My clients value the service I provide and in general sign back up year after year.  It’s a great endorsement that I’ve been working for some of them for 14 years and there are only 3% of clients who only use us for one event.  I love building relationships with clients as I really feel that you get better value the more we know about the company, it’s brand and it’s internal style.  By learning about these things we can tweak the services, save even more time preparing designs and documentation and advise on new areas that might expand their offering.

At Nutmeg, we’re specialists in business to business events and exhibitions.  This knowledge enables us to support and advise clients to the best of our ability.  Hence we bring on board other partners as and when we need them so that we can stay focused on the jobs we do really well.  Hence, I’m always a little disappointed when I see Event Agencies that profess to do everything - to my mind they’re the jack of all trades.  They may do a good job and cover off all the areas you require but are they really fine tuned to your event needs?  

Over the years, I’ve seen PR agencies, stand designers, venue finders and marketing agencies all take on event and exhibition management.  Some events have been fantastic but I know that others could really be enhanced by working with some event specialists.  After all, I’m not a PR specialist and my business is not driven in the same way so why should I start to do that?  I was trained in marketing and worked in the field for years, so in theory I could turn my hand to most elements and do a fair job but it’s not my niche, it’s not the job that I do standing on my head.

For example, venue finders are great for, guess what, finding venues.  They have knowledge of hotels and conference centres that surpasses my own - I’m not spending day in day out talking to hotels and researching new spaces.  Hence, I use them myself for that extra expertise.  What I do though is go through their results and make sure that they fit the requirements of my clients.  I can brief them all I like but I’ll know when going through the results, if they’ve found a gem or if they’ve struggled to find any venues that fit the last minute, tight deadlines of the client and then I’ll be able to evaluate if the compromise is worth it.

It’s by combining your specialists that you get the best services.  You don’t compromise on your product so don’t compromise on your suppliers.

Once again it was a real pleasure to work at ISE. It's the 3rd year I've been to this AV and Systems Integration tradeshow and I'm interested in the way it's growing, the quality of the exhibitors and the sheer number of visitors.  This year they surpassed expectations and increased visitor numbers by 17% to 40,869.  Pretty impressive figures for a very cold week at the end of January.

This year I was working with a client in the Residential systems area in Hall 1. They had a good presence and made full use of their space and surrounding areas.  But more of that in the next post, for now I want to concentrate on the positive ways that ISE attracted visitors to their show. 

Organisers can no longer assume that they’ll automatically get the footfall they, and their exhibitors need.  They need to engage their audience and really work to pull them in - not just to register but to actually turn up.

Encouraging exhibitors to market the event for them

The organisers engaged with the exhibitors on a personal level.  Even with 825 exhibitors at the event, every time I phoned to speak to sales or admin I was treated like a friend and colleague. I accept that my client has been part of the association and exhibited at ISE for years but they're not a major exhibitor, so it was good to know that I had the organiser’s ear when I needed it.  This was just the start of building a relationship that engaged the exhibitors and really them become part of the exhibition.  I really think this is key to how exhibitions should move forward - it’s about working together to promote your investments.

Marketing Plan

I’m sure the organisers had a comprehensive marketing plan to draw in visitors, both directly and via their exhibitors.  However, this is my take on the elements that I saw and felt were effective.

Exhibitor Newsletters: regular information to exhibitors outlining key information and deadlines.  It’s easy to forget deadlines when you’re caught up in many events or marketing projects so these newsletters were a bonus for many exhibitors.

Visitor Newsletters: this one was sent to registered visitors and previous attendees.  These newsletters built in frequency as the show approached but didn’t seem to push the “TOO MUCH” button.  Exhibitors could sign up for advertising slots on the newsletter and submit their press releases for inclusion.

Pre-show Magazine:  another opportunity for exhibitors to promote themselves via PR and advertising as the organisers produced and sent out this valuable and informative magazine.

Show Daily:  I’m never sure how useful these are as I see so many littering the bins but they’re always popular with exhibitors keen to get their latest information in and encourage people to visit their stand on the day.

Partners: A series of key partners built a good sponsorship marketing campaign enabling the partners to promote the event, their presence at it and show how important they feel the event is.

Customer Tickets: exhibitors could download free branded entrance tickets for their customers.  The exhibitors show goodwill by sharing these, help save the client some effort and money as well as using them as the basis for their own marketing campaign.

Banners and Logos: These were readily available, again enabling the client to incorporate the exhibition into all their current marketing plans.

Mark your Diary:  How simple!  A button on the home page of the show website which automatically put the dates into your diary - with one click the date is marked.

Connecting on LinkedIn: some of the key staff connected with their exhibitor contacts enabling them to be visible on their contacts profiles.

Show guide app:  This app was downloadable onto Smart Phones and enabled visitors (and exhibitors) to get basic info, find exhibitors and plan meetings.

