According to Technorati‘s last State of the Blogosphere report, there were over 70 million blogs on the web as of April 2007. In addition, there are over 70 million blog posts about what blogs are and why you should have one. Alright, we made up that last statistic, but there really are a vast number of such posts. (Try this Google blog search: “What is a blog?“)
We wanted to write about why you or your company might want to start a blog, but because so many people have already written about the topic, we’re going to give you a short list of references to explore instead. The following sum up the pro blog argument pretty nicely. We suggest taking a look at them. But if you’re busy and want the lowdown quick and easy, just skip over the list to our summary. (more…)
If you’re looking for a place to find information on all kinds of conferences, connect with speakers and attendees, or even promote your own event, take a look at confabb.com.
“Confabb…combines an aggregate database of major conferences, conventions, and trade shows sorted by industry with social networking tools designed to empower conference attendees to improve their overall experience.” — from Summary of Confabb, The Conference Community
More than just a database of events, the site aims at “maximizing the conference experience” by providing tracking and social networking tools, along with an avenue for critique, review, and discussion. (more…)
A colleague once said that the derivation of the word brand came from the ownership mark on the rump of cattle. Maybe so, but today a brand is much more about what your customers and potential customers think of you. And if they like what they think, then maybe they’ll wear your tattoo.
The starting point for a brand strategy is to think about what the single most important value the company presents to the world. Does the marketplace see you in the same way? People rarely think about a brand. They think about what they need. Then they think about who can fulfill that need. It’s your responsibility to be at the top of mindshare. It’s not just about awareness, it’s about fulfillment. Build from your strengths. Articulate your unique selling proposition. (more…)
American Express Business Travel recently announced its forecast for pricing in 2008. This forecast could be bad news, especially for those who did not factor adequate increases into next year’s marketing budget. According to American Express, all costs associated with travel—air, hotel, and car rentals—will continue to increase, and in some areas substantially.
These increases will directly impact the bottom line of your meetings.
Gathering market, industry, and customer intelligence is vital for staying abreast of the latest trends and identifying new opportunities for future growth. Increasingly, companies are turning to online surveys to capture this intelligence. Benefits gained through online market research surveys include:
assessing the effectiveness of current marketing initiatives
identifying new market opportunities
gaining competitive insights
Specifically, surveys give an organization the feedback to help define, create and shape its strategies. (more…)
The painful thing about document collaboration via email attachments is that you often end up with an unwieldy number of files containing different edits. Think how simple the process would be if you could host one file online and have team members directly apply their edits. Google Docs provides a tool to make it happen.
Check out Google’s entertaining three-minute video illustrating how it works.
While it may not be a new idea, Google’s implementation is free and doesn’t require the resources or know-how for building and maintaining your own VPN or corporate extranet. It’s also a saavy way for Google to get people using their new web apps for creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
As we are all aware, off-site meetings are expensive and can be very expensive if not done correctly. It’s critical that the first step of the meeting planning process be creating the right budget. Keep in mind that all costs are not hard costs. You must also factor in soft costs that can equally impact the success of your meeting. Here is a list of some key factors to consider when developing a comprehensive budget.
First, identify the specific goals and objectives of the meeting. Some companies hold meetings with the mentality that they have to. These are the most costly meetings, because if you don’t clearly define what you want to accomplish by investing in a meeting, you’ll probably accomplish nothing. Other companies assume that last year’s goals are identical to this year’s goals; this also can be costly, as successful companies are constantly reevaluating strategies, which means their goals and objectives should also be reevaluated. Therefore, begin the process by bringing together the key stakeholders to identify what they want or need to accomplish for the current meeting. Once you have clearly identified the goals and objectives, it will permit you to put together the right program. Don’t forget to review past historical data to gain insight into what has succeeded and failed in the past, if this is a repeat meeting. Survey past and future attendees, when possible. (more…)
Many people view events as a cost center, and if not done properly, they are. However, a successful event will drive enough business to more than offset the costs. To succeed in driving business, you must first drive attendance.
The challenge to driving attendance can be overcome by properly communicating the value of the benefits so that the attendee can weigh them against the costs of participating or the inverse: how to estimate the “opportunity cost” of NOT participating against the savings of NOT participating. To meet this challenge, it is important that you implement an effective event-marketing plan. Keys to a successful plan include: (more…)
I’ve been thinking a lot about Spain recently, having just attended a meeting showcasing this beautiful country as an event destination. Did you know that even though its currency is the Euro, the cost of living is lower than that of France and Italy? That means you can rent lovely hotel rooms and meeting spaces and eat great meals for significantly less than you could in some of Spain’s European neighbors. It also has a diverse geography, culture and climate.
Centrally located Madrid offers many excellent choices for meetings of all sizes. As the capital and largest city in Spain, it’s considered the major financial center of the Iberian Peninsula; it hosts the head offices of the vast majority of major Spanish companies, as well as the headquarters of three of the world’s 100 largest companies. In addition, it’s the easiest city to get to. (more…)
The IT Exchange group is a dedicated group of marketing professionals with over 40 years experience. We have set up this blog as a forum for a free exchange of ideas. We hope you will visit and participate often.
Our first entry pertains to negotiating hotel contracts. I’m often amazed to learn that many conference hosts don’t write their own hotel contracts. I’m further amazed that many of them don’t even negotiate special terms and/or concessions for their groups. Ideally, a contract should be mutually beneficial to both parties. But if the host company permits the hotel to draft the contract and stipulate all the terms, will it be mutually beneficial? Not necessarily. It’s important for conference hosts to become more involved in the contract process. Industry experts predict a 14% increase in conference costs collectively during 2007 and 2008. What have you noticed in your contracts? (more…)
Founder and
president of IT Exchange Group, Dana Toland oversees conference programs and services, as well as operations. Under Dana's
leadership, IT Exchange Group has evolved into a premier strategic marketing and meeting planning company primarily serving
companies in the IT industry. She has over fourteen years of experience in event marketing and operations, and was previously
employed by Daratech, Inc. and Relocation Resources International.
Founder and
president of IT Exchange Group, Dana Toland oversees conference programs and services, as well as operations. Under Dana's
leadership, IT Exchange Group has evolved into a premier strategic marketing and meeting planning company primarily serving
companies in the IT industry. She has over fourteen years of experience in event marketing and operations, and was previously
employed by Daratech, Inc. and Relocation Resources International.