How Well Do You REALLY Know Your Exhibitors?

This week I had the opportunity to make a presentation on the title subject in Washington, D.C. at an industry conference. This is the 2nd time I’ve spoken directly to this subject, and the 3rd time this year, at an industry conference, I led a discussion around this idea of really understanding who your customers … Continue reading →

The 3 A’s Critical to Change

Recently I read another terrific post by Jeff Hurt of Velvet Chainsaw. Jeff is someone I enjoy, respect, and admire.  He pushes the industry to never settle for what we have achieved, but he sees the best in all of us…even if we don’t always agree. He drew an aspirational analogy to the Olympics, where … Continue reading →

Using Live to Drive Social

It starts with a spark… Hybrid events have caught fire, and rightly so, as the next broadcasting frontier.  And, just like the NFL, MLB, NHL, PGA, etc, broadcasting creates greater interest in a live event, and more demand for it.  If you don’t believe me, try and buy a face price ticket to the new … Continue reading →

“Less Disruptive, More Instructive”

This is a quote I read in a recent article of B to B Online (http://www.btobonline.com/article/20120516/EVENT02/305169995/iab-innovation-days-everything-is-a-screen-these-days), referencing the challenges marketers face utilizing the wide variety of marketing channels that are “screens”…computers, tablets, phones, cameras, and soon…paper! Live events present terrific opportunities to engage the visual senses to enhance attendee education, interaction, and engagement.  Exhibit booth … Continue reading →

The Price Isn’t Right

In the last five months I have had the opportunity to attend IAEE, PCMA, the Exhibitor Show and others…a pretty fair cross-section of the trade show stakeholder market. Most of the formal and informal conversations that I have been a part of have been focused around: How do we stay relevant to our dues paying members? How … Continue reading →

Lifelong Learning

[This is being shared from SmartBlogs.com…http://smartblogs.com/leadership/2011/08/08/live-from-blogher-pepsico-ceo-indra-nooyi-on-the-leadership-principles-that-guide-her/%5D Jessica Miller-Merrell shared her takeaways from the BlogHer (http://www.blogher.com/announcing-our-blogher-11-lunchtime-keynote-pepsico-ceo-and-chairman-indra-nooyi) conference this past summer, and specifically called out Ms. Nooyi’s presentation on the 5C’s of Leadership, and the changing landscape for women, highlighting that 7 out of 10 worldwide buying decisions are made by women. When you consider countries going … Continue reading →

What can you buy for $67,000?

In the coming weeks I will be undergoing a Total Knee Replacement.  As with most medical procedures like this, some of my time has been committed to winding through the maze of the medical/healthcare community and hospitals…the pre-operative counseling sessions, physicals, dental appointments (did you know that many infections that happen with artificial joints come … Continue reading →