What If

Wow what if it all came crumbling down and they meaning our customers no longer needed us.

What does that mean. Are we on the cutting edge of engagement instead of the cutting edge of profits or revenue.

Are we all about the end game? Which is connecting people together. I think we are but we get misdirected at times about what the end game is for the group vs. what is the end game for the customer.

You cannot preach on a blog. You can only right what you think in my mind. What if the internet continues to grow? What if the big social channels launch events? What if the world comes to an end? What if they no longer need us?

I don't know if anyone is asking these questions. Here is the reality for those that don't understand or study history. Technology always changes the landscape. For good or bad it happens and once it attaches itself to the host watch out. Wow I said host remember that from your basic science classes.

Our associations that we belong to say hey prepare for disasters. I say you need to also think about what if.
It's coming the evolution has already taken place. Have you seen it? Are you in acceptance for denial?

What if usually becomes reality. Get ready it's coming. Are your senior leaders ready, are your next generation employees ready. It's coming and this not a movie but reality. Also Simon Cowell will not be producing this program you will be with your customers.

What if you change? Is that so bad? Can you change and still facilitate and impact in your industry sector?
If you answered anything but yes you are in trouble.

See the Jetson's everything eventually becomes reality. Does our child's generation even want tradeshows?

They may not are your ready for that what if?

I doubt it but you need to start rethinking your plan and you need to consider what if more than ever.

Get ready times are a changing. Legacy we all want to know that our events survived us.


Another what if your staff bailed and you were left to do it on your own? It could happen.
Also what if you didn't listen to your staffs thought process and it brought down your empire?

Think about What If?

No worries if you don't agree the blog is to make you thinkg

It's been a wet summer but I'm not an expert on weather

Took another break thank goodness I'm not working on creating a novel that will make me any money or I'm not living on adsense money from google to survive.

I never had a diary so I'm not naturally built for blogging plus being a type c personality tends to lends to lack of caring about deadlines. Instead we buffer our deadlines and crash course when it's necessary.

Now as I get older I think I have moved to B personality. You never here about the B only the A and C.  Forget about the rest of the alphabet this is a A can C world. Kind of like being an expert vs. a beginner. 

Now there is nothing wrong with the person that has experience and know a thing or two about the items being discussed. Now the B person knows it but they don't call themselves and expert they refer to themselves as someone with knowledge. 

Who made the expert? Was it hype, intelligence, luck, connections, solid track record.  I don't know who decided Monet was genius and Decartes was so intelligent. I don't know who decide x was the best president ever. Is a expert also one that walks into a perfect situation and just manages it? Maybe.

I just watched the Steve Jobs movie, my kids went to Smurfs two.  I've read the book and I remember back in 95 or 97 when Apple stock was beginning to tank and was selling for around $30 a share. So was Papa Smurf or Steve Jobs an expert they both were in a way and in a way they were not.

To me an expert is anyone that has the basic knowledge to execute something and also aid and provide assistance to another person in order for them to be successful. I always like the samples you here in Wall Street and Trading Places. What's the difference between you and the guy with the cup or whatever.

Here is the reality we all have a brain and only utilize 20% of it. We also have a network of other brains that should get us to about 50% brain capacity. So if we are an expert why are we not operating at 100% capacity. I will leave that up to neuroscience. 

Here is my long winded point the expert may be sitting right next to you in flip flops and shorts and it may not be the person in the suite pants and tie recently back from the cleaners and a fresh shoe shine. 

You need to utilize your network it's not about the expert it's about the network in this business. Now don't get me wrong there are people that may know more but they may not be your expert for what you need.

Thanks for reading and look forward to any comments.

Also sorry for any grammatical errors. Here is my reality I see blogging as free flow. I just write what my mind thinks.

Wow time has passed

Well it's been like a year since I posted anything on here. I was not in a coma, just got caught up in life.

Now what has happened in the last year in the event industry. You would think alot but I'm not sure. You have some big shows that are co-locating. You have seen the media industry completely be blown up via the change in print vs. online. Is print dead no it's a form of communication. It works with a very important buying group in the world.

Now will you be able to say that in 20 or even 10 years. I don't think so. Technology allows you to access and modify the information that you want and how you want to receive. Technology using analytics gives you some powerful abilities to measure and track what your investment was vs. return.

