Fork In The Road Blog

Events: Technology. Design. Strategy.

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?

Blogging for Booths: One Association’s Bid for Customer Loyalty

One spin around the blogosphere will show you that trade show organizers use blogs to attract new readers and draw attention from search engines. But IAAPA—the association for amusements and attractions—turned to its blog to solidify the association’s relationship with exhibitors/members by using it as the central communication channel for the IAAPA Attractions Expo 2011 Space Allocation.

Exhibitors in the IAAPA show do not select their own booth locations. A committee of 15 people—each dedicated to a specific market segment—assigns space from a “war room” of computer screens projecting the interactive floorplan on screen in real-time via the Internet. The committee makes selections based on seniority rankings and exhibitor requests, but the ultimate goal is to “design the best show possible” for exhibitors and attendees, says Jeremy Schoolfield, senior editor of the association’s magazine and the chief blogger.

The space allocation takes a day and a half. Schoolfield gives regular updates “either every half hour or so,” he says, or “when nice, round numbers are hit, whichever comes first.” Exhibitors follow along knowing their place in line from a pre-published list. Those that want to make a change can email the sales team after their initial assignment is made. This year was the fourth year that the space selection was live blogged. By the end of the second day, the committee had allocated 669 booths on the floor covering 357,000 net square feet—more than 60 exhibitors and 55,000 square feet than the year before.

Live blogging the space draw process came about out of necessity. Before that, exhibitors watching the space assignments online would email the sales team asking when their assignments were coming up. With the running blog account, they can follow along more easily and even get a little excited about an otherwise dull process. “[Space Allocation] has a live auction feel,” Schoolfield says.

Beside the obvious posts like “10 a.m.: Showtime Pictures LLC was just assigned, which means we now have 550 booths on the floor. Getting close now! A little more than a hundred to go,” Schoolfield inserts pictures of the war room, references to other blog posts, discussion about articles in the association magazine, and ad hoc comments from the committee members into his posts. These “extras” give him an opportunity to break up the monotony and get new information to a captive audience.

There are other advantages to blogging the space allocation. Besides keeping the process transparent and drawing more attention to the association’s other offerings, it helps members know that the blog exists.  “Our industry is not a ‘behind the computer industry.’ They are more apt to look at a mobile phone than sit down and look at something on the computer, yet we have set a record every year for blog readership,” Schoolfield says.

The Takeaway: By live blogging the booth selection process, IAAPA kept the proceedings accessible, transparent, and orderly. They created a value-added member benefit and placed the control over a process that could be perceived as uncontrollable back into the hands of exhibitors. For some like Kees Albers of Unlimited Snow-Tape My Day from the Netherlands, it was worth staying up all night for. Loyalty like that doesn’t come easy.

Options Multiply for HOW-TO Education on Virtual Events

When the current wave of virtual event platforms first emerged, technology developers became the primary educators for the industry. In addition to teaching their clients and prospects about the features and benefits of their own products, they were also responsible for helping customers to market the event, develop content, sell exhibit space, train speakers, and a host of other tasks. While they did so gladly, the explosion of interest in virtual solutions placed a heavy burden on them. Fortunately, the situation has changed. Now, there are multiple opportunities to learn about virtual event platforms and execution.

Virtual Event Institute and Virtual Edge Summit

As a former face-to-face event organizer himself—a career path that quickly changed after 9/11—Michael Doyle instantly saw the potential of virtual event platforms. His Virtual Edge Institute (VEI) was the first organization to advocate and educate the event community on digital solutions. The Institute produces the Virtual Edge Summit, an annual hybrid conference covering the full spectrum of topics on virtual event and learning platforms. A prominent feature of the conference is the streaming of content on a wide variety of platforms allowing virtual attendees to test drive products.

EastVirtual Event Workshop for Associations

The EastVirtual Event Workshop is designed specifically for trade association executives and department managers in event marketing, sales, digital marketing, community, meetings, Web, IT services, learning, and training. The program offers participants a hands-on curriculum covering virtual event business models, platforms, budgets, content, staff, exhibits, sponsorship sales, engagement, program planning, assessment, and ROI. “EastVirtual will give attendees the fundamentals of virtual trade shows and conferences. Participants will leave the workshop knowing the first steps for building a 30-day implementation strategy,” says Warwick Davies, principal of The Event Mechanic! and co-founder of EastVirtual. The one-day workshop will be held in Washington, DC on May 18, 2011.

Digital Events Strategist Certification

VEI recently announced its plans for a Digital Events Strategist certification program for individuals “to effectively plan, produce and measure the results of their digital engagement practices” and for organizations “to develop a management pool strategically equipped to engage audiences using digital technology.” Michael Doyle recognizes the challenge that the industry has in getting managers in sync with the virtual opportunities and technology. “There is a bottleneck in the industry right now. On one side, customers are trying to add virtual elements to their programs, but don’t have the skills or experience internally. On the other side, vendors have customers who want to deploy the solutions but they don’t have the ecosystem to support them. The certification will help to change that,” he says.

