20 Reasons People Attend Conferences

why do people go to conferences

People come to meetings and conferences for lots and lots of reasons.  Here is my list of 20 reasons people come to conferences – in no particular order:

  1. Learn best practices
  2. Learn new skills – How to’s
  3. Learn about new trends
  4. See a vision of the future
  5. Listen to a “Star” speaker
  6. Earn continuing education credits
  7. Get new ideas
  8. Try new concepts
  9. Listen to industry experts
  10. Gain inspiration – from networking with peers in the industry
  11. Meet new people
  12. Re-connect with old friends
  13. Share war stories (stories of difficult challenges overcome)
  14. Share your experiences
  15. Meet with like-minded people
  16. Become re-energized as you become part of the larger whole
  17. Discuss common problems
  18. Realize that you are not alone with your thoughts and opinions
  19. Meet with several suppliers or customers in one place
  20. Had to go – the meeting was mandatory

Why do I think this list is important?

I like to look for “hidden” insights that might help me change my perspective and challenge me to think differently. If I can learn something new that changes my perspective – then I might be able to come up with better recommendations, new solutions, etc.

For example, once this list was assembled, the following words jumped out at me: Try, Share, Meet and Discuss. To me, these are action words used by people that like to engage in dialogue at conferences. They are not the words of people that want to sit and be entertained for 8 hours.

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41 Ways to Measure the Business Value of Meetings

41 metrics to measure the value of your meetings

In a recent study, 60% of trade show booth organizers said that “Closed Sales” is their #1 measure of success at their event.  Yet, there are many, many more ways that meetings add value beyond revenue generated. How are you measuring the business value that your meetings and events create for your organization?

In MPI’s Business Value of Meetings research, they identified 41 different metrics that can be used to help you measure and track the business value of your meetings. Take a look at the list below – you might be able to find a few new metrics for measuring your success:

So you see, there are many more ways to measure the business value of a meeting beyond sales (which was still the first item on the list!).  Most likely, some of these are measurement metrics you had not previously considered — yet are metrics you now find viable.  Perhaps now you can demonstrate even greater value from your meetings than you thought!

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Commonly Lost Trade Show Lead Data You Can Capture With Interactive Games

Capture trade show lead data with interactive trade show games

Trade show games are not all just, well, fun and games.  They also help solve serious business problems, such as capturing data about your trade show leads that was getting lost before.

Here are 6 familiar challenges with getting all the data from trade show leads that we repeatedly hear about from our clients.  After that, we’ll talk about how interactive trade show games can help you capture that data.

Challenges With Trade Show Leads Today

1. Stacks of business cards slow down lead follow up

do you like to data enter stacks of business cards after your trade show I don’t know anyone that wants to go back to office after the show and enter stacks of business cards, right?  Yuck! Nobody wants to do that task.  And if you are that someone, you’re a saint.  Because it’s a slow, boring job. You want to follow up with hot trade show leads as fast as possible, but stacks of business card slow you down from starting your sales and marketing follow up process.  That allows your digitally-savvy competitors to reach your common prospects first.

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How Human Emotions Make Interactive Trade Show Games Work

digital trade show games are fun and exciting

While we are proud of how strong the technology is behind our interactive trade show games, we fully understand that it isn’t the tech alone that makes them so successful.  What makes our games and contests really gather a crowd, and keep people engaged, is how well our games play on peoples’ very human emotions.

I’ve witnessed how people, individually or in groups, react when they play our games and contests.  I’ve seen players in the thrall of these 6 emotions again and again:

1. Excitement

Attendees get jazzed when they play our games.  It reminds me of a Las Vegas craps table when the dice are hot.  Groups of friends shout, dance around, and cheer as they really get into the games and contests.  This is especially true when they are playing our Virtual Prize Wheel, and they win a big prize.

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How to Manage Interactive Q&A With An Audience Response App

Event presentation app for successful question and answer experience

Several years ago, I was in Norway giving a presentation and using interactive Q&A for the first time in a conference. Previously, I had always used the microphone for my presentations. On this day, we had a new event technology that had a Q&A feature.

I discovered very quickly that if everyone had a chance to ask questions they would do it. I received dozens of questions via the interactive Q&A app.

Second, I learned that people were more willing to ask questions via the technology than stand up in front of the room with microphone.

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11 Social Media Wall Design Ideas for Events and Trade Shows

The concept of a Social Media Wall in of itself has great potential: Gather up all the relevant social media output around a company or organization at a trade show or special event, and put it on display for interested attendees to see!  Yet, clever design and execution are required to get the full value.

Here are 11 things that SocialPoint has built into the design of our Social Media Wall Event Displays, so that exhibit and event marketers can make a bigger impact:

1. Bring Content to Life

Instead of just showing content with traditional templates, we created templates that transform your attendees thoughts, ideas and photos into fun designs. Most companies are able to find a design template that fits their event theme or brand design.

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How To Write Successful Questions For Your Trade Show Trivia Game

Happy trade show trivia game player

Our Challenge Bar Trivia Game is perhaps our most popular game.  Trade show attendees love to play trivia to test their knowledge, compete with friends, and win prizes.  And we’ve made it easy for trade show exhibitors and event marketers to host this crowd-gathering activity in their booth, with our easy-to-customize software.

But while our technology is easy, the visuals bold, and the crowds eager, it takes some strategy in formulating the questions to get the best results.

Here are some guidelines when you are organizing and writing Challenge Bar Trivia Game questions:

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10 New Ways to Visualize User-Generated Content with Event Technology

Socialpoint Social Media Wall Hub

Mobile devices and social media technology makes it easy to create attendee engagement experiences in our events.

You can capture polls, votes, surveys, ideas, questions, photos and much more through event apps, audience response apps, social media, SMS, tablet activations and much more.

In return, there are many fun, animated displays that will display user-generated content in real time back to the audience.  Here are 10 user-generated content visualizations that will forever change the way you use event technology to show user-generated content at your events.

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What’s the Marketing Purpose of a Social Media Wall in A Trade Show Booth?

A 10 foot trade show booth includes a social media wall

Social Media Walls are big digital monitors that show a constantly-updated stream of filtered social media activity about an event. They were originally invented for special events, to give attendees a way to see the pulse of the event, keep up to date with what’s going on, and visualize the event’s energy.

Other benefits of Social Media Walls at events include:

  • Recognize and honor the most active and interesting event participants
  • Incentivize more social shares to help promote the event, both on and offsite
  • Promote more learning and networking
  • Enhance the modern image of the event and its host (be it an association, media company, or corporation)
  • Provide instant analytics about the size and changes of social shares about an event, especially during important moments such as keynote speeches

IBM at SXSW Social Media Wall

Social Media Walls are now being used by more and more trade show exhibitors, because they bring some of those same benefits, but also many new benefits to the individual exhibitor:

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How Trade Show Game Leaderboards Drive Repeat Booth Visits

trade show booth visitor points to her name on a trade show trivia game digital leaderboard

How does a digital trade show game leaderboard drive more repeat traffic to a trade show booth?

It’s all about people — proud, competitive people – who like to win, be seen as winners, and stay on top.

This is what a digital trade show game leaderboard looks like:

digital leaderboard for trade shows and events

Thousands of people have stopped in a trade show booth to play our digital games such as the Virtual Prize Wheel or the Challenge Bar Trivia Game, drawn in by the visuals and the crowds of excited players.  Those games are very popular, and do a great job of bringing in people to the booth the first time.

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