Over the past few months I came across very insightful blog posts written by industry professionals and event entrepreneurs. I was very inspired and decided to do a short write-up with recommendations. I hope you’ll also find them inspiring and informative as much as I did!
It is this time of year again, to look back and reflect on 2015. Setting my goals for this year I said that I want to organise monthly #EventPlannersTalk live events based on the weekly Twitter chat. That was the first year I embarked on my entrepreneurial career so want to share with you my ups and downs, as our job is not always as glamorous as it seems, but of course it is lots of fun!
Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to organise the events monthly as it turned our to be more challenging as expected! Looking for a venue, sponsors, speakers, choosing the topic and other admin stuff while running the Twitter chat weekly wasn’t easy and hopefully will be easier next year. On the other hand, the Twitter weekly chats got positive feedback and great engagement from the global event community and I am glad this target was met. The aim of the chat is to bring the online community into the physical space to keep the discussion going face-to-face, something to keep working on and developing next year.
On the other hand, it made me reconsider the initial idea – are monthly events really necessary? Do attendees want that much content and education, and most importantly, can I maintain high quality each and every month or is it better having less events but higher profile every couple of months? To be honest with you that is still a question I don’t have an answer for and I believe as an entrepreneur you need to constantly analyse the marketplace and rely on your data.
With so much still in planning, for now I share with you what I did learn this year from launching my event business, the #EventPlannersTalk LIVE event.
Yes, unfortunately there will be last minute no-shows so don’t be afraid to overbook your event. I would say it depends on who your audience is and whether you charge for tickets and how much to determine by how much you will have to overbook.
Starting out I wasn’t aware of hidden costs of a venue, such as a projector, and thought it will be always included. To my surprise it added extra £100 to my costs. Of course I can’t blame the venue for it, that was my responsibility to discuss it upfront and I didn’t do it, or didn’t know I have to. Many venues today have it included but many still don’t. My recommendation is to make sure you are aware of what is included and what is not in venue hire before you sign the contract.
This year I published an article The Price of Free Events, discussing the trend in our industry to organise free events in exchange for data or marketing. There are some downsides to free events, such as being too salesy and giving your data to third parties. Additionally, from an attendee point of view, if you don’t pay for an event, you can’t really complain when it is poor quality. Personally, I will be ready to pay for an event and to have higher expectations. Another downside of free events is the high number of no-shows. Some organisers are ready to cope with it, but as someone starting out in the industry I knew that I can’t afford it so will charge for my events. Last but not least, I want to promise my attendees better value for their money, giving them the choice of choosing what they are ready to pay for.
The last #EventPlannersTalk was planned within two weeks and I regard it as the most successful event so far. I admit that I had fear and uncertainty if I will be able to execute it successfully, but in the end it it exceeded all expectations. Sometime working under pressure it the best motivation!
During the live event we had active stream on social media and several companies and individuals decided to jump on the opportunity and promote their services with the hashtag #EventPlannersTalk. Using a Twitter wall TweetWall Pro and not being aware of it, it disrupted my analytics. For the next event I filtered these few accounts so they won’t be shown on final report and got more accurate data.
Someone who was supposed to help me with one of the events cancelled on the morning of the event. That was of course disappointing but be ready for that. Employees will fall sick or might have other personal priorities out of your control. You can do nothing about it, just work with people who you can really trust and someone who can help you last minute.
That can happen as well. Unfortunately I had two speakers who cancelled on the day of the event. That is unpleasant but nothing you can do about it, but have a plan B. Have your black book of contacts ready and find out who can save your event!
I realised it is very hard to get attendee’s feedback. If they are happy they will share on social media or don’t tell anything. If they are not they might not attend again. Best thing is to use your intuition and try to put yourself in their shoes.
I am a big believer in Twitter and Instagram, therefore it took me long time to get convinced that email marketing works. When I say email I mean newsletters. I spend so much time on social media I tend to neglect the power of email marketing but it does work, when you do it right of course and grow your email list organically. I need to keep reminding myself that even though I spend so much time on social media, not all my audience does and some prefer email communication.
