Certainly it’s been a hot one so far and as George & Ira Gershwin wrote…and Janis Joplin sang, “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.”
It’s during these temperate times when many association members and clients are in vacation mode. And while meetings, tradeshows and special events are less frequent than in the spring and fall, we as professional event producers and suppliers should take the time to regroup and re-strategize.
Regardless of the recent (supposedly) positive pointing economic indicators, unemployment continues to rise and business in almost every American based industry is down. As Steven Hacker, CAE, President, International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) mentioned in his June 2010 Association Meetings magazine article, The State of the Exhibitions Industry: It’s Not Simple, “Once again, the experiences of 2008 and 2009 demonstrate that the exhibitions industry is a mirror image of the industries served by our events.” Obviously, the same can be said for meetings, conventions, and special events, i.e., as business is slumping, participation in the majority of events is down. Bottom line is companies just cannot afford to spend money to send people (or at least as many as they used to in the past) to events.
So while it may be difficult for association executives, meeting planners, trade show producers, special event coordinators, or supplier partners, to directly influence participation in our industry events (short of making participation fees and/or services free…which would drive us all out of business), there are lots of more positive things we can be doing during these challenging times that will help our businesses.
Strategic Planning
I’m sure many of you (especially association executives) have participated in some type of strategic planning process. The process itself is fairly straight forward. An outside facilitator (this is one of those business activities, like survey development and compilation, where it’s best to utilize outside expertise) works with the management team from an organization to prioritize a doable number of business initiatives. The concept being that an organization can’t do everything on its “wish list”, so it’s better to prioritize three to five initiatives and then figure out what resources, i.e., financial and personnel, will be needed to accomplish them. Definitive timelines are also applied to the initiatives.
Typically, strategic planning includes short range initiatives (one to three years), and also longer range goals (five to ten years). However, in today’s economic quagmire, I would think that an organization would focus on shorter range initiatives. And keep in mind, the strategic planning process isn’t just for trade associations or professional societies. corporations (big or small) should definitely consider this process. If you do decide to move forward with strategic planning, consider engaging an outside facilitator to maximize unbiased participation. It will be money well spent and keep the ship pointed in the right direction. Two strategic planning facilitators I recommend are;
Buz Buzogany, Buzogany Associates, www.buzoganyassociates.com
Harrison Coerver, Harrison Coerver & Associates, www.harrisoncoerver.com
Survey Members or Clients
I’ve received a number of surveys from the member organizations I belong to. Recently, the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) sent me one having to do with ethics within the industry. Also, the Association Forum of Chicagoland sent me a survey asking me what programs they might offer to benefit supplier members, like me.
Surveys are an excellent way to accomplish two things. First, you continue to stay in touch with your members or clients. And secondly, you can obtain valuable feedback. This is an excellent time to do both and the process is easy and inexpensive with on-line programs such as www.surveymonkey.com, www.zoomerang.com, etc. A professional survey and research company I recommend is:
Linda Wing, Premier Research Solutions, www.premierresearchsolutions.com
Update Website & Develop/Reorganize Social Media Strategy
Many of us neglect to update our Web site content from time to time. I don’t know if there’s a recommended schedule, and it doesn’t need to be a total overhaul, but certainly a refresh every quarter or so would be a good habit to get into. As well, if your organization does not have a social media marketing strategy in place, you need to start developing one. If you are already using social media to market your business, now might be a good time to evaluate how it’s working for you and adjust anything that needs adjusting. I have an excellent resource to recommend for Web site development and social media strategy:
Brian Basilico, B2b Interactive Marketing, Inc, www.b2b-im.com
Consider Outsourcing
This is also a good time to think about how your meeting and/or tradeshow staff is being utilized. Are there strategic projects you would like them to start investigating, but they don’t have time? Perhaps it might be a good idea to consider outsourcing certain event-related projects which could free up some of your staff’s time for more strategic initiatives. Not to sound solicitous, but there are plenty of experienced folks out there (EXPOexpert included), and it’s a buyer’s market, so the price is right!
Keep Up Sales & Marketing Efforts
When times are slow and money is tight, it’s tempting for organizations to cut things like advertising, sales and other marketing initiatives. However, I think that would be a huge mistake.
Consider the story of Procter & Gamble during the great depression of the 1930s. While most companies were cutting advertising budgets, Procter & Gamble actually increased its advertising budget. They realized that despite the economic mess, people still needed household products…like the soap they produced. Through targeted advertising to women via radio shows based around their products (these eventually evolved into television soap operas), they not only increased their revenues, but improved their customer base and brand image. Procter & Gamble understood the power of message management.
Similarly, the meeting, tradeshow and special events industries must continue our message management with campaigns to encourage event participation. Certainly there are some campaigns out there, i.e., IAEE and the Center for Exhibition Research (CEIR)—“Exhibitions Mean Business” and the Convention Industry Council’s (CIC) “FACE Time. It Matters” (www.facetimematters.org). But more is needed and we as individual companies within our industry must do more and continue to keep advertising, selling not only our products and services, but the message that ”face-to-face marketing is the most cost-effective way for American industries to sell.
So, while we enjoy the long, hot summer and times are a little slower…regroup, re-strategize, and keep positive. Thanks for reading and I welcome your thoughts and comments.
P.S. Here’s a funny little video about “teamwork” I’d thought you’d enjoy!
