Face-to-Face Report : August 2011
The SISO Executive Conference Special Edition
Emerging Trends Captured at SISO Conference
ABM's Q&A with Trade Show Execs
By Brittany Agro
While attending SISO’s 2011 Executive Conference, “Digital Declaration,” ABM had an opportunity to ask six industry practitioners what they thought about emerging trade show technology trends and their expectations for shows in the coming year.
Each participant was asked the same two questions: (1) What are the upcoming trends in trade show technology? (2) In this unpredictable economy, are current events making you question or reconsider your expectations for trade show exhibitors and revenues?
Here’s what they had to say!
Jeff Davis
Senior Manager, Interactive Products
Hanley Wood Exhibitions
What are the upcoming trends in trade show technology?
I think just about everyone in our industry is looking to take a stab at mobile. The astounding growth in mobile platform usage is well-documented. We have an obligation to reach our audiences and attendee base on their chosen platforms. We'll be launching apps for several shows this fall and we'll launch them on three platforms: iOS (Apple), Android and Blackberry. We'll experiment with some things in our apps, learn what works and what doesn't and adjust accordingly. It's important to take a live-and-learn approach when launching new technology. As it pertains to mobile apps, I don't think any of us in the industry are experts just yet.
In this unpredictable economy, are current events making you question or reconsider your expectations for trade show exhibitors and revenues?
Great question. Of course, I think about this a lot, but, like anything else, I think you have to stay focused on what you can control. In our case, our job is to (1) foster deep connections between exhibitors and attendees that drive commerce and (2) provide industry education that helps our customers do their jobs better. If we do those things really well, and continue to prove our value to our customers, we believe our business will stay strong.
Michael Deluca
President
Meister Media Worldwide
What are the upcoming trends in trade show technology?
In general, the use of social media is being done in a much smarter way. It’s become cliché to talk about building communities; I don’t think that we are taking full advantage of them. That was something that resonated with me at this conference. We have our own social markets, but many more people are on our Facebook community or Twitter. Our four sites include: Freshairforum.com, foroedialogo.com, precisionagnetwork.com and producecommunity.com. At some point, we are going to integrate them into our website, but the real promise in social media is that we can enrich the engagement that we have with sponsors and exhibitors beyond just traditional media channels. Also trackability of your attendees (i.e. where they go and what they do) through use of scanning technology – that is going to be an important measuring tool at some point to gauge engagement and how well the event did in their eyes.
In this unpredictable economy, are current events making you question or reconsider your expectations for trade show exhibitors and revenues?
It is certainly more risky. This year, we did a show in Mexico and will have another one there in October, plus two in Florida and one in Philadelphia. We’ll be doing a show in Africa and Buenos Aires this year, as well, and come December, in Kuala Lumpur. We are not exactly looking for dangerous places but places become dangerous overnight. We were very close to putting a show in Cairo this year but then we went to Nairobi, as we were looking for emerging markets. Every show that we do has grown year over year. We are getting better at marketing the shows as well as getting exhibitors.
Nancy Hasselback
President and CEO
Diversified Business Communications
What are the upcoming trends in trade show technology?
In terms of trends, it’s being able to analyze data in order to understand how we are reaching the customers, who we are reaching, and what they look like in terms of demographics and purchasing authority, what their needs are, and how we find more people that look like them. That has been a major transformation for Diversified in terms of how we deploy our marketing dollars – it’s changed quite significantly.
In this unpredictable economy, are current events making you question or reconsider your expectations for trade show exhibitors and revenues?
Not yet just because of the lag factor with exhibitors. I'm not concerned for the second half of the year because most of that revenue was sold at the events last year. However, considering that the cost of the raw exhibit space is only 30% of the total cost of exhibiting, it is important to keep our exhibitors sold and mitigate any cancellations. I am more cautious about 2012.
Bonus! View Nancy Hasselback's one-on-one interview with Expo magazine here.
Mark J. Levitt
Web Production Manager
O’Reilly Media, Inc.
What are the upcoming trends in trade show technology?