Who I'm kidding you still don't know exactly where most of the buy happened and for how much and what did they purchase. Guess what we don't know in a f2f event either. We have to trust what our exhibitors are telling us. We usually have only cared that they return and are nice on the surveys.

Ok they search online, they search f2f, they make connections but what triggers the buy? Was it a referral, a strong recommendation, a good price, or one heck of a sales person. Or was it just a continuation of existing business.

Now we have to think about many other things clutter? We will get to that on another post. We will also need to think about reach? again another post. One more efficiency? again another post.

All is good I watched the Croods movie over the weekend about cavemen, the world coming to end, family and ideas.
Think about it I will post something on that later as well. Not trying to leave alot of useless teasers, but I need to keep some material for later postings.

Enjoy the Masters weekend or just enjoy the weekend. Just remember this quote "Fear is an Opportunity"

What do we do next

That is the question I always want to know the answer to. What do we do next? Everyone wants to know that answer. Give me your Sun Tzu strategy and tactics and tell me what it's going to do for you.
Everybody is looking for the golden bullet not the silver one. Remember gold prices are high.
I want this and I want that. Well you know what the technology guys cannot provide everything that we need. Because you know what we want 75 different things and what are we going to do with it?
I have no idea. Guess what I want the 75 things as well. I also don't understand why if I pay expect x amount of money I cannot get what I want. I want the world, I want Jetson mania. You know what it's not there so get prepared for triage and manage with what you have been offered.
Okay you are pissed. You paid 40k or more or less for something that didn't do what you wanted. You know what we need to tell them what we want and guess what they need to ask.

I'm not happy are you with what you get from your vendors? I want more and the day that I stop asking for more is the day that innovation stopped. They don't innovation to stop. That is the reason they give you the hook to sign up for another agreement.  You get a taste and you say ok I'm signing up again with you for the next run of the show. Again is it their fault that they have not given anything ipod worthy? That is the question you need to ask or better yet push back and say you know what this is b.s.

Our customers want more we should want more and we need more on the technology side.
Who has taken economics? Guess what technology the price goes down. Are the prices going down? No. Are they giving us more to take advantage of yes? We need to get forward and push them to do more.

We should not assume they know what our needs are. I want what our customers want which is everything.
Our job is to be the best show and guess what our vendors job is to be the best vendors.
But you know what they need us to tell them what we need now and in the future.

where have I been

I have been working but soon, i will get back with you with what is happening in the events world.
Let's engage and continue the conversation

Content

Content what does that mean to you ?

In the old days content was what you put out in your direct mail, print advertising etc.
Now what does it mean? How do you make it effective for your group.
Think social media, think social tools, think how to increase the seo and the content of your website.

Tradeshow and event focus has always been on the exhibitors. Maybe they should all think of the their other customer the attendee as well. The attendee can source for products, ideas and many other things online they can even network to source the furture.
Digital Technology has allowed us new platforms to reach our potential attendees. The difference of today is b2b publications are constantly folding.
So what that means is t.s. need to be in a name acqusition mode.
But now getting back to a reason to read a magazine comes down to time and value.
Can tradeshows provide the content value remains to be seen
Have a good weekend

Return on the Opportunity

During the recent economic downturn the event industry has needed to justify their economic proposition more than any other time.
Ok so we have been dealing with the ROI, ROE, etc. to better justify value for our exhibitor base.
So is the ROI the return on the investment the driving force? Some would say yes. I would say no. The reason and the rational behind the ROI means they are getting x for their y investment. The reality is we cannot control purchases at the show/event. Now we cannot also control their experience in the city of choice for the event.
So in the exhibitor decision making process you have a group saying ROI what is the return? Well how good are they at tracking that investment for their company.
What do we really present? The Return on the Opportunity? Now how do they sieze the moment to get the most out of the event to ensure success for their company? Sponsorship, Education, Premier location, Buzz. If we deliver 20,000 potential buyer the reality is only 30 percent if they are lucky are going to their booth. Now the key is can we help promote more to their booth. Yes we can but that will become a sponsorship.
Tradshows and Events will canvas the potential audience to attend shows. Exhibitor need to do so as well. The best invitation to attend an event is from the supplier.
You as an event person need to deliver value, deliver opportunity and guess what deliver ROI. You know what that can be done with exhibitor partipation.

Exhibitors need to get off of the bleacher and invest on why people need to see them at an event. It's simple events will deliver people, supplier and exhibitors need to close them.