The Virtual Buzz Blog

There are excellent blogs on virtual platforms and the event industry. I love Dennis Shiao’s It’s All Virtual and Social 27’s Virtual Events Hub. But the latest entrant to the virtual event blogosphere comes from the ladies—Cece Salomon-Lee and Donna Sanford—two marketing/PR and journalism experts (respectively) with a passion for virtual platforms. Their Virtual Buzz Blog is a collection of expertly written how-to posts and perspectives plus curated content from other bloggers that should keep the virtual learners juiced up in between face-to-face events.

The Takeaway: From broad (Virtual Edge Summit) to focused (EastVirtual) to everything in between, there are ample opportunities for corporate, independent, and association planners, strategists, and project managers to learn the ropes. Fortunately no one has to choose just one.

The Road Less Traveled: Event Industry Suppliers Move from Aggregation to Curation

This blog post is sponsored by AV Event Solutions offering audiovisual rental, audience response for polling, computer rentals for registration, LCD displays, and more to event planners throughout California.

Event industry suppliers—general service contractors, sales and marketing firms, and exhibit designers—are stepping out of their comfort zones to take advantage of the innovation that is sweeping over the industry. What might look like a desperate move by some companies to hitch their wagons to a star or an attempt to make up for the shortcomings of a flat industry is actually a smart business decision. A clear precedent for the trend comes from social media and the growing practice of content curation.

A hint that something was amiss came in the last half of 2009 when Maritz, a sales and marketing service company that relies on face-to-face events, introduced a suite of virtual offerings including their “Maritz LIVE initiative for delivering virtual events and experiences.” When Freeman, the 84-year-old general service contractor et. al. and kingpin of the trade show and live event industry, announced late in 2010 that it too would be offering virtual events as part of a new business unit, the door of opportunity flung wide open.

Virtual platforms aren’t the only star technologies being curated. MG Design recently rolled out plans to offer its exhibitor clients RFID (radio frequency identification), QR (quick response)/Mobile, Augmented Reality, and social media integration with their exhibit design and fabrication services. The company offered attendees a hands-on look at the four technologies during Exhibitor 2011 in Las Vegas:

  • Surveys and RFID tags matched visitors’ hot button issues with specific audio and video content
  • QR codes were peppered throughout the exhibit leading visitors to information about MG’s products and services.
  • An augmented reality demonstration helped attendees understand how to put interactive content in the hands of prospects without physically bringing more products and collateral to the booth.
  • Social media tools illustrated the potential for exhibit marketing programs to go viral.

MG Design’s Director of Marketing, Ben Olson, frames it this way, “We have clients that date back 10 to 20 years. They look to us to bring these solutions to them. We do a 360-degree deep dive. When we’re developing the exhibit concept, we work these technologies into the recommendations where it’s appropriate.”

The curation of services is different from the aggregation of services. In the old days, suppliers offered related services (domestic trucking, pop-up displays, freight forwarding) to their captive audience of customers, but the transactions were consummated between the sub-contractors and the exhibitors directly. In the curation model, related and even seemingly “competitive” services are hand selected by industry suppliers who stay involved in the work stream—hence the suppliers’ value-added position with customers.

A May 2010 article on Mashable.com by Steve Rosenbaum highlights the importance of curation in content strategies. The same points Rosenbaum offers about content validate the service curation strategies in the event industry. Rosenbaum quotes author and NYU Professor Clay Shirky; “Curation comes up when people realize that it isn’t just about information seeking, it’s also about synchronizing a community.” Even industry suppliers are saying as much when they explain their partial shift away from their core competencies with statements about their desires to utilize a “holistic approach to provide multiple value to customers” or “lead [clients] to a more successful event experience.”

Rosenbaum brought up another point that is analogous to the emerging practice of event industry suppliers. “A lot of it is economic — doing more with less — and it has crossed every media industry,” explains Allen Weiner of Gartner Group. “If you think about the tools you want to give an editor to make him or her more complete, you want to give them curation tools.” It could be “something they add to their own content. As more old media companies attempt to do more with less, publishing tools that allow this efficiency without demeaning the product quality … [are] going to be very important.”

In the previous aggregation model, suppliers were not operating under any imperative to explain the outsourced service offerings to their customers. No one needed a sit down to understand the importance of shipping your exhibit to the show using a domestic carrier with no waiting time in the marshalling yard, an empty trailer at the ready during move-out, and a presence in the exhibitor service area. But with technology, there is a huge need to explain to clients the relevance, impact, and execution of the offerings. As Rosenbaum explains, “from a user perspective, well done curation is a huge value-add in a world where unfiltered signal overwhelms noise by an ever increasing factor.”

The Takeaway: For now, service curation may be a road less traveled. In the past it was uncomfortable, financially risky, and a point of criticism for established companies to make a sea change in offerings. Social media has helped us understand how it can be done, where it fits into business models, and how to minimize the risk. What we may be seeing is the beginning of an assimilation of event technology into the backbone of the industry—great news for suppliers, exhibitors, attendees, and the platform developers that see it as a new sales channel.

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