Program guide digitization – we’re beginning to see sponsors, exhibitors and sales teams become increasingly comfortable with the inevitable extinction of printed event guides. People seem to be more aware than ever that their effectiveness is less than ideal, and this is happening right around the time tablets and smart phones are more accessible than ever. Exhibitors want to connect with attendees beyond the booth, and digital and mobile event companions go further than the traditional guide.
In this unpredictable economy, are current events making you question or reconsider your expectations for trade show exhibitors and revenues?
Yes, we recognize that travel is more expensive and jobs are harder to find (in most sectors) than ever. This has informed our decisions to do things like: recording and streaming more event content than ever, offering online access to events for those who cannot attend, developing separate webcast and "Online Conference" offerings. All these are tactics to meet the audience where they are geographically, which is just as important to exhibitors as show organizers. As mentioned, exhibitors really want to connect beyond the booth, so yesterday's exhibitor may be today's website or exclusive content sponsor.
Stephen Nold
President
Tarsus Advon
What are the upcoming trends in trade show technology?
Some trends include: further adoption of better mobile apps, continued erosion of registration lead retrieval revenues as other technologies provide connectivity on show floors and in digital communities, and a focus on data collection and management as the source of better community intelligence. In terms of new gadgets and tools, QR codes will be the buzz in 2012 because of the low cost and simple execution requirements. Semantic Web has promise for our industry, but few show organizers can grasp this complex tool yet. Apps will continue to be very valuable.
In this unpredictable economy, are current events making you question or reconsider your expectations for trade show exhibitors and revenues?
We have been cautious in our U.S. projections for 18 months. Fortunately, Tarsus has a very strong portfolio that is allowing us to capture success in emerging markets.
Don Pazour
President and CEO
Access Intelligence
What are the upcoming trends in trade show technology?
Every aspect of the attendee is being automated: content capture, show map, scheduling meetings. Exhibitors are able to get more refined and stratified leads. In most of these cases, it is automating the networking and buyer/seller information exchange. The breakthrough will come in creating buyer/seller community around show brands that is 24/7 all year long. This will take time and innovation on the show owners’ part and change in behavior on customers' parts, but this key transformation will make the face-to-face aspect of the show more important and productive.
In this unpredictable economy, are current events making you question or reconsider your expectations for trade show exhibitors and revenues?
With economic cycles, we always have to be carefully tracking out pacing. During the Great Recession, we were able to keep the composite portfolio growing through the downturn. No. 1 shows do not tend to be hit as hard and we have certain industries where the importance of the show for doing business is fully appreciated by both buyer and seller. They stuck with us through the downturn. Not all of our shows held up. Some that were in more competitive spaces saw double-digit declines. I am cautiously optimistic that even in a downturn, we should be able to maintain a growth profile.
SISO: Executive Conference Attendees Dish Digital
By Brittany Agro
Trade show executives gathered near and far to talk tech at SISO’s Executive Conference last week in Philadelphia. The two-day event included sessions that ranged from emerging digital trends to the value of virtual events. When attendees were not listening to experts discuss the latest technologies, they were actively tweeting or engaging in round-table discussions on topics affecting their industry.
David Adler, CEO and founder of BizBash Media, admits that as a conference organizer, he rarely has time to participate in his own conferences, so he made a conscientious effort to make the most out of SISO’s Executive Conference.
“I paid attention to the speakers by taking notes on my computer; I drove my staff crazy by sending a constant set of emails with questions like ‘Do we optimize for mobile? And, what is our strategy on native apps?’ I also tweeted so that I could find the nugget of information that would be useful to my thousands of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn friends,” he said.
Following the conference, Adler’s company got straight down to business. The company is actively now working on a mobile strategy, a native app strategy, using affiliate programs to sell subscriptions, thinking about the value of virtual events (if not virtual trade shows) and using content from their shows more aggressively. “I just hired a camera crew to attend our Chicago trade show where I am going to collect content in order to do something like The Joe Show that ASI does, and probably another dozen initiatives,” said Adler. “As the CEO of a 60-person company, it may drive people crazy but in the end, it makes everyone else as curious as possible in the exciting times that we live in today.”
