Fork In The Road Blog

Events: Technology. Design. Strategy.

Is the SXSWi Badgeless Movement A Sign of Things to Come in the Event Industry?

It started with a tweet:

“Connect to #Badgeless2012, FB on.fb.me/xrP9zC and the Web bit.ly/AuxLX”

At first, I thought that “Badgeless” might be referring to a technology that allowed event participants to interact with one another without using the square 3 x 4” piece of paper dangling from a string that we refer to as a badge.

I was wrong. A subsequent Twitter exchange with Chris Heuer, the founder of the global Social Media Club organization and member of the Badgeless Group at SXSWi, revealed so much more:

Badgeless is an organized movement of individuals who choose not to register (or pay the steep cost for a badge) for the annual nerd fest in Austin, Texas. Instead, its members connect via social media to enjoy the many free (and non-sanctioned) activities that have grown up around the main conference and trade show.

Badgeless participants don’t get to see the Al Gore or Ray Kurzweil keynotes (although some buy a one-day-pass), but they do get a lot of free tacos and beer and each other, which is apparently the main attraction for them. Many of them are SXSWi veterans who have been there, done that. Now, they just want to see their friends. Chris Heuer was selling Badgeless T-shirts to raise money for his Social Media Club nonprofit association.

Although the argument can be made that Badgeless members are entitled to draft off the 26-year success that is SXSW, the practice is discomfiting to people that organize events for a living.

Heuer’s rationale for justifying his Badgeless status is that he contributes to the event in other ways by blogging and promoting it, and because, he tweets, “there is a community of people that exists who are #badgeless2012 already.” Plus, “its truly not against anyone, it’s for and about the alternative, ”and “#WorldHasChanged,” he writes.

For some of the non-conformists, it’s about the money. Some Austin locals simply cannot afford to attend. Others, however, have somehow negotiated their airfare, lodging, food (no one can live on free tacos, can they?), local transport and other amenities, but choose not to buy the badge on principle or as one tweeter on the Badgeless2012 hashtag noted, “just to see what it was like.”

Circumventing the “system” is not new. Anyone remember Woodstock (jokes aside) where eventually the burgeoning crowd just broke the fences down and let themselves into the concert? Traci Browne recently wrote very poignantly about suitcasing at the Exhibitor Show in Las Vegas. And, despite conference organizer attempts to “own” the hotels surrounding their events, outboarding inevitably takes place all the time.

So what can event producers learn from the Badgeless movement at SXSWi?

  • For some, walled gardens of information are no longer attractive or worth paying for
  • There is a sense of entitlement (good or bad) among some community members that justifies their activities “outside the tent.”
  • We are vulnerable because people can and will self-organize if we don’t help organize them
  • There are whole groups of folks that aren’t part of our current communities doing interesting things
  • If face-to-face interaction is the best offering we have, that isn’t enough.
  • Our communities are organizing themselves around ideas because we are too lame to be the idea

What can event organizers do?

Acknowledge the dissenting voices. SXSW organizers are aware of Badgeless and other organized groups (there were plenty of companies selling their wares on the streets of Austin that didn’t pay sponsorship fees) and try to reach out to them.

Stop offering commodities. If what event organizers sell becomes something that is predictable, standardized and without differentiation, buyers will either look elsewhere for a less expensive option or seek to create something better on their own.

Let the outsiders in. Create virtual experiences—keynotes projected on a screen, hybrid extensions of live content and a social media outreach—to make people feel like there’s a party going on in the next room. Perhaps next time, they won’t want to miss it.

Provide a variety of ways for attendees to experience the event. There will always be a certain number of attendees who just want to hang out with friends. Others will come to learn. More will want to kick the tires at the trade show. Events must cater to all these groups.

The point is that the world has changed. After the current homogenous group of attendees moves on to retirement, the next demographic slated to fuel the growth of the trade show and conference industry isn’t going to settle for the same old same old. Either event organizers begin innovating now by changing the experience and opening up the doors to new ideas and ways of doing business or they will be on the outside sampling the free tacos and beer.

