Sustainability

Giving Back – Events with an Impact

Posted on January 22, 2014

I can’t express enough the amount of happiness and satisfaction I had when we could donate money raised from a party for a good cause. If you read my post Casino Party you know that during four months we worked very hard every week organising fundraising events and all the funds went towards the end of semester party. We were a group of hard working and talented people and the great success was thanks to the great teamwork and the mix of skills we all had! In the process, our hard work was recognised by a local coffee shop which offered us a small sponsorship. This money went towards hiring an artist as we wanted to make this party an entertaining and memorable event.

After paying all the bills we had enough money left to give back to a place which gave us so much, the university WHU – Otto Beisheim of Management. And that I mean in terms of excellent educations, support while abroad, personal and professional development and much more. We have chosen to give the money to In Praxi Diversity Scholarship. This year the master program of the university was ranked 1^st in Germany and 3^rd world wide by the Financial Times and this scholarship covers part of the tuition fee of the program for students outside Germany.

My goal is to make every event sustainable with contribution to the local community.

Below is the full press release I wrote for the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management website:

Exchange students donate money for In Praxi Diversity Scholarship

Every semester WHU welcomes between 100-120 exchange students from almost 200 international partner universities. During the semester, the exchange students (also called Tauschies at the WHU) organise weekly events, called “Tauschie Tuesday” in which they present their culture and sell traditional food and drinks to raise money for the end of semester Tauschie Party. This fall the Tauschies raised a significant amount of money to host a Casino themed party and were happy to donate the rest of the money to the In Praxi – Diversity – Scholarship supported by the WHU Alumni association.

Irina Trofimovskaya, Tauschie Government President: “While one of the main goals of Tauschie event is to raise money for the end of semester party, the Tauschie Government decided that we also want to give back to the community we live in. WHU is an excellent institution, which besides offering academic excellence also provides students with opportunities to develop their social and entrepreneurial skills through the various events organised on campus. The Tauschie Tuesdays gave us the opportunity to integrate faster in the WHU community and provided a great platform for cultural exchange.
We have chosen to donate the money to In Praxi – Diversity – Scholarship, which helps students outside Germany to finance their Master studies at the WHU. We chose it because we can identify with the international aspect of this scholarship and proud to be now part of the WHU Alumni network. We would like to thank all the WHU students, International Relations Office, teachers, career department and all WHU staff who supported us throughout the semester and we look forward to welcoming you at our home universities in the future.“

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Education

Event marketing that inspires

Posted on January 6, 2014

It´s Monday, and it´s the first working week of the New Year. So how about some inspiration in form of event marketing?

If you read one of my previous posts “St. Moritz Art Masters – World Class Event at Top Destination”, you may be already familiar with what I´m going to present you.

So what is it about?

Events promote a number of inspirational quotes. When you read them you don´t think about the event, you may not be even aware that such an event exists, until you look on the bottom right or left of the poster and you realise that this relates to the event. I don´t see it very often, this is only the second time I encounter such marketing strategy and I find it very interesting and interactive (and inspiring, of course). I wish to see more events doing it, it´s a sophisticated way to use print media (no need to move completely to digital) and it just proves in what diverse and original ways you can promote your event. Think out of the box.

Have you seen such marketing elsewhere?

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MICE Destinations

Heidelberg Christmas Market

Posted on December 25, 2013

I hope that everyone is enjoying their holiday season! I am spending Christmas in Germany and here we are enjoying quite a warm weather which allows spending lots of time outside and visiting Christmas Markets.

Germany is famous for its Christmas Markets. Almost in every city and village you can find one and try Glühwein (mulled wine), potato fritters, sweet or salty crêpes, buy small souvenirs such as woodcrafts, candles and much more. Personally I can’t resist all the tempting smells of flavoured teas and nicely packed sweets.

This year I had the chance to visit Heidelberg Christmas Market. Located in the old city on a historic ground, it offers a warm, unique and beautiful atmosphere due to all the wooden huts and Christmas decorations. I even tried a Feuerzangenbowle (red wine punch) for the first time, which was very delicious.

Christmas Markets are great occasions for get together team building events. Being officially planned with reserved seating area or spontaneous after work, they are the ultimate small incentive events.

Here are some impressions from the beautiful Heidelberg Christmas Market.

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Education

Expert interview with Dr. Christian Coppeneur-Gülz, managing director of WWM Group

Posted on December 23, 2013

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.

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MICE Destinations

Casino Party

Posted on December 14, 2013

November was a particularly busy month for me because I had to organise the end of semester party at my exchange university, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany. That was one of the biggest projects for me so far and it turned out to be a great success. The most challenging part was to raise money for the party, as no budget was given. This we achieved by hosting weekly events which presented the culture of exchange students and sold traditional food and drinks. In the process we also got a small sponsorship from a local coffee shop, Nicolas Coffee Company.

The theme which was chosen was Casino. The party setting was meant to be classy and exclusive, the evening starting with casino lounge with Black Jack and Roulette, while a magician walked around and entertained the party guests with card tricks. In the background we had a saxophone and piano live music, was just perfect!

After that, the official show started. We thanked and gave out some gifts to those who helped and supported us throughout the semester and followed with the magician show and dance by our exchange students. At midnight the party kicked- off.

I had the best time of my life organising this party from the early start, being involved in all the stages of the event management and creating new contacts with industry suppliers in a new country. I really hope to work with them again in the future!

Big success of the event is thanks to the great and talented team, which worked long hours to make it happen. Best events have the best teams!

Looking forward to new projects in 2014! Stay tuned.