Why speak at conferences?

I’ve said before that conference production is at its core, a sales role – particularly when it comes to speaker acquisition. One of the key measures of a conference is the quality of the speaker faculty, and convincing 20 – 30+ VPs, CEOs etc to take time out of their lives to prepare a presentation, travel to your event and share their experience with a room full of competitors, is no small task.

In any sale there needs to be a pay off for both sides. Sales is not persuading someone to do something that has no value for them – it is showing them the value of what you want them to do. There is huge value for senior execs in all industries to come out and speak at events – unfortunately they are often not aware of what the true benefits are and so it is common to find that the best potential speakers want expenses and fees that as organisers we can’t afford to pay them.

Ultimately when we can’t persuade the best people to speak it leads to a lower quality of event, and less value for every one that attends, so here’s my take on why speakers should invest a little time and money in our conferences:

It’s good PR for their company
Fielding a senior speaker at key industry events keeps a company’s profile at the front of the collective industry mindset. Speaking at conferences is a great way for a company to cement its position in the market and to define how people think of them. Depending on the content and position of your presentation you can pitch yourself as a market leader, an innovator, customer focused, solutions focused, etc. etc.

There is a fair chance at any conference that some of the people who are watching your presentation may some day soon be looking for their next job in the industry – if you’ve positioned yourself right they may well look to you. If you didn’t take part, and prospective talent in that audience is going to be speaking to the competition…

Industry press also frequent conferences, making them great places to get your latest product or innovation noticed and talked about.

It’s good PR for them
As a lot of senior bankers recently discovered, no matter how good you are, and how secure you think your position is, there will come a time when you may well be looking for your next job. Speaking at events is a great way to raise your personal brand, demonstrating to potential future employers that you are at the cutting edge of your industry. Likewise, it can be a good way of demonstrating to your current employer how highly regarded you are outside the company. Then there’s always the lucrative after-dinner speaking circuit to think about after retirement – better get practicing now!

It’s good for the industry
Yes, commercial conferences exist to make a profit – but we wouldn’t last long if we didn’t do a good service for the industries we work in. Conferences are way for an industry to come together and find solutions to common challenges that benefit the industry as a whole. The networking and exchange of ideas that conferences facilitate help to move companies and industries forwards – and speakers have a critical role to play in that.

Speaking comes with perks
Speakers get to enjoy all the benefits of the entire conference without paying any portion of the delegate fee – which is often several thousand pounds. Not bad for a few hours work preparing and delivering a presentation on a topic you already know.

A few days out of the office in a 5 star hotel is an attractive prospect for most people, and if we as organisers can’t cover the airfare and accommodation there is a fair chance that a speaker’s company will. There is always an arrangement that can be reached, and I think it is almost unheard of for a speaker to have to put their hand in their own pocket to cover their costs.

True stories
In my time as a conference producer I have seen the very real benefits of speaking and chairing events. On one occasion I had an email shortly after a conference from one of the speakers who, after getting down from the podium, had done several $mm deals with new investors from the audience. I know another chap who landed a fantastic role as Executive Director of a new business unit after his presentation brought him to the attention of his new employer. Just a couple of examples of tangible pay-offs from speaking, but I am sure that most conference producers could add one or two of their own – use the comments box below to share your stories.

Speaker bureaus would have us believe that the best speakers are only available for a high fee. I disagree - the best speakers are those that have a vested interest in the industry and in the event, and who can see the real value of being there. The way to get them is simply to show them that value.

Conference Insider

Normal service will resume shortly

Apologies for the lack of new posts going up in the last week or so - I've taken on a new role at work that is demanding most of my time at the moment.

I should be back to posting regularly next week, and I'll keep doing the Friday links round up, although new articles will likely be fortnightly now rather than weekly.

I am searching for a couple of guest bloggers also to keep the content fresh - more news on that soon I hope.

Thanks for your patience. Don't forget to sign up to follow conference insider on twitter to get updated as soon as new articles are posted.

Conference Insider

Friday links

This weeks best articles from the web for conference and event professionals:

Dubai trade show organisers stay bullish on growth
I'm always a little suspicious when articles about how strong the market is are written by companies who have a vested interest in the the strength of the market... especially when they're about Dubai - where the government and media are also desperate to convince the world that the economy hasn't completely folded - this article does make interesting reading though, and I hope it is true - if only for my friends in the industry out there.

German overseas trade show visitors up despite recession

Another (short) article stating that trade show attendance has gone up, in apparent defiance of the prevailing economic climate, this time in Germany. It's an interesting statistic to be aware of, although I would be more interested in figures like who many are exhibiting at trade shows, how much business is getting done at trade shows, and how the profitability of the events is being affected.

Conferences, trade shows still king of marketing budgets

another event organiser banging the drum for trade shows - it's refreshing to see that in this instance they admit that exhibitor numbers, price to exhibit, and visitor numbers are all down - and interesting to note that on average this kind of activity will account for 25% of a companies annual marketing budget.