Key takeaways were focal points throughout the entire conference. Like Adler, several other attendees and speakers had these innovative thoughts to share:
- We have to take seriously that we create communities, not just events. – Vice President, Reed Exhibitions, Nancy Largay
- There is this rush to create our own social networks when people already belong to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Don’t reinvent the wheel. – Co-founder, BlogWorld and New Media Expo, Rick Calvert
- Year-round engagement is really important and being able to communicate with the customer after the event is, too. Ask the attendees what they want when developing content for your app. – Online Product Manager, O’Reilly Media, Mark Levitt
- Whenever we think about technology, we need to think about how smart the audience is or what maps the world as it is most effectively. It’s a tough call in the show space; the main mission is making an amazing experience for people who pay money to be in the room. – Director, IN3.org, Jack Powers
- Our exhibitors are the single most successful attendee marketing channel. Providing them with the right tools and incentives will boost any attendance. – CTS, Managing Director, Integrated Systems Events, Mike Blackman
- I think that when people are developing a virtual event or site, sometimes they try to replicate lots of features. For a show online, you need a clear, specific concept for the audience to understand. If you are trying to put lots of little things within a virtual site, you’re never going to get off the ground. – President, Hanley Wood Exhibitions, Rick McConnell
SISO Keynote Woos Trade Show Crowd
SISO kicked off its Executive Conference in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The keynote speaker, Andrew Davis, chief strategy officer and co-founder of Tippingpoint Labs, put on a riveting presentation to a crowd of roughly 125 trade show professionals on building audience and driving revenue by thinking like a media company. Davis wooed the crowd with his knowledge of social media platforms and cool presentation tools like Prezi.
With an appetite to learn more about new digital opportunities - the theme of this year’s conference - attendees were highly engaged by Davis’ captivating presentation, according to the rapid number of tweets that rolled in. Traci Browne of the Trade Show Institute tweeted: "Keynote @TPLDrew has done an amazing job customizing his presentation to his audience ... clearly spent a very long time prepping."
To learn more about Davis' presentation, check out ABM’s blog.
Companies Explore Digital Attendee Development
Day No. 2 at SISO’s Executive Conference began with a full room of eager trade show folks ready to deep dive into digital attendee development. The speakers, who led the session “The New Rules of Engagement,” shared case studies that uncovered ways to drive traffic at trade shows through websites and how to analyze metrics.
Integrated Systems Events
Mike Blackman, managing director of Integrated Systems Events (ISE), emphasized how important (and effective) a website can be. Elements ISE incorporates on its website include banners, video and links to registration pages. “The ISE website is our most relevant electronic media,” said Blackman. “We are able to track everybody that comes to our website; we can see what they are doing.”
Blackman credits referrals from exhibitors and colleagues as the most effective attendance driver: “Our exhibitors are the single most successful attendee marketing channel; providing them with the right tools and incentives will boost any attendance.”
To help drive show attendance and get support with attendee marketing, ISE gives exhibitors a 10% discount incentive for next year’s show. “You need to work with your exhibitors because they know the attendees better than you can,” he noted.
JDEvents
Joelle Coretti, VP of marketing, JDEvents, went into great depth on how her company provides attendees and exhibitors with dashboards. She said the company developed an event planner so that its website could become a “store front” to ultimately drive people there.
The dashboards created allow attendees to build their agenda and choose exhibitors that they want to see. Meanwhile, exhibitors can build a robust company profile and search for attendees in advance to set meetings. “We want an intuitive interface so there wouldn’t be a learning curve,” said Coretti.
The dashboard for JDEvents’ Healthcare Facilities Symposium and Expo is an elaborate and detailed dashboard for attendees and exhibitors. The company measured its success by its usage: averages 35% depending on the event. Initial rollout was 18%; it nearly doubled the second time around, according to Coretti.
Coretti added that the cost for the event planner, which covers four to five shows per year, was $40,000 plus nominal updates/enhancements.
