to follow you. Dazzle them with your generosity and brilliance.

Questions to Ask When Creating a Virtual Event Strategy

I recently contributed to the EastVirtual Event Workshop taking place on May 18, 2011 in Washington, DC. I worked with the organizers on a take home resource for attendees covering all aspects of virtual events from the perspective of trade associations. Here is an excerpt from the workbook.

Virtual events of any kind present both opportunities and challenges to an organization. Associations in the process of researching or integrating virtual events should first address a number of strategic questions:

Brand Considerations: Is a virtual event the appropriate vehicle for brand extension? Will virtual events enhance or dilute our brand? Are there other platforms that provide a better opportunity for brand extension than virtual events?

Security Issues: Do virtual events provide our association and our stakeholders (exhibitors, attendees, sponsors) with the appropriate level of privacy and security? Is there a possibility that unauthorized individuals would be able to access our confidential information via a virtual event? Do virtual events fit within the guidelines we have established for privacy and security in our organization?

Legal/Liability Issues: What are the legal obligations and liabilities of the association regarding virtual events? Have we approached our legal counsel for an opinion on integrating virtual events into the association’s event strategy?  What federal and state laws govern the use of virtual events?

Organizational Objectives: Do virtual events fit within the organization’s goals and objectives? How do virtual events address the organization’s areas of greatest need? How will virtual events enhance or detract from the organization’s mission? What are the short-term and long-term expectations of virtual events as they pertain to the organization’s goals?

Marketing Objectives: Do virtual events fit well with the organization’s marketing style, message, and current marketing strategies? How will virtual events enhance or detract from the association’s marketing objectives?

Educational Objectives: Do virtual events fit within the organization’s current learning/education strategy? Can virtual events offer members opportunities for certification and continuing education? How do virtual events affect members’ abilities to access content and education?

Budget Considerations: How will virtual events affect the association’s profitability? How will virtual events impact the organization’s budget? What kinds of budget allocations are available for virtual events? Will virtual event budgets be separate from live event budgets?

Resource Commitments: What will be the human resource commitments for virtual events? What departments will be responsible for managing the virtual event program? Would a virtual event program require additional employees or outside consultants?

Suitability for Audience/Members: Are virtual events suitable for our member demographic (tech savvy, time zones, bandwidth, access to computers)? What training or preparation would be required for our members to achieve the greatest benefit from virtual events? What types of virtual events would be the best fit for our organization?

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats): What are the association’s strengths and weaknesses regarding the integration of a virtual event strategy? What opportunities do virtual events present to our association? What threats do virtual events present to our association?

Member Value Proposition: How do virtual events enhance or detract from our member value proposition? How do virtual offerings fit with other member benefits? Would virtual offerings exclude any members? Could virtual events attract new members?

Event Portfolio Integration:  Do virtual events fit into the organization’s current event strategy? Where is the best fit for virtual events in the “continuum” of current association events (preview, wrap-up, hybrid extension of live event)?

Social Media Integration: How do virtual events fit into the organization’s current social media or content marketing strategy?

Association Management Systems Integration: Can virtual events be integrated into the association’s current management (ASM) system including registration and membership databases?

Risk Tolerance: What are the risks involved with launching a virtual event? How does the risk associated with launching a virtual event correspond to the association’s overall risk tolerance?

The Takeaway: If you haven’t considered at least some of these questions in the course of developing plans for a virtual event, you may already be behind the curve. What have I missed?

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