With Economy's Slide, Virtual Events Take Off
I've commented on this trend a couple of times recently - the business case for virtual is made ever more powerful as companies tighten their belts. This article is from ON24 - a leading platform provider for virtual - yes, they have an agenda here, but the figures they quote speak for themselves.

Vendors go Virtual with Annual User Conferences
Yet more evidence that the recession is bringing virtual events t0 the fore. I really believe that a combination of economic factors (as discussed in this article) and advancements in the technology platforms for virtual events are conspiring to make 2010 the year that virtual events really take off. Interesting in this article to get some first hand accounts from vendors as to why they are making the switch from physical events.

Why Seating Matters in a Meeting Room
It's one of those things that we rarely think about - particularly as conference producers, as details such as floor plans are typically handled by an ops team - but this article makes a very persuasive case for thinking more about how you seat people in a conference room to maximise networking and audience engagement - both topics that I have covered recently in this blog.

Enjoy the articles, and enjoy the weekend!

Conference Insider

In pursuit of the Next Big Thing (or, Thomas Edison knew a lot about conference production)

“The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”
Linus Pauling, Scientist and Nobel Prize Winner

“Opportunity ideas do not lie around waiting to be discovered. Such ideas need to be produced.”
Edward De Bono, Physician, Author, Inventor and Consultant

“There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come”
Victor Hugo, Author, Poet, Thinker and Activist


Having spent the last week diligently researching a wide range of topics for the 2010 conference schedule, I have been thinking about little else except topic generation. Setting out to uncover the Next Big Thing – the conference idea that no one else has thought of but that the market desperately needs, and as result will net you and your firm fantastic profits – is no small task. As far as I can tell, there are no short cuts. As full time topic gen is a relatively new part of my role, this article draws on my experience, but also the wisdom of my peers, managers, mentors, and Thomas Edison (of light-bulb fame).

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas
I have ideas for new topics all the time. Most of them don’t become events. A lot of them don’t even make it to research. A quick survey of the competition, or a consultation with colleagues, is often enough to reveal that an idea is either already fully exploited, or has been tried before and has not succeeded.

Even ideas that make it to the research phase often go no further – speaking to your target market can reveal that your idea is too broad, or too narrow, or simply not commercial.

Initially I found it quite disheartening that so many of my ideas were leading nowhere. I thought perhaps I was doing something wrong, or not understanding the process. It took the advice of one of my managers / mentors for me to realise that actually it was a good thing to reject so many potential events; those ideas that won’t work commercially are eliminated and only the ones that have a real potential for success have resources deployed and time spent on them. Reflecting on this made me recall some quotes from Thomas Edison, which I have used as mantras in the last week spent sweeping for and validating topics:

“I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

In search of the Next Big Thing, every idea you reject is another step closer to success.

Opportunity ideas do not lie around waiting to be discovered. Such ideas need to be produced
Once an initial idea has been hit upon, it takes work to turn it into something resembling the basis for a commercial conference. Justifying the time you will spend just to validate it through phone research means you need facts and figures from a range of articles and textual sources that support your thinking. The competitive landscape has to be mapped. You need to find an angle on the topic that meets a market need, and focuses on just a few key topics or target job titles.

Finding the right information quickly, analysing it and evaluating its commercial potential is definitely a skill – one I am still honing and developing. Having a lot of experience of other events is definitely useful; knowing what works and what doesn’t avoids problems further down the line if you can identify them in the initial brief. Ultimately though it comes down to old fashioned desk research; scouring journals, business papers, industry forums, blogs and other internet resources, building a portfolio of information that reveals the health and wealth of the market, the state of new technology and regulation and the buy –sell dynamic of end users and vendors.

The Next Big Thing is not just lying around waiting for you to find it. Once again, I think Edison sums it up perfectly:

‘Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work’

There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come
Timing is everything. Great events can crumble once the exciting new technology or critical new regulation they were built on becomes old news (remember RFID events, or MIFID in European financial markets?). Likewise, it can often be tempting to put an event out too early; you read about some fantastic new technology that is going to change the way people do business and it makes sense to get an event out ahead of the competition – but trying to put an event together before the topic has found traction in the market, or before anyone is offering proper solutions, and you are going to waste a lot of time, effort and money.

Finding the Next Big Thing is all about hitting that sweet-spot; capturing an opportunity just as it begins to really take off, but before there is any serious competition to worry about. You won’t manage it every time, or even most of the time, but when you do the pay off can be fantastic. Gartner hype-cycles are a great way to understand the adoption path of new technologies, and a good way to understand where your potential market is, and consequently the likelihood that an event on a new topic will succeed.

With everyone in the industry chasing the Next Big Thing the competition is pretty stiff. As I mentioned at the start, there are no short cuts, and no magic formula; although if I was to put a formula together I think it would look something like this:

(inspiration + innovation) x hard work = TNB?
timing x luck

Perhaps Edison would have come up with something better.

Good luck!

Conference Insider