Organising own events is not easy and your attendees, sponsors and other stakeholders will be constantly watching you and your progress to decide whether they want to work with you in the future. If you are hard-working, reliable, responsive, professional, stand behind your promises you will see that you will attract the right people. And the more you do, the more experience you get you learn from it and get better – it is a never ending learning curve. Good luck to all event entrepreneurs out there!
Missed #EventPlannersTalk LIVE events? Read about past events:
To to promote your events using social media
How to grow your event business with blogging
How to start an event planning business
Dr. Christian Coppeneur-Gülz is the managing director of the WWM Group, today a leading provider of event and marketing solutions for B2B customers in Germany. The following interview gives an overview about his innovative business model myWWM, industry insights and some takeaways for entrepreneurs.
The WWM Group is a leading provider of event and marketing solutions for companies from all industries based in Germany but which operates internationally. In 2005 the WWM Group had three main business areas: mobile presentation systems, exhibition stand constructions and digital print. After analysing market trends in different industries Christian Coppeneur-Gülz came up with a new business model, myWWM.
How did it all start?
My family was already in the exhibition business. We were a market leader in Germany in producing pop-up-displays. After graduating from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management I decided to continue and make a PhD at the chair of Information Systems and Information Management (Wirtschaftsinformatik und Informationsmanagement), at the same time I worked part-time at the family business, where I could implement my research. That was when I came up with the idea of myWWM.
What is myWWM?
myWWM is an innovative business model which helps firms to facilitate their exhibition appearance. Instead of selling mobile presentation systems, we provide our customers with free of charge presentation systems. It may sound strange, but myWWM clients only pay for their individual graphics, which reduces their investment cost by 50%. In addition, we take over the storage of all marketing material and release the customers from all the related logistics. We offer our clients to set up their exhibition booths all over Europe for a fixed price. To that we make sure that damaged equipment is quickly fixed or replaced, the related costs are covered by our own insurance.
The myWWM software constitutes the core of the myWWM solution. It allows the coordination of all above mentioned processes online via the myWWM platform. Whenever a client is interested in myWWM, we offer the decision makers an extensive analysis and consultancy for continuous optimisation of their marketing processes.
What were the difficulties when you introduced the new concept?
In the beginning we had to convince our existing clients of our new business model, so we offered them to try it for free – we transferred their business to the new platform. Secondly, it was challenging inside the organisation, because the employees were still convinced about the old model. Today the business model speaks for itself.
Today more and more companies host virtual exhibitions. Do you see it as a threat to your business?
No, and there are two reasons for that. Firstly, especially in B2B, long term relationships matter. People are in daily contact via email, phone or social media, and once in a while they meet face to face because meeting business partners in person strengthens the relationship and builds trust. In my opinion digital communication accompanies face to face meetings but does not replace them.
Secondly, there is a growing trend towards smaller exhibitions which are more targeted at the individual needs. To attend these kinds of events people are still very willing to invest time and money.
Besides the trend of smaller and targeted exhibitions, what other trends do you see?
Exhibitions become tactical, as opposed to strategic. Tactical means that customers book exhibitions more short term and the frequency of exhibitions increases. Customer behaviour is changing. At the WWM Group we recognise this trend by seeing booking lead time goes from three month to three days to which we are also responsive.
How do you incorporate sustainability in your business model?
In the traditional process, the customer has to contract several suppliers such as stand manufacturers, furniture suppliers, brochures/ print agency, technicians etc. At the end of the exhibition all this equipment has to be shipped back to the individual providers or thrown away. With myWWM we provide the customer with everything he needs and when the event is over we store it at our own logistics centre until it is needed again. That makes only one transaction and reduces the environmental footprint. In addition to that, when booking via our website, the customer can check the environmental footprint caused by the shipment. This transparency enables the customer to participate actively in the process.
What are the plans for the future?
By 2015 myWWM wants to be a market leader in three industries, recruiting, finance and healthcare.
Can you share from your entrepreneurial experience?
From my experience, in big companies you cannot implement your own ideas as in small companies but on the other side the private price is bigger.
Regarding small companies the competitive environment is not as tough as amongst big companies. Thus, if you are successful it will be quickly recognised.
It is important to build up relationships; people are always an important key factor in any business.
And last but not least, every industry is sexy. You can find opportunities in any business niche and become successful.
