Inspiration Hub

The Oxford Dictionary defines strategy as “a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.” So, is your trade show plan helping you achieve your sales and marketing goals? Let’s tackle this two ways. First, discuss the 2 least-effective “strategies” that are the default strategy for too many exhibitors, and second, what strategies work best for the most common trade show sales and marketing goals.

Engagement keeps attendees coming back, right? And that adds to the pressure of needing to create more interactive sessions. So what do you do when group interaction isn’t living up to your expectations? Here are a few ways to increase engagement and interaction in your breakout sessions.

Some people may think that empathy in business is extraneous. That it’s irrelevant in a cutthroat world where only the most cold-hearted tycoons thrive. Many even mistakenly believe that empathy means being “soft” or unable to make hard business decisions. Yet, in reality, empathy is a business skill that is absolutely critical to IACC venue operator's success. Empathy enables the best venue sales person to understand, or even anticipate, another event organiser’s needs – to be able to identify the factors that will motivate a person to select a venue and connect in a way that instils trust. And it creates leaders in hospitality who inspire teams to better performance.

Working in corporate events can be a challenge, especially when the senior management team expects magic. Here are a few tips to help you set expectations early and look like a rock star.

Event planners work with lots of people. And finding the right vendors for your team can increase your ability to meet your client’s needs. Once you find a reliable vendor, partnerships are possible and often extremely helpful. But what if you don’t have something as essential as a good caterer? Or what if your best caterer is booked and you need to audition another one? How do you separate the talent from the wannabes? Here’s what you need to look for when hiring a caterer

AV Fees and infrastructure costs are things that you may not think about when planning your event. However, it is a must to keep on your radar! If you don’t find out venue capabilities ahead of time you may be in for a world of surprises in fees and additional costs.

With millions of tickets being sold in the U.S. each year, it’s easy to think there’s a “silver bullet” promotion strategy for events. But there isn’t. Your event — including your needs and resources — is unique. And while four out of five (78%) Americans attended a live event in 2016, that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll pack the house.

Often overlooked, your About Us page is the one spot on your website that should be all about the history of your association! This section is your chance to create a human connection with your audience for members and potential members alike. By thinking of your About Us page as a tool for your marketing campaign, you can update your audience on your past, present, and future. Take a look below at how you should use the six W’s (What, When/Where, Who, Why, and How) to best update your About Us page.

At any organization, the chief marketing officer and the chief technology officer typically stand alone in separate silos. But as technology’s role in the marketing world increases, there is a greater need to change these roles, especially in the events space. It’s why in the years to come, the role of the CMO may evolve to CMTO – or chief marketing technology officer.

Sponsorship used to be a thinly veiled euphemism for advertising. Counting on big brands to bankroll the festival, organizers would plaster logos everywhere in sight. But the sponsorship as advertising model is outdated. Not only does the blatant advertising not drive brand engagement — it can actually make fans dislike a brand or a festival.

There’s something killing intelligent conversation these days. And the irony behind it is that people think using these words makes them sound more intelligent. It’s time we put an end to these overdone buzzwords. Join us in our quest to identify the 35 most annoying buzzwords in the event industry.

A potential attendee has been hearing about your conference from her colleagues, and she is raring to go to this year’s event. But her notoriously tight-fisted manager isn’t too keen on paying the costs for her to attend on top of having her out of the office for several days.

Member lapses are normal, and to an extent, inevitable. But many of them CAN be prevented - with the right strategy in place. Need help minimizing lapsed members at your organization? Try out these tactics

When it comes to event planning, it is paramount to remember that your event’s lifespan is divided into 3 phases: pre-, during and post-event. Making sure that your goals are met and that you managed to create an impactful experience for your attendees is an ongoing process that goes beyond the big day. In an effort to ensure maximum impact and document the lessons learnt for future improving, event professionals should also lay a significant share of their focus on the post-event phase.

We’re now making workforce history as Millennials have become the dominant demographic in the US, outnumbering Baby Boomers 80 million to 76 million. There is a resulting generational shift in the workforce currently underway, and gathering steam. However, as Baby Boomers delay retirement in increasing numbers, friction is occurring as growing numbers of Millennials enter the workforce and find themselves at odds with their Boomer managers and Gen X counterparts. In some cases, they’re competing for the same positions, bringing a different point of view and different work ethic with them.

Most garden-variety force majeure clauses specify that both parties to a contract can cancel without invoking damages if unanticipated occurrences outside the control of either party make it illegal or impossible to go forward with the event. But that’s not enough in today’s environment, says attorney Joshua Grimes, president of Grimes Law Offices LLC. With today’s 24/7 news cycle and a growing national obsession with the Weather Channel, more attendees are getting spooked by potential events—anything from a hurricane bearing down on Houston to a service workers strike that threatens to shut down an airport—and deciding to skip the meeting several days ahead of time.

I often hear my association’s meeting professional members say that they would like a “seat at the table,” especially when it relates to organizational strategy. In many cases, meeting professionals are not valued or respected enough within their companies, or at least not to the point of getting that proverbial seat. Our industry can do better.

Your event is doing fine. You sell the same amount of tickets every year, more or less. You’ve got the production dialed. Sure, there’s competition, and you’ll keep your eye on it. But could you be doing better? It’s so easy to fall into a status quo of event operation. It takes gumption to make big changes. But in the hyper-competitive event world, “good enough” is no longer good enough. Today, people attending events of all types expect engaging experiences, memorable takeaways, and technology that always works.

The concept of helicopter parents buzzing around the workplace, just like they hovered and swooped on the elementary school soccer field, sounds like a joke. No doubt you’ve heard of this phenomenon — parents sitting in on interviews or calling to re-negotiate a child’s compensation package. NBA recruit Lonzo Ball has recently received a ton of attention for his dad’s, um, involvement, in the draft process. Some of the stories are so egregious that you may wonder if these incidents are bizarre outliers, blown out of proportion by the media.

Snag those attendees early with early discounts, right? Or is Early Bird pricing more of a pain than it’s worth? Here’s what you need to consider when deciding whether to use advance pricing incentives to drive ticket purchasing.

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch? Five thousand Calgary residents were invited to one in downtown’s Olympic Plaza on June 15, no strings attached. On the menu: carrot soup, chickpea salad, Panzanella Greek salad, and potato salad, topped off with bread pudding with compote. The cost to feed the crowd was well below even the most constrained F&B budget: $380. 

When planning events, event planners and event professionals know the importance of generating ROI. However, whether it’s calculating the return of investment based on how much the event’s plates cost, or understanding the ROI of the mobile event app – there should never be any question as to what value your expenses bring back.

Sponsors and exhibitors are investing significant amounts and efforts to gain more visibility at your events. Therefore, it is crucially important to ensure a smooth and rewarding experience on the exhibition floor, not only by supporting them in driving more traffic to their booth but to making them feel that they were key components of an overall rewarding experience.