Case Study– How Trade Shows Can Influence Executive Perceptions, Positively Influence Financial Markets & Gain Top-Level Visibility for Event Managers

Positive visibility at the executive level of the company is a quest for many trade show and event marketing managers. It seems that the trade show or events program often receives less attention and respect than does advertising, PR or developing the brand. Recently, accomplishments at a major, international trade show became the topic of focus during the second quarter earnings call with the CEO of a multi-billion dollar, multi-national firm. A quarterly earnings call is a teleconference in which a public company discusses the financial results of a reporting period with financial analysts and other stakeholders. The call resulted in a high level of visibility and respect for the manager of that company’s trade show program, a pinnacle achievement for any event manager.

Excerpts from the earnings call demonstrate how key trade show accomplishments (meetings, countries represented, etc.) can become key financial inputs:

Chairman – “During the recent (very large international) show, I had the opportunity to meet with many of our U.S. and international customers -- in fact, we had more customer meetings at this event than ever before, with over 1000 meetings… including 45 delegations from 38 countries. I was encouraged by what I heard about our company -- and the level of interest in what we do."

First Analyst – “I would like to ask about the recent contract cancellation in the UAE.”

Chairman- “The project cancellation was in marked contrast to what I saw at the recent show . . . We saw a number of customers from Turkey, UAE, Israel, Saudi, . . . we saw tremendous opportunity. We showed new digital, three dimensional demonstrations of our new products at the show. A top Japanese group visiting told us they were “very encouraged by what they saw.”

Second Analyst - “I learned about new capabilities for your ‘Hotspot’ project during your press briefing and at your exhibition at the show. Would you tell us more about those?” The chairman described the new capabilities without hesitation, in some detail. This made a very good impression on the analysts and others on the call.

It was clear the customer interaction at the recent trade show provided the chairman and other top executives with up- to-date, personalized market feedback that affected how they dealt with analysts and others. The customer and prospect interactions at the event gave them factual information and perspectives to share with analysts regarding market attitudes and demand. Event managers should consider “Executive Involvement” as one of their event planning criteria.

It was also clear that the event had a strong impact on analysts who visited the company’s marketing venues. Their visits shaped their perceptions of the company, its performance and value. Likewise, event managers should also consider “managing press and analysts relations” as a planning objective. This is also a clear example of why it is critical to be consistent with brand, advertising, PR efforts and exhibit and event related messaging, signage and demos. You never know who is watching!

Ed Jones is president of Constellation Communication Corp., specialists in event and trade show measurement, helping clients obtain positive return on investment in marketing and other types of events. If you have any questions please contact Ed at inquiry@constellationcc.com or call +1.770.391.0015

Simple is Memorable and Essential

I picked one phrase to highlight from a recent LinkedIn "Trade Show Help" group post on simplicity of trade show messages. "Simple is Memorable."

Three clients of ours were finally convinced to de-clutter their exhibits and refine their messages into a simple, customer oriented message hierarchy. The building products client moved from over 50% of their visitors saying they "learning nothing new" to less than 20%. A large manufacturing company improved from almost 30% learning nothing new to less than 9%. Finally, a large aerospace client just had their chairman talk about the clarity of customer dialogue at a large European airshow during their second quarter earnings conference call. That is some real visibility for the exhibit manager!

Our company provides consulting on trade show measurement, research and return on investment (ROI). This data was derived from year over year, random sample exit interviews with visitors conducted by our survey team.

I list poor messaging as one of the three primary factors in low return on investment. Stated another way, effective messaging is a critical success factor in event marketing ROI.

Ed

More case studies on trade show and event ROI to be found at http://constellationcc.com

Is Your Staff Shy About Engaging Visitors? - A Few New Stats of Interest

In the event measurement and ROI game these types of numbers are always interesting, even if they are from a single show. Visitors at the recent Confex Show revealed three key objectives for visiting a trade show:

* 68% making new contacts

* 64% inspiration and new ideas

* 62% Networking

These numbers are entirely consistent with our findings over the years.

The top value from attending a trade show was given as "Getting new ideas"

The article cited a general statistic that only 1 in 28 visitors are actively approached at shows. That is believable although I have nothing to verify that, however we do know that 46% of the Confex visitors reported they were displeased with not being approached by exhibitors.

The message here is clear, visitors want to see exhibitors. They want to see what is new and make contact with people who can make things happen. (That is an exact quote from my classes for the last decade.) Your staff need not worry about whether people want to be engaged! Unfortunately exhibitors too often do a poor job of providing them with that opportunity.

Staff training is essential if you want to engage, qualify and properly manage a person's visit to your exhibit for mutual benefit.

(Keith Reznick and I have co-authored some very efficient, low cost, web delivered staff training that can cure these problems. If you have a need, please visit either of our websites at http://constellationcc.com or http://creativetraining.com)

Ed

Get the Personal Credit You Deserve for Managing Events to Deliver Business Profitability

This is a response for the MC2 "eConnections" newsletter, May issue "Delimma" column. "How do you measure success?" I've heard a lot about measurement in the media and at conferences, and I'd like to start my own performance measurement program based on real stats. But I don't know where to begin. We go to five big shows a year, each with a different division of our company, so it's hard to make adjustments. Is anyone getting value and results from measuring tradeshow performance? What do you measure, and how do you employ the data? I'd really like to know.
-- Althea, Conventions Manager

A good planning and measurement program is how smart exhibit managers get the results they expect and personal credit they deserve from their events program. Many companies rely on a well structured planning and measurement program to manage their events programs as well as the internal perception of their value.

