The Exhibition and Convention Executives Forum (ECEF) met in person for the first time in two and a half years on November 3 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. In addition to celebrating the event’s 20th anniversaryth On the occasion of this anniversary, the 182 independent and association salon managers present celebrated the opportunity to meet face to face with lively discussions and attentive listening during the four one-hour training sessions. Another 19 people followed remotely the live broadcast on Freeman’s OnlineEvent platform, which also hosted an online ECEF experience that took place from November 1st to 5th.
Here are the top five takeaways from this year’s event:
1) Renew your focus on networking. This year’s event placed a heavy emphasis on networking, from the opening reception to the interest zones and activations surrounding the ballroom that were designed to spark serendipitous conversations during the hour-long breaks between the four hour-long sessions of C-level content.
As Sam Lippman, president and founder of Lippman Connects, pointed out, “The most important thing about in-person events is the chance encounters that can change your life, enhance your career, and change the direction of your event.” In fact, one of the five trends he identified in his “5 Data Points in 5 Minutes” is that people are turning to in-person and online events to meet different needs, and that the biggest need people have at in-person events is networking, while education tops the list for online events. “We need to lean into what works for each,” Lippman said, and this year’s ECEF did just that, with live sessions for online attendees and extended breaks for in-person attendees to connect. Lippman Connects organizes the ECEF, as well as the Large Show Roundtable (LSR), the Attendee Acquisition Roundtable (AAR) and the Exhibit Sales Roundtable (ESR).
Related. ECEF 2020: Attention is the new currency
2) How to recover when your biggest asset becomes your biggest liability risk — and how to rebalance income sources going forward. GSMA CEO John Hoffman gave a very pragmatic account of what it was like to have to cancel Mobile World Congress 2020 in Barcelona due to coronavirus – and how his organization navigated the shift to virtual and then back to normal when vaccines, testing and other health and safety protocols made it possible to meet in person again.
If its events are less crowded today than they used to be, that’s by design. Hoffman noted that those who come to GSMA events today are high-profile people. “Our price point is intentionally high because we’re trying to attract very experienced people” and discourage the curious. “For the next 24 months, quality and return on investment in terms of money and time … will be key” because no one wants to go back to the level of travel they used to do. The GSMA is also working to rebalance its revenue streams so that instead of coming 70 percent from events, 20 percent from membership fees and 10 percent from platforms and services, it’s an equal third from each.
3) Create FOMO to move forward. Monique Ruff-Bell, Money20/20 USA’s director of events, and Richard Scarfo, HLTH’s president, shared strategies that have helped them bounce back and recover. Topping the list are building connections and offering attendees experiences that they can’t get anywhere else. As Ruff-Bell said, “We wanted to create FOMO because our community is going to be our best word of mouth. They did exactly that for us, and they can do the same for you.” Scarfo kept exhibitors happy by offering multiple ways to participate, from simply attending to purchasing booths to participating in a hosted buyer program.
4) Don’t be afraid of change. John Cordier, who was new to the trade show world just a year and a half ago, brought a fascinating perspective on how the pandemic has sparked new innovations and accelerated others across industries. Cordier is CEO of infectious disease modeling firm Epistemix, which has applied its modeling to trade shows and exhibition venues to help them determine the risks posed by COVID and develop mitigation strategies to use for a specific event at a specific location and time. But he also provided a broader perspective from modeling based on sociology and population dynamics.
Expo architect Robert Svedberg, principal of TVSDESIGN, laid out the venue side of the equation, including 10 things that will (and won’t) change. Among them are some changes most won’t even see, like ventilation improvements. Others may be considered more “health-related,” but that’s OK, he said. “If people want hand-washing stations, give them hand-washing stations. It’s not a bad thing to wash your hands,” whether or not it helps reduce COVID transmission.
5) Understanding digital event data is imperative. Robyn Davis, CEO of WINH Exhibitors, and Rhonda Wunderlin, Senior Vice President of Performance Marketing at Questex, introduced attendees to a set of standards developed by the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), UFI, the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO), and dozens of other companies and organizations. With a glossary of over 150 terms and 18 data tables, the goal is to help everyone involved understand the different terms used and use a common language.
Contact Sam Lippman at (703) 979.4904; sam@lippmanconnects.com