Cooking Up The Perfect Recipe for a Successful B2B Event: The Top 10 Tips for B2B Event Success
There is no doubt that most of the readers of this blog will have attended a huge variety of events at all stages of their lives. These will of course span a huge variety of formats and interests – from hobbies through to professional conferences. It doesn’t matter how varied your experience of events is; there will be a few key things that stuck with you from each one, whether they be good or bad.
Clearly, the aim is to be remembered for all the right reasons. As a show organiser, you will never please everyone, yet the vast majority of needs will be able to be met with relative ease. The devil really is in the detail. Some details are large and obvious, while others are smaller and barely noticeable.
It’s a bit like baking a cake – they all use basically the same foundation ingredients, just in different ways. Each result is unique with its own flavour but all are delicious. If you forget an ingredient the results will become either “just average” or a catastrophic flop. As consumers, do we all like each type and flavour of cake? No, of course, we don’t – but we know which flavours, sizes and formats work for our needs at any given time.
This blog will explore the top 10 of these key ingredients to enable you to develop your best event recipe yet.
Event format
Understanding what your audience wants or is best suited to your event concept is key. From the largest national exhibition venues down to a small, focused technical conference held in a hotel-based space, ensuring that your audience will be in tune with your plans is vital to getting good attendance figures.
In order to decide this, there are many factors to consider such as the size of your target market (for exhibitors, speakers and attendees alike), what your audience tends to prefer and what you want attendees to gain from the event.
For any technical B2B event for example, a strong technical agenda is key. This audience type is among the most time-poor and will not easily be tempted away from their desks. By ensuring the day is as educational and technical as possible, you will give yourself the best chance of attracting a good-sized crowd.
Agenda
The agenda is absolutely key. Each slot should be filled by an expert in their particular field who can talk about their topic enthusiastically and with good background knowledge for responding to questions. This is the foundation of a good event. Without an interesting and varied agenda, delegates are likely to become disengaged and start to drift away after lunch.
It should also be noted that unless you have very good reason to run an extended day, the agenda times should run from around 9.30am to 4.30pm. This is to facilitate easy travel and also to avoid over-loading your delegates with too much information. There is only so much a human brain can take on board in one day.
Running on time is also greatly appreciated. By making use of an MC or host in both the exhibition and conference rooms will keep the flow of the day on time and stress-free for those who have trains to catch or bedtime stories to read to their young children.
Content is king
Minimal sales pitches are vital. It does not matter what your subject focus is for this point – no-one wants to feel like they have been bombarded by a gang of double-glazing sales hounds all day. Make it a selling point of your event that there will be minimal sales pitches in the conference, but give your speakers the chance to back their talks up with an exhibition space. This is where they can sell to their hearts content!
The content of the exhibition is also important. For larger events, this becomes about arranging zones of similar exhibitors together, whilst for a smaller, table-top style exhibition the focus needs to be on a balanced profile of exhibitors. Obviously, the majority of the exhibitors will also be speakers, but inviting other exhibitors to add variety to the day will encourage relevant networking and facilitate those all-important lead-generation-type conversations.
Keynote speakers
The opening and closing keynote talks are the most powerful slots you have available, so allocate them wisely! For example, opening with an industry-leading personality will encourage your attendees to arrive on time and by closing with a different industry figure it becomes far more likely that the majority of your delegates will stay all day.
Catering
Do not scrimp on the food. I cannot emphasise that enough. From the minute delegates arrive, ensure they have access to a steady supply of drinks, and snacks plus a really good lunch. How often have you attended somewhere and looked at the beige food on offer and sighed to yourself…? Hot breakfast sandwiches, pastries at morning break, a decent lunch, cake in the afternoon… I can guarantee you are either smiling at reading that list or at least thinking “wow that does sound good”. Obviously, work to your budget but think outside the (lunch) box.
It is also of utmost importance to be aware of allergies and dietary requirements. When your delegates register gather any dietary information required. Whatever the reason for someone having a specific need, make sure you cater for it. Discuss those options with as much – if not more – detail and care as the main menu. It could literally be a case of life and death.
If you have ever spent time with anyone who needs to be on a restricted diet you will know how disheartening they find it when everyone else in the room is tucking into a sumptuous spread, and you have something really minimal which looks like an afterthought.
Location, location, location
It is also considered good practice to chose venues that are not too far from major transport links. Don’t choose somewhere that is impossible to reach by public transport, and equally don’t add an extra hour of travel down winding country lanes without very good reason. Convenience and minimal logistical effort for all parties will ensure everyone arrives smiling rather than stressed.
Freebies
Who doesn’t love a freebie? By allowing each exhibitor to place a few good quality items in a goody bag which is distributed at the end of the day, not only do delegates have another reason to stay to the end, but those brands get taken straight back to the desks of those potential new customers. Encourage items that are more exciting than a pen. Note pads, car window scrapers, frisbees, travel mugs, china mugs, mouse mats… the possibilities really are endless. A useful giveaway will be kept.
If the bag also contains some literature that is fine, but balance that by providing the conference content on a memory stick – preferably branded with your event details.
If the next date for your event has been set, include a save the date postcard and include an Outlook and Google calendar file on the same memory stick as the conference content as a reminder to come back next year…
Parking and accessibility
Free parking is always welcome. Be aware of disabled access in case anyone requires it and be able to communicate that clearly ahead of the event if asked. With the ever-increasing numbers of electric vehicles, it is also important to find a venue that provides charge points.
