@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.

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

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

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.

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

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jeffhurt: Meetings And Events As Systems Thinking: The Contact Sport #eventproffs #assnchat http://ow.ly/CRrP...