Events are a business improvement tool. Return on investment is realized when you make or save money through an event. To make or save money, the participants must be persuaded to act in a manner that benefits your company.

Properly planned events produce measurable results. When you plan your activities to result increase in sales, retention of current business, promotion of company brand, products and messages, and cost savings, positive business results are achieved.

What to measure follows this same logic. Payback is a simple index of success. Payback comes from tracking value from four sources:

1) Revenue (Increase in Sales)
2) Customer Relationship Management (Customer and Revenue Retention)
3) Cost Savings (Efficiencies using events as the catalyst)
4) Promotion or Communication Value (Equivalent Value of Advertising Required to Achieve Similar Promotional Impact in the Market, or for Internal Events, the Cost of Alternative Means of Communications)

These values, when added together and divided by the budget for your event, produce a payback ratio such as $2.30/1.

Start your own measurement program by putting these four tabs in a three ringed binder and collecting every bit of data regarding value you produce in each of the four areas.

Finally, productivity measures such as number of visitors, engaged visitors, and leads, combined with “cost per” indexes, such as cost per engaged visitor, provide valuable indicators of the success of each event and your program overall.

A major goal at Constellation is to see event and communications managers get the credit they deserve for managing profitable event programs. Many of our clients use their measurement reports as the basis for their annual performance evaluation. A number of our clients directly attribute a part of their career success to their event planning and measurement programs.

Case studies and articles on event measurement are available to you in the "Solutions" section of the Constellation Communication Corp. website at http://constellationcc.com

Justification for Sales Incentive Travel Programs

Sales incentive travel is being discussed in various social media groups. I had the chance to respond to a discussion this morning.

. . . yes, Hong Kong is a fabulous city to visit and a great incentive trip destination. It is one of my favorite places to visit. The China Club in the old Bank of China building is a great spot for business entertainment, albeit for smaller groups.

At Constellation we have had the opportunity to deliver in-depth analysis of the actual value and justification for investment in a number of sales incentive trips. We saved the BellSouth program from cancellation and even expanded it. Justification is more important than ever these days. The business value of these types of events can be proven. It requires a solid event plan and measurement strategy, but it really can be done. That also takes you off the hook for criticism of waste and frivolity by others, including the government if your received TARP money for example.

There is a case study on this on the Constellation website called "Canceled, End of Discussion" in the Solutions Center Tab of our website at:

http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fconstellationcc%2Ecom&urlhash=Fjbn

or follow this link: http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fconstellationcc%2Ecom%2Fcancelled%2Epdf&urlhash=IgQw

If you would like to discuss this important topic, post here or contact me through the website.

Ed

The True Relationship Between Sales and Marketing - Sales is Your Customer!

You have often heard me say the following in various event measurement and ROI seminars: "Sales (deparment) is the customer of Marketing."
"Sales are the only ones who can define a qualified lead."
"The sales team are the ultimate arbiters of success of a trade show or customer event."
Etc. etc.

Linda Musgrove, aka "The Trade Show Teacher" posted a great article in Exhibit City News (12/30/09) "Sales and Marketing Department Coorperation, Can't We All Just Get Along" that delves further into this important tenet. I think this is a good read in preparing for your 2010 trade show program.

http://tinyurl.com/yapcsz8

Now is the time to get that appointment with the sales team and jointly define the measure of success for your program this year.

Ed

Automated Approach to Effective, Measurable Events for Time Strapped Event Managers

Happy New Year to All!

I have hinted to many of you in the past year that 2010 would be the time when you can get easy and inexpensive automated tools for planning, execution and measurement for trade shows and other events. Over the past couple of years, we developed various automated, web-based, and inexpensive support tools to satisfy exhibitor and event managers' requirements. Now, these tools can be offered as a support suite, allowing you to pick what you need for each of your events:

• Planning Tool (Know what to include, who to ask and how to communicate to the broader team. Ensure you will deliver effective results and profit improvement.)
  
• Staff Training (Ensure your staff is up to the job of delivering results.)
• Staff and Stakeholder Feedback Survey (Collect and maintain your internal customer feedback for improving all subsequent events.)
• Event Related Press Tracking and Valuation (Press generated during and after an event can generate a lot of justification for your investment.)
• Event Selection and Comparison (Budgeting, forecasting of results and cost.)

These tools can put you in charge of delivering and reporting your results without adding significantly to your workload. Consulting support for completing some or all of these processes is available to help you further.

Imagine having all of the information you need in a database waiting at your beck and call for future planning or to show management what you have accompished.

If you would like to discuss how to add some structure to your events program, contact me at edjones@constellationcc.com or call 770-391-0015.

Wishing you the best for the new year,

Ed Jones