For exhibitors who need to set up displays, ensure that they have an easy load in and out and arrange extended access hours for them, preferably the evening before.
Communication
Make sure everyone knows what is happening, when it is happening and how it will happen. This must remain a top priority from the moment you start planning. Give your exhibitors, speakers and registered delegates regular updates. For those submitting papers, content and other information, ensure they have clear and realistic deadlines.
Delegates will ask the daftest questions. Communicating every last detail regularly will hopefully minimise the number of questions asked, but it won’t get rid of them completely. Equally, building that rapport with your delegates and contributors is absolutely key to creating the right atmosphere.
Quality
It goes without saying that the attention to detail must filter down to the lowest level. Neatly produced name badges, clear and well-presented delegate information, agendas displayed in prominent places throughout the venue, a tidy exhibition room when delegates arrive and many other tiny details will add up to a successful day. Thoughtful touches such as a bottle of water on each chair in the conference room, a pack of branded sweets after the last break or simply checking in with any delegates who need any kind of assistance at any time makes all the difference. These are the final tiny ingredients that will ensure your event rises to the occasion. To return to the baking analogy – those small ingredients such as baking powder prevent anyone from feeling deflated.
Asking delegates to attend an event, whether online or in person, requires them to sacrifice one of their most precious commodities: their time. This investment must be proved to be worthwhile – particularly if your goal is to encourage them to re-book for other events in the future.
By respecting that investment made by every person attending, no matter how large or small their role, you will ensure everyone feels appreciated and welcomed – and that is the icing on the cake.
7 Reasons Why a B2B Event is More Relevant Than Ever in the Modern Post-Pandemic World
A flourishing show or conference is hard to sustain in today’s busy world, and yet if the right audience is invited, they maintain their position as the most productive form of networking and information gathering. This blog post will explore just some of the reasons why events are still relevant and important in this modern post-pandemic world we find ourselves in.
Communication
Communication lies at the heart of any event. At a B2B event of any size conversation flows between peers, suppliers, customers, and even just between colleagues whose daily lives don’t normally allow that interaction to happen as freely.
A high-quality B2B event will also enable conversations to flow with a wider audience of potential customers. Not only is it the ideal platform to spread your brand and message into new customer areas, but it also facilitates growth across existing clients. Any delegate attending any event will be there to learn and expand their knowledge – the perfect scenario to find out the latest updates on what your customers would like to achieve, what help they need, and ultimately which partners will be able to provide that solution to them.
We never stop communicating, but the way we do that has moved on enormously. The personal relationship between supplier and provider has changed, and while we are able to be in touch globally at the touch of a button, do we really still know the people we do business with?
Relationships
This is where the trade show, conference or exhibition still has a vital role to play. Face-to-face meetings, shaking hands, sharing a joke on an exhibition stand, and catching up on personal changes both in and out of the workplace are so important, and all vital parts of building relationships and trust. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to be that trusted supplier who over the years becomes an instinctive go-to for the client. That is much harder to do purely on a remote basis.
Relevance
One size does not fit all. A key consideration is also ensuring you have the right style of event. Knowing your audience, and what makes them tick will not only attract the right potential customers into your network, but will ensure the success and longevity of your event moving forwards. As an example, a niche conference with a content-led seminar program and a well-profiled selection of supporting exhibitors and experts will ensure delegates feel they have had a productive day away from work.
Research
It is all too easy to get blinkered into a rut. Processes, approaches and concepts get honed over the years into a size and shape that fits like a good pair of slippers. You start to take them for granted because they “just work”. But what happens if something happens to change the shape of either your slippers or your feet? They don’t fit quite right, but you put up with it because they are “your” slippers. They have always been “your” slippers, and when you replace them you buy the same ones again, probably online out of habit, despite them no longer really suiting your needs. But imagine if you went into a shoe shop with a whole range of slippers to try on. You touch them, try them, discuss them and compare them. You leave with a totally new style of slipper that is the perfect fit and also two other pairs of shoes that you hadn’t even considered.
This is exactly the same for B2B events. From exploring new products and techniques to gathering information by listening to industry thought-leaders and experts sharing their most recent innovations and developments, your knowledge and understanding are kept relevant and up-to-date.
Market positioning
Most B2B events are a multi-faceted experience. An exhibition stand is just one piece of the puzzle. Conference speaker slots, workshops, round tables, theatre presentations, media interviews and more all present opportunities to position your key people as thought leaders in your industry to a relevant and interested audience. The exhibition element is merely the showcase that backs up the expertise available.
Personal growth
Events are a learning curve. It doesn’t matter whether that is as the organiser, a speaker or a delegate. They are designed to facilitate knowledge-sharing. Even event organisers pick up tips from other events and use that knowledge to enhance their own delivery success. Continuous personal development (CPD) is a key element of any individual journey, and finding a variety of sources to learn from can only enhance the effectiveness of that process.
Effectiveness
Time is a precious and rare commodity. A well-balanced event will grant time back by proving it’s worth to all involved. Whether that is by improving our knowledge of a critical or relevant topic, or by introducing us to the right people to enable a project to move forwards, gaining insight and knowledge from industry leaders is a vital step in allowing your business to move forward and thrive.
The internet, webinars, online video, IM, conference calls, squeezed budgets, spiralling travel costs and increased time pressure all add up to a lot of reasons why events should no longer be needed or relevant. Even though the world is shrinking, and in many ways that is a fantastic thing, events still have a very real place – even if the format has to adapt. That is a topic all on its own!