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1. The Attendee/Exhibitor Connection Spot
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Although this is called the attendee/exhibitor connection spot, it is merely a tool just for attendees. Now, being an attendee (ooops, I mean exhibitor) who spent 75% of my time in learn labs and sessions, I didn’t get to experience this tool. It was explained to me this tool is for attendees only. This means if you’re not attending, you could only really connect via #asae09 on twitter… which mind you isn’t the best “connecting” tool on the market.

Now, ASAE asked us exhibitors to “encourage” our asae attending clients/prospects to use this tool to set appointments with us??? This is silly! First, ASAE only provided exhibitors with a list of 250 pre-reg attendees for marketing (eh hem, that’s not a big chunk of the attendee pie). Second, why would I drive a potential client of our company to look at a connection center full of our competition? I might as well just ask them to set a direct appointment with me (Which we do).

Also, why not create an online conference community for attendees, speakers and suppliers AND non-attendees to network in? This would help drive attendance and keep non-attendees better connected. Again, something more than just twitter. This community could leverage web 2.0 technology allowing users to apply “tags” to themselves so that the system would automatically facilitate matchmaking. Why not let suppliers and attendees have discussions and let the community manage the dialogs (and abuse)? Omnipress calls this conference 2.0 – http://www.conferencespot.org –

You see the more people you can bring together, the more awareness you get, the increased attendee satisfaction, increased repeat attendance, increased sponsorship sales you get. It’s a value equation that has plenty of oppty for improvement.

2. On the cost side of life… Better awareness of exhibitor’s one complimentary pass for an ASAE attendee is needed.
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I just re-read an email from ASAE that included this paragraph burried towards the bottom,

“Also, I hope you’re aware that exhibitors can invite a client to attend the full 2009 Annual Meeting & Expo for free. If your best client just doesn’t have the budget to pay for their registration, tell them you’d be happy to sponsor them. Each exhibiting company is designated one free full-meeting registration for a client…give them discount code EXHINVITE and their meeting registration will be complimentary! Furthermore, if you have clients in the Toronto area who’d just like to visit you on the trade show floor, that is free too. “Expo only†passes are available to association executives or meeting professionals for free, but are available on-site only. So extend the invitation. I know you’d like to use these offers for your own staff, but these promotions are for new association professional registrations only…I tried though! Just kidding, expo team.”

Does ASAE not want their exhibitors to know about this?

In 50+ emails I get daily, content and offers need to stand out. That free pass was a big thing. I missed it and sadly, Omnipress missed this opportunity to help one person attend.

How can this be done differently, take the #buzz2009 event. I got a personal email (or at least it didn’t look all formal), with one topic – sponsor an attendee.

Read this (from Lindy) and guess what we did.

Hi Chris,

I saw that Tony signed up for Buzz2009. Awesome. I also wanted to give you some info on a scholarship idea we’ve been kicking around.

First, here’s the post to share with folks who might want to apply for the scholarship. http://www.buzz2009.org/2009/06/scholarship/

We’ve opened it up to 2 scholarships for now, but we’re also asking folks to sponsor a scholarship. So far we have two sponsors confirmed. I think our goal is to accommodate everyone who applies with a thoughtful story. We’d give you credit as a Buzz2009 Scholarship Sponsor, both on the blog, on the Twitter stream at the event, and from the podium, and the money would go toward sending a deserving candidate who applies. We could also be talked into choosing one of your clients…but we’d still like them to “apply.” The sponsorship is $350.

What do you think of the idea? We’re looking for feedback, even if this is not the right fit for you guys.

Talk to you soon!
Lindy
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You guessed it… We sacrificed sending me to the event which would have been incremental costs since we already had on staff attending to pay out of our pockets for someone else to go. A no brainer!!!

One it helps get someone there (goodwill, karma or whatever you call it) and Two, it’s marketing. In consideration for our money, Lindy (and others) recognized us.

So maybe ASAE could be more direct and ask exhibitors to contribute (a ticket, a hotel room, transportation) to help get someone there as we all know the cost for the event is much larger than the reg fee. Then get this info front and center to exhibitors and then talk about those who help out.

In conclusion. I love the ASAE meetings. I think they do a great job. Their staff is great and I enjoy my experience there. I believe that technology, better marketing and goodwill could easily drive more attendance and get more people connected in the future.

Chris Uschan – Dir of Online Marketing
http://www.omnipress.com/chrisuschan

I could not attend due to…drum roll please…budget cuts!

No one from our organization went and our boss always attends. And no one will attend any conference this year except our own. Nor will anyone from here probably attend next year either.

I tried to pull together my own personal funds to attend yet when it came down to the wire, it was not worth my personal money and time out of the office, especially when it was an international affair. And what was the real lure for me, other attendees in my social network! Not the content, not the experience, not the location, not the organization. It was getting to have face time with people like you, Lindy and many others in my social network.

I did attend Jeff De Cagna’s live streaming and thought it was brilliant. Great content, good engagement and virtual attendees got some personal face time. I tried to follow some tweets yet there were just too many and my work calendar was full to dedicate time to read and follow.

As a conference and event organizer, I think we’re witnessing the shift of meetings and events in ways we would have never considered a couple years ago. First, I believe that every conference will be engaged in social media whether they want to or not. There will be people onsite using the tools and it can’t be controlled. Better to embrace it and use it as a benefit than fight it. Second, associations have to create other revenue streams outside of dues and conference fees. Associations depend too much on revenue from conferences and I think we’ll witness many dipping into their reserves this year and next because of decreased conference revenues. Third, I suspect every conference will have virtual elements in the near future. Finally, conference organizers must begin to see the conference as part of a larger eco-system and the face-to-face event is only one touch point in larger community context of many virtual touch points throughout the year. Association members are demanding this or they will spend their membership dollars elsewhere.

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In my personal experience (and specifically with Buzz2009) I would say that having a fair amount of content available virtually and for free actually increases interest in the organization and the conference. Time will tell how this will have worked in the run up to Buzz2010, however the TED conferences are based on this model and it works really well.

I also think that any way you keep people engaged in your activities has got to be a good thing – almost everyone who responded to my message about ASAE had budget cuts as a reason for not being able to go, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about that as an event planner except reduce your registration fees substantially – but I didn’t see hotel rooms being any cheaper than usual, nor flights, so that may have limited effects.

If this is true, I think ASAE needs to really bring that opportunity to the forefront and push exhibitors to sponsor attendees. It’s to everyone’s benefit.

Anyone else know of this?