Twitter: if there was one weak area then it might be Twitter.  I had to work hard to find their Twitter feed and they only had around 800 followers.  Twitter is a great way to communicate with your fans.

As I scan the web and keep up to date with news and information on events and exhibition I occasionally find interesting articles that are worth forwarding.

In these days of budget control I thought this was worth a mention.

How to Reduce Your Exhibiting Costs by 30% in a Recession

For the full article click on:

www.accessdisplays.co.uk

Technology is moving on fast nowadays.  After all we can now talk to our phones and ask them to find a suitable meeting time, then email or text the people to invite them.  The only trouble is, we now seem happy to talk to a phone but not to actually contact the person and talk to them about the meeting.  OK, that’s taking it to extremes but I’ve had a few instances recently where I’ve been invited to meetings and yet not one person has tried to speak to me.  Hence - I haven’t gone along.

As a person I want to be engaged, encouraged and spoken to - emails just don’t always fit the bill.  So here’s 3 circumstances that may just make people think about how they invite people to events and meetings.

Case 1: I was invited to meet up with a new employee at a supplier.  I don’t use the supplier regularly but am willing to stay in touch.  However, I have now been sent 3 group emails inviting myself and other clients to contact them to set up a meeting.  This seems so lazy to me and as I’m not valuable enough to the supplier to warrant a phone call I’m just not going to use them any more.  

Case 2: A venue finding client wanted to host a small seminar in London and they had met a collection of potential attendees.  This seminar did incur a small cost but the Return on Investment on attending was huge - so it should have been an easy sell.  However, the client refused to call the interested parties and get them to sign up.  They were trying to be more subtle and didn’t want to appear to pressurise people. Emails are great but they can be ignored (see Case 1!).  If you really want to get people to sign up you need to do more than just blast them with social media.  Try the old-fashioned picking up of the phone - especially for a small event where you have already got agreement of interest.  It may take more time but I am sure it will get you the sign ups you need.

Case 3: I was invited to visit a local venue recently - the emailed flyer was once again sent to a large group of recipients. Emails such as these are almost junk to me - with so many arriving they have to stand out to get my attention.  So I didn’t pick up on the first email but was surprised to receive another mail, marked urgent, which asked why I hadn’t responded and was I attending.  Again, it’s not a venue that was essential to my business so I put the email to one side to consider and a few days received another mail, once again demanding I let them know if I was attending.  I can’t believe that this small venue had invited more than 100 people so wouldn’t it have been so much more impressive to call me and invite me personally.  I’m not someone who goes to the opening of an envelope but I am someone who has serious business clients who might use the venue.  Group emails may get you some numbers but do they actually get you the quality atttendees that you need?So this may all seem like a rant but hopefully  you can all see that each scenario would have been so much better by the organiser knowing their mailing list, what motivates and engages them and then making sure that they use a variety of communication, especially a phone call to encourage attendance.  Please PICK UP THE PHONE!

As you might have noticed I’ve  not been writing blogs recently - I took some time off over the summer to sit on a beach and contemplate my navel.  I can heartily recommend it.  I’ve come back to work completely refreshed but with a new burning desire to move onwards and upwards.  I find that I can look at situations afresh and be much more creative about how I’m going to move things forward.

I understand that not every business owner/freelancer can take 3 weeks off work but given the school holidays were upon us and everyone is growing up so quickly I tipped the scales to life and let the work stand still for a while.

So, here’s my action plan for the next month:

• • get fitter.  I’m making time to exercise first thing, following a training programme so that I push myself and don’t just workout at my usual steady level.
• • turn off the Today programme and wake up to some calming music instead (I’m fed up of the negativity of the press)
• • change my home page from BBC news to StumbleUpon (what fantastic inspiration that brings up)
• • turn off my iPod when I’m walking (I seemed to fill my every moment with news and noise and had no time to let my brain run free)
• • set up goals for each of my business ideas and prioritise which ones I’d handle first.
• • print out a weekly planner and divide each week up into the different projects/roles and make sure that I focus solely on that project that day.
• • go to a quiet place once a fortnight and consider the monthly plan and how I’m moving the business forward.

So it’s all about priorities, contemplation and focus...I’ll keep you updated on how I get on but right now it feels really positive and I really don’t think I’d have got here without taking time out for myself and my family.

I have to admit - this blog post is a shameless promotion but I was so impressed by the venue that I just had to mention it.  I recently visited the Quantum Hotels in Bournemouth and the wonderful Alice Smee gave me a show around the work in progress.  

Three hotels on Bournemouth sea front have recently changed hands and the new owners Quantum Hotel Group are gutting the Cottonwood  Boutique Hotel, the Ocean View Hotel and the Bay View Breeze Hotel. Stepping over the rolls of carpet, the pots of paint and the new furniture deliveries I was impressed by the vision and sense behind the plans.  The three hotels are next to each other on the spectacular Bournemouth Eastcliff.  With stunning sea views and plenty of light these hotels have already ticked off two of my event wants.

