MTO Summit Chicago Takeaways

MTO Summit Chicago
March 24/25, 2010
Takeaways

• Content is king as illustrated by Mark Ragan’s success reinventing his father’s company with a combination of Broadlook’s precise people finding technology and content- (not marketing-) heavy communications. Suggested wait time before sending out marketing: three months of solid content to build loyalty.
  
• Content-driven model works best for publications and associations, as they have content year round. It’s more difficult for pure organizer to deliver that content.
  
• You have to allow attendees to be co-promoters. Give up (some) control. Shawn O’Keefe’s success with the SXSW Festival underscores this.
  
• On the other hand, organizers want to own the relationship with their exhibitors and sponsors. They don’t want to let multiple vendors to contact their exhibitors trying to sell them stuff.
  
• Develop a marketing plan, particularly with social media and underpin the reason you’re doing it. In other words, don’t have a social media strategy; have a marketing strategy that includes social media – or includes a fax campaign if that’s your style…
  
• Put the human back in your campaign. People used to be okay with being another number on a conveyor belt, but not any more. No email from your mother [or anyone your care about] starts with “If you are having trouble viewing this message....”
  
• Most shows have or will have virtual or hybrid component. Virtual events still a more additive, extension of live event: valuable but not a replacement to live event.
  
• Attendee affiliate program (paying attendees and speakers to drive new attendance) has proven to be pretty effective and there are modifications you can make to improve the process.
  
• Matchmaking is getting mixed results. Some organizers have been trying for multiple years with limited results. Smaller, newer, entrepreneurial exhibitors are getting most value from system. Challenge is that attendees are resistant to using it.
  
• Appointment scheduling is least effective in large shows (500+)
  
• Organizers look at ROI of tools, factoring in value of their staff time. They will use multiple shows to prove return.
  
• Things to do tomorrow: Use Twitter for press releases to find prospects, market with brevity (think in 120 characters so everything can be retweeted), combine traditional promotion techniques (like discounts) with viral marketing, create widgets to create walled garden for social media around event.
  
• Trends to watch, forecasts: location-driven apps, the impending mobile vs. laptop marketshare reversal within 5 years, rapleaf.com, foursquare.com, flowtown.com.
  
• Chris Brogan offered a warning that “Friends don’t let friends do bad webinars.” Engagement and learning in virtual environments requires a different skillset than live events.
  
• Virtual technologies can and should be considered for emergency planning.  Much like having an indoor back-up for an outdoor venue, technologies like Skype can be used for contingency planning in case there is a big snow storm in DC. (Like that will ever happen).