Diversified Business Communications
Four years ago, Diversified Business Communications opted to outsource an internal marketing database. They tracked metrics, collected information related to geographic and demographic shifts and conducted a “State of the Business” on audience data in the first year.
“Our retention rates, loyalty assessments, overlap between our media and products were accurate,” said Vicki Hennin, VP strategic marketing and business intelligence of Diversified. “It just made us realize that some of the things we believed were true and others were not. We debunked some myths.”
The company learned that direct marketing is effective with their customers and very ineffective with prospects. As a result, marketing expenses decreased or shifted to new innovative programs and expenses were cut by almost 35%.
In the second year, they learned more and refined their model, developed touch strategies for specific audience groups and shifted marketing investments to "indirect" marketing efforts.
Hennin told the audience that the key takeaway of her presentation is to perform analytics: “You have to commit to doing this as an organization. Get everybody on board. It’s a marathon but pays off at the end,” she said.
Mobile Marketing: What to Know for Your Next Show
If you haven’t embraced mobile yet, now is the time. Tablets may be best to offer a post-show highlight reel, but smart phones are fit to be the "conference in your pocket." Speakers who took center stage for SISO’s session “Mobile Marketing, Start Dialing Your Shows in Now!” shared how they are taking mobile to new heights. Christopher Levy, managing partner at Encore Media Partners, moderated the three-person panel’s discussion on mobile, which included ways to use it for driving attendance and location-based services.
Brian Pagel, vice president, kitchen and bath group, Nielsen Expositions, led an informative presentation on things to consider when deciding to explore mobile. First, according to Pagel, become an expert. By having an integration strategy and a plan, the use of mobile can be an asset at your show. However, you must listen to your audience, which not only includes attendees but also exhibitors and show partners. This requires remaining active year- round with the platform.
There are also certain things to avoid; Pagel noted the following:
- Don’t pursue mobile with a half-baked strategy
- Don’t attempt to be active on every social platform
- Don’t attempt to do this on the cheap
- Don’t attempt to monetize in year one
- Don’t underestimate privacy issues
- Don’t overcommit to your stakeholders
Jenn Heinold, show director, Access Intelligence, discussed the strategy behind and lessons learned with the company’s Satellite 2011 mobile app. For this, the goals entailed making websites mobile friendly (using HTML 5 instead of Flash), creating mobile-friendly emails, and developing mobile-sized web banner ads for companion publications and e-newsletters. To make show attendees aware that Satellite 2011 had gone mobile, the company rolled out a marketing plan. It entailed: featuring the app’s info in the printed program guide (QR code and URL), on-site signage (QR code and URL), downlink email (pre-show) and confirmation emails sent to every pre-registered attendee. In addition, they sent dedicated email blasts that promoted the new mobile app.
All in all, the analytics indicated that it was a success. There were 1,613 visits; 710 unique visitors, which equaled an adoption rate of roughly 10%, and 5,969 page views. The average time spent on the page was 3:14 minutes. In comparison, the average time an attendee looks at an exhibitor’s listing on the Satellite 2011 web site is about 15-30 seconds.
In the future, Heinold said that the company wants to deploy mobile ambassadors on the show floor and recruit multiple sponsors, upsell opportunities for all exhibitors. In conclusion, she emphasized that going mobile can be a new revenue stream for your event, so give it a go!
John Moriarty, vice president sales and marketing, CeBIT/Hannover Fairs USA, Inc., shared data on location-based services (LBS) specifically related to trade shows. For example, did you know that 40% of smartphone owners are currently using a location-based service and adoption is growing rapidly? Apps like Foursquare, Facebook Places, Gowalla, Yelp and Loopt are increasing in popularity.
While event organizers have done a good job of using mobile apps to engage attendees, Moriarty said they still need to find ways to touch attendees in the platforms that are important to them. “Choose the LBS platform that fits your industry the best,” he said. “Ask attendees what they are using currently.”
Gaming is also a compelling component of the LBS sector, he added. Platforms can also be used to manage scavenger hunts, or passport games to drive attendees to specific areas of the show or to participating exhibitors.
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