However it was the vision that really impressed me.  The three hotels are being designed to meet all needs. The basic Bayview Hotel has the value rooms.  There are no mod-cons but for position and price I see little to beat it. The mid-range Cottonwood Boutique hotel is wonderfully quirky - from the pink and gold wall paper to the deliciously comfortable seats this is somewhere you just want to sit and chill.  Last but definitely not least is the high-end Ocean View Hotel.  This is the meeting and wedding venue, with a calming serene design feel, you can use this simple backdrop to create any mood you desire.  Watch out for the wall paper in the main areas - it’s fascinating and simply has to be touched.

So that’s the buildings but what about their staffing vision - this is a hotel group that is working to empower staff and make sure that customer service is topmost in everyone’s minds.  What a difference it will make if the staff are looking out for opportunities to impress and make your visit that extra bit special.

There is a long way to go to get all three hotels fully up and running but I do recommend that you keep an eye on progress and sign up to their website to get a cheeky first look. www.quantumhotelgroup.co.uk 

I always find it a challenge to explain what I do.  So many people have their own vision of event management that as soon as I mention those words the listener disappears into their memory and assumes that what I do is what they think I do.  They activate their human listening filter. From art galleries filling their spaces with exquisite works of art, to the organisers of music festivals dealing with crowd control and highly strung band members, event management covers many areas and I have to bring clarity to explain my own particular niches.  This presents it’s own challenges as I want to come up with a snappy description of my business - encompassing all I do whilst inspiring the listeners.

It’s not easy to describe what you do - in fact I’d even say that you can’t do this effectively whilst your listeners have their own minds. They take the words you utter and filter them through their own memories and values.  The end result is a mismatch based on prejudices (good and bad).  Hence we need to work really hard to describe our roles and business in the clearest terms possible.

The first role I had to describe was one of sales and marketing trainee at Access, the credit card company.  Just mention who you worked with and suddenly you were inundated with views, opinions and issues.  The sales and marketing trainee aspect just got ignored.  As far as everyone else was concerned I could help them resolve their credit card statement issues, despite the fact that I was actually involved in market research and sales training for the terminals (no wireless electronic equipment in those days!)

I then went on to work for a company called Atex who made proprietary newspaper equipment.  As part of the Kodak group I was astounded when some visitors to a focused industry exhibition came up to me and asked if I could process their film.  Nowhere on the stand did we mention film, cameras or anything photography related but the Kodak brand was so strong in their mind that a small 20cm logo had attracted their attention.  So not only do we need to watch our words but also think about how your image is perceived through the human filter.

We can’t change the human filter - we all have it built in.  It enables us to pick up conversations from afar when someone mentions our clients or our favourite films.  It does that amazing thing where, once we buy a car we suddenly see 100s of them on the roads.  As a result I’m striving to come up with an objective but interesting description for my business so that I can automatically appeal to the interested parties and make the non-interested at least think about how events can improve their bottom line.  It’s an ongoing process and a fascinating one but one which means that I always try to tune my filters effectively when I’m talking to clients and prospects.  I’ve got to hear their needs and be able to respond and I can’t do that if my human filters aren’t fine tuned.

As you probably know if you’ve been reading my blogs, I’m on a mission to get out and about and meet and chat to as many interesting business people as I can.  I’ve found over the past few months that if I plan carefully I’ve always come away with something useful.  It may not be a sales opportunity but it can be some clarity or business inspiration.  However, I also have to confess that I’ve rushed into a few meetings where I was unprepared and without focus and have really found that I lost much of the potential value.

It is essential to think about why you want to meet each person before you set up a meeting. I’m not advocating a full time seat reservation at Costa Coffee but focused meetings that meet one of your outlined needs.  These needs may not all be sales focussed but may be about building your contact list, or they may fulfil your desire to help and support the community.  So, don’t set up meetings with anyone but do make a list of your requirements and consider if each person can meet that in some way. If they don’t meet those requirements, is it really worth your time? One last thought before you scrap the meeting - do they know anyone who can help you?  People buy from people so maybe the more people you know the more you’ll sell?

As you know, I work on my own now so one of my needs is to meet up with kindred spirits and just talk about my plans for my business.  As a result I’ve been lucky enough to find a small group of ladies who meet up once a month and discuss our business progress.  It’s a great pleasure to meet with them, and it gives me a chance to talk about my current business issues and what’s sometimes better, I get to support their businesses and help them grow.

Even in such a friendly regular meeting I go along with a list of what I want to cover and get out of the meeting.  I set out my issues and goals and make sure I cover them.  Even for new contact meetings I suggest you do this.  Conversations do have a tendancy to wander so it’s great to have focus and something to return too.  If it’s a sales call, not only do you look prepared and interested in them but you’ve got an agenda that makes sure that you don’t leave without the information/tip/contract you need.