 

 

 

 

The Attendee Hierarchy of Needs: A Framework for Making Better Event Planning Decisions

What if there were a framework for making great decisions about features, programming, and technology for events? I’ve been thinking about it for a while—especially since my TSNN blog post on an attendee’s technology wish list. Since then, I’ve done two Webinars for TSNN on just such a framework.  Here are the details.

I was thinking a lot about what makes people really want/crave/anticipate live events. Yes, it’s the networking and the opportunity for education, the oft-cited reasons given by event organizers. But, I felt there was more to it than that. After all, we can network and get information online.

I’ve always been fascinated by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow’s theory, humans must fulfill various levels of needs (beginning with breathing, eating, and excreting) before moving to the next higher levels including safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. The familiar multicolored triangle often associated with Maslow’s theory represents the various aspects of a fully actualized, satisfied, and motivated individual.

I adapted this idea and developed an Attendee Hierarchy of Needs to illustrate what face-to-face event attendees need to fully experience a live event. What I discovered is that the framework also works great for understanding virtual attendees, international attendees, and other attendee groups that event organizers know particularly well. In my theory, there are also five levels:

Utility—the basic tools needed to navigate and participate in the event including food and beverage, registration, signage, charging stations, Wi-Fi, maps, transportation, exhibitor directories, conference agendas, floor plans, or ADA accommodations. If you make it simple for attendees to experience your event by choosing technologies and features that open the doors to exhibitors, directions, schedules, and what’s on at the moment, they will want to attend AGAIN.

Justification—the information needed to justify the ROI of time and resources expended to attend the show including QR codes, digital tote bags, session speakers, programming, show features, content capture devices, and post-show content access. If you make it easy (mainly through digital takeaways) for attendees to report back to the boss and feel as if they walked away with important, tangible information, they will want to attend AGAIN.

Connection—the human and digital connection needed to communicate and share the experience with others through such channels as matchmaking applications, social media, sporting events (golf tournaments, fun runs, etc.), alternative conference architectures (unconferences, Conferences that Work, etc.) and games (trivia, SCVNGR hunts, opportunities to win badges). These offerings deepen relationships between attendees and other attendees; and attendees and exhibitors. If you make these opportunities available, attendees will feel more fulfilled and they will want to attend AGAIN.

Recognition—the opportunities needed to express opinions and participate in discussions through Q & A sessions, Twitter falls, text walls, polling, soapboxes, opinion corners, leaderboards, crowdsourcing, collaboration platforms, and idea booths. Attendees want to be heard and recognized. When you give them that opportunity, they will want to attend AGAIN.

Understanding—the need to be transformed through higher-level learning and engagement using such tools as motivational speakers, charity events, or mentoring programs. Attendees come to events with a lot more emotional baggage than before.  They want to leave with inspiration, a transformational experience, or food for thought about improving their lives.  This is not about business. It’s about self. If you give them something that changes their lives, they will definitely want to attend AGAIN.

The Takeaway:  The Attendee Hierarchy of Needs concept incorporates a holistic approach. If you select programming, event features, and technology that fulfills attendees’ needs at each level (technology such as mobile could compete at several levels simultaneously), they will feel as if they have fully experienced your event and it will motivate them to return year after year.

Of course, using the Hierarchy requires that you take action to understand what the needs of your attendees are by using all of the demographic, preference, and behavior tools at your disposal. Then, meet those needs as amply and deeply as you can. It’s classic Business 101: understand customer needs and meet them.

To use the Hierarchy to its fullest potential, you need to expand your thinking in two ways: expand your notion of the “attendee” to include live attendees, virtual attendees, and every flavor of attendee vertical; and broaden your definition of “experience” to encompass the engagement (between the organizer and the attendee) that occurs well before the event and lasts long after. Then, use the framework as a lens through which to see your event and make decisions in the best interests of your customers.

 

 

 

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.

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