Who wants to learn the latest in B2B event models and revenue strategies?
Events continue to be a hot commodity in niche media, especially for B2B and Association publishers. Finding fresh ways to inspire, inform, and engage your customers or membership is crucial for event revenue growth.
Philip McKay (President & CEO, nGage Events) and his team manage super successful B2B live events. He’s on top of hot trends and opportunities perfect for business and association event revenue strategy. He shared his insights with us.
What is one of the biggest opportunities in live event revenue strategy right now?
PHILIP- “Face to face engagements are becoming more important than ever. Sponsors/Advertisers are looking to meet real decision makers so they can measure their ROI. Companies are not looking at how many badges they swipe, they are looking for meaningful conversations that can lead to deal flow. All marketing dollars are scrutinized and they need to lead toward high level engagements.”
Can you share a real-world, event “challenge” and how you overcame it?
PHILIP- “Many perspective sponsors who are not familiar with the “Hosted Buyer Model” for events think these types of shows are too small for them or that they are more of a boondoggle for the attendees and their staff because they are held at 5 star resorts. They are quite the contrary.
These types of events are extremely high level content driven events that give everyone an ROI. The attendees get business driven content that can help them maneuver many of the troubled areas an executive has. This is done through case studies presentations from industry analysts, peer-to-peer interaction and panels sessions. They also get meetings with high level sponsor personnel, not regional sales people. We have 2 ½ days of intense meetings, in the evenings we have controlled networking, so everyone can maximize their time away from the office.
Everyone wins. Sponsors get real face time with true decision makers in a relaxed atmosphere and the executive attendees get real-time information from industry analysts, sponsors and most importantly their peers.”
What top trends do you see coming in hosted buyer models?
PHILIP- “I believe the hosted buyer model is finally being widely accepted in many industries. I have seen events coming on line in travel, hospitality, construction, design, healthcare, human resources, transportation, energy, printing and technology verticals. I believe the high level of engagement and true deal making that happens at these events will continue to make these types of events in many industries the preferred route.
These events also do not come with extreme price tags. The cost is usually just the sponsorship, along with travel and hotel. There is no shipping, drayage, entertainment charges tagged on. Many marketing directors see this as a plus.”
What about Trade Shows?
PHILIP- “I believe you will see more matchmaking at trade shows in the future. This will allow the exhibitor and attendee to make pre-scheduled meetings before the event. This is becoming more popular with many of the largest shows in the US. All the registration companies now have 1:1 or matchmaking software system in play. I use that acronym again, “ROI”! These types of pre-paid or pre-arranged meetings ensures an exhibitor that they will be meeting the right types of attendees.”
Editor’s note: Philip McKay will be a session speaker at the Niche B2B CEO Summit in Denver, Jun 19-20, 2019.
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More about Philip McKay: Philip founded nGage Events in 2012, which focuses on invitation-only, upscale business events that deliver more takeaway value for attending executives and more ROI for sponsors. Philip is also on the Board of Directors for SISO. Prior to founding nGage Events, Philip served as Executive VP for Questex Media and was responsible for their hosted model events and technology group. He has held numerous senior executive positions in the U.S. and international events industry, including at the World Center in Las Vegas, Gartner’s Vision Events, Key3Media Group (COMDEX), and Penton Media.
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Niche Media has the best events, education, and training in media! Our super niched-out events & content give target-audience publishers in the B2C, hobbyist, B2B, city & regional, and association markets the tools they need to build revenue, audience, and more.
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