One of my favorite bloggers, Valeria Maltoni, has an interesting article on Marketing As Systems Thinking.
Valeria says social media and relationships are contact sports.
If social media and relationships are contact sports, then conferences, meetings and events are the athletic fields, gymnasiums and playgrounds for player-to-player and player-to-object contact.
Wow, that’s a powerful analogy. If social media and relationships are contact sports, then conferences, meetings and events are the athletic fields, gymnasiums and playgrounds for player-to-player and player-to-object contact. Sometimes, the conference organizers define the rules of the game. Sometimes the audience makes its own rules. Sometimes, the rules are up for grab and spectators may view it as a collision sport instead.
Using the contact sports analogy, meetings, events and conferences become the venues for contact and connections. Connections like:
- attendee-to-attendee
- attendee-to-organizer
- attendee-to-exhibitor
- attendee-to-mission (whether the organization’s or meeting’s mission)
- attendee-to-content
- content-to-attendee’s emotions
And as Valeria states, connections and relationships are extremely valuable.
So these contacts can become mediums for rich community and industry connections. They can also become the catalysts for community improvements and change, especially those that impact a profession or industry.
Segue Way to Systems Thinking
Systems thinking is a framework that is based on the belief that parts of a system can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation. Systems thinking attempts to illustrate that events are separated by distance and time. Small catalytic events can cause large changes in complex systems.
Many meeting professionals view the annual conference, or any event for that matter, as a silo, a one-time isolated occurrence. They focus their energy, time and tasks on organizing and implementing details for that one event. Once the event is finished, the organizer moves on to the next event, sometimes the following year, or perhaps another event within that year. Each event is isolated and viewed as an end unto itself.
Rarely is the event seen as connected to other events or experiences. Usually, the events professional only considers contact with attendees as a means to an end: getting the attendee to register, pay, show up onsite or consume an established conference path for the experience. Some savvy organizers consider ways to enhance the attendees’ connections onsite. Yet often, once onsite, the contact sports aren’t structured or facilitated with the exception of a motivational message from a coach (general session speaker), set time for networking and more messages during breakouts.
Now, let’s view the face-to-face annual conference, meeting or event through the lens of systems thinking. Considering the contact sports analogy, the annual conference, or homecoming game, is only one game within the sports season. Instead of viewing that one game out of context of the year’s season, organizers consider the whole season. They would view each contact or connection with the attendee for the whole season. They would view each game’s contacts, as part of a larger system of connected games of relationships. Each game (event) would bring new opportunities to apply previous learnings, experience new ones and work on plays and strategies. Ultimately, the whole season counts, not individual games. Although each game is related and connected. And the players for each game are prepared, focused and ready to make contact.
What would happen if the conference organizers viewed each meeting within a larger eco-system of the attendee’s community experience?
What if meetings professionals considered all the contacts and connections and planned the event with a focus on enhancing those connections?
So what do you think?
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jeffhurt: Meetings And Events As Systems Thinking: The Contact Sport #eventproffs #assnchat http://ow.ly/CRrP...
Timely analogy as I just heard USTA’s Roger Dow speak at Tradeshow Week Fastest 50. He said our industry needs to stop being the drama club and start being the football team — meaning get in there and fight! I guess it’s the time of year everyone has gridiron brain.
Not only do organizers need to think of the attendee’s total experience but also the overall experience of all their partners, exhibitors, vendors, etc. Taking a step back to view the ecosystem, as you state, helps organizers understand their homecoming game is not the end-all be-all for their community. There are other games in the season, and there are other teams and sports the participant is involved with as well.
Jeff, what a timely post. In a few weeks, I’m speaking on a panel at IAEE in Atlanta – 12/10. The session title is Attendee Engagement – Onsite + 30 Days.
Basically, the thought process behind this session is to have a tactical game plan to ensure that the attendees get the most out of their participation and that the show organizer reinforces (milks it for everything they can) for the next 30 days. There’s really nothing magical about 30 days, but the main point is that the host organization has a limited time to ride the wave of an in-person conference experience. As you point out, most organizers take a breather after their conference, but you really can’t. That follow up is critical to having the learning and experience stick and hopefully result in repeat attendance…and you got to do it when it’s fresh.
Other points that we are going to cover in our panel include:
Nurturing the Lead – Hot leads get very cold and decay quickly after 2 weeks.
Extreme Networking – My favorite differentiator (contact sport) for face2face.
Planning & follow-up – itinerary tools, matchmaking, handouts, speaker follow-up, etc.
Engagement Gimmicks – speed dating, contests, etc.
Creating lasting Memories – Share-able content
Engaging those that did not attend- Hybrid, twitter, blogs, archived content, etc.
I’m fortunate to be sharing the stage with three superstars from the major tradeshow world…Megan Tanel, Julie Thompson and Shawn Pierce. Should be fun!
Dave Lutz – @velchain
Velvet Chainsaw Consulting
@VelChain
Thanks for adding those points to the discussion and outlining a great strategy for event professionals to follow. It so important these days to see the event within the context of a larger engagement period with the attendee. You’ll have to post your PPT after the Expo, Expo, if you have one. I’m sure it will have wealth of information.
@Dana
Wow, that’s interesting about USTA’s Roger Dow at Tradeshow Week Fastest 50. I guess it is the season’s thought on many minds right now. Yes, event professionals and conference organizers need to think about the total experience for their partners, exhxibitors and vendors. They are critical components of the experience and ecosystem as well.
Jeff, I love the football team analogy.. it is awesome! As long as we are not using the Bears as an example !!! LOL
It’s so true that many event professionals look upon their annual meeting or conference as a finite experience with a beginning and an end when really one conference is just a piece of the total season, or attendee experience. The momentum generated in one event should be carried over into the next one.
As Dave pointed out, timing is critical, and following a conference you have a short window of opportunity to keep your attendees engaged. This is where the real work begins… an action plan needs to be in place to keep people interested in what is happening within the community and the communications need to be compelling and magnetizing.
The Social community tools, such as social collective or Pathable have been created to provide organizations with a useful tool to apply these concepts. But in order for them to be effective people have to use them. That seems to be a challenge… motivating attendees to actually embrace the tools.
I think that as these (social community) tools evolve and become more integrated with other social media apps attendees will begin to see the real value of using them. But, the coaching staff (Events Team) needs to be dedicated to the gameplan!
Thanks for this post… it was timely and well put!
@michaelmccurry
Jeff,
Thanks for drawing this analogy out for us (I’m a big fan of The Conversation Agent).
Systems thinking also helps define the strengths of each player – in the context of the season, not a game. For example, over the course of several events, specific folks will emerge as cheerleaders, quarterbacks and coaches.
The more I work with my clients on specific campaigns, the more I realize that the “doing” of social media helps you define key resources.
John
@John Haydon
Always a pleasure to read your insight and comments. I love the thoughts about how specific folks will emerge as cheerleaders, quarterbacks and coaches. The more we engage in conversations with the players and specatators, just like you discussed in you post What Is Your Conversation Strategy, the more the system flourishes and grows.
@MichaelMcCurry
Yeah, I know you’re a football fan and thought of you when I wrote this. I agree timing is critical. I’d take it one step further and say that the entire season is critical. Think about the event professional that decides to integrate the education and content being provided a conference. If that content is advanced, superior and unique, their could be a series of webinars three-one month from the event with the foundational content. It would be a great way to use content as marketing for the onsite experience.
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Great analogy. Will include in my presentations. While social media had it’s merits, still can’t take away the face to face experience. I ran into another good article with similar thoughts at http://www.a2zmeetingsandevents.com