Conference/Motivation Business
Discussion
Hey folks.
Any advice welcome.
I have run a small conference production company since 1995. Done OK until last year.
All of a sudden clients are 'doing it themselves'
yea yea like we all do our own plumbing or car repairs...
never the same as the professional !
A laptop and LCD projecor in a pokey back room is not an event.
Any suggestions welcome on how to:
- Reach the companies who understand the value of professional presentations.
- Understand the BUZZ generated from a live event giving the same message at the same time to ALL the audience.
Best regs
Steve
if you wonder what I'm talking about...
www.b-chip.com
Any advice welcome.
I have run a small conference production company since 1995. Done OK until last year.
All of a sudden clients are 'doing it themselves'
yea yea like we all do our own plumbing or car repairs...
never the same as the professional !
A laptop and LCD projecor in a pokey back room is not an event.
Any suggestions welcome on how to:
- Reach the companies who understand the value of professional presentations.
- Understand the BUZZ generated from a live event giving the same message at the same time to ALL the audience.
Best regs
Steve
if you wonder what I'm talking about...
www.b-chip.com
Steve,
Have experienced this many times in the past and inevitably, it comes full circle when they realise how crap the presentations/events become.
Doesn't help the cashflow in the short-term though!
No simple answer to this one unless you can demonstrate first hand the 'value' that you're giving - especially when your clients are relatively small. Or, approach it from a unique angle - easier said than done!
I considered offering 'off-the-shelf' packaged solutions in the past but never got around to putting them together. Set/software/AV etc. all in an easy to use, customisable package.
Btw. I'm an account director/senior producer for a large Events/B2B comms co.
PS. Just seen your Show2Go offering which fits in with the packaged solution - so great minds etc.
>> Edited by Stig (moderator) on Tuesday 19th August 15:38
>> Edited by Stig (moderator) on Tuesday 19th August 15:45
Have experienced this many times in the past and inevitably, it comes full circle when they realise how crap the presentations/events become.
Doesn't help the cashflow in the short-term though!
No simple answer to this one unless you can demonstrate first hand the 'value' that you're giving - especially when your clients are relatively small. Or, approach it from a unique angle - easier said than done!
I considered offering 'off-the-shelf' packaged solutions in the past but never got around to putting them together. Set/software/AV etc. all in an easy to use, customisable package.
Btw. I'm an account director/senior producer for a large Events/B2B comms co.
PS. Just seen your Show2Go offering which fits in with the packaged solution - so great minds etc.
>> Edited by Stig (moderator) on Tuesday 19th August 15:38
>> Edited by Stig (moderator) on Tuesday 19th August 15:45
Yup cheers guys.
All points I've worked on before.
The sad thing is when the clients are wasting time, effort and resources by doing it themsleves.
In days when morale is at an all time low in most companies, good, motivational communication is key!.
Doh if only the Ivory Tower brigade saw it so...
I still say get me in front of the right person and I can convince them though!
S
All points I've worked on before.
The sad thing is when the clients are wasting time, effort and resources by doing it themsleves.
In days when morale is at an all time low in most companies, good, motivational communication is key!.
Doh if only the Ivory Tower brigade saw it so...
I still say get me in front of the right person and I can convince them though!
S
When I was an Account Manager in a Sales Promotion Agency, we were regularly asked to create sales conferences for product launches or promotional activity. Our Clients trusted us to come up with a theme and take all the hassle off them. Always on the cheap (£10-20k), we would effectively look for a novel setting (such as the first civilian conference at Sandhurst - the McVitie's sales reps were a bit surprised to be greeted by a Gurkha pointing his machine gun through the window of their Sierra!), a bit of fun, and some fancy video and PowerPoint.
So what I'm getting at is, why not try some of the mid-sized independent SP Agencies?
Find BRAD, or the relevant issues of Marketing & Marketing Week, with SP Agency League Tables. Select £2-10m turnover companies with impressive Client lists (but not part of a larger Agency network), 20-50 staff.
A good portfolio (venues, sets, innovative features), and look for a board director to meet for an hour (suggest he brings a couple of AMs).
If you make it clear that you will do a partnership, taking all the donkey work (dressing presentations developed by them, prepare autocue & AV, find location, make it all happen, but letting them lead the creative, and take all the credit), and I suspect you'll pick up a few projects
So what I'm getting at is, why not try some of the mid-sized independent SP Agencies?
Find BRAD, or the relevant issues of Marketing & Marketing Week, with SP Agency League Tables. Select £2-10m turnover companies with impressive Client lists (but not part of a larger Agency network), 20-50 staff.
A good portfolio (venues, sets, innovative features), and look for a board director to meet for an hour (suggest he brings a couple of AMs).
If you make it clear that you will do a partnership, taking all the donkey work (dressing presentations developed by them, prepare autocue & AV, find location, make it all happen, but letting them lead the creative, and take all the credit), and I suspect you'll pick up a few projects
hirich
Good ideas.
It is some time now since I 'partnered' an agency as most do seem a little greedy to keep it all in house and only farm out the technical elements. In my opinion this does not really end up with the best result.
I have long held the belief myself and the team are an extention to the 'client' team whether agancy or end client. A job well done is one where the commissioning client is complimented at the end. We don't mind making them look good on the basis of what goeas around comes around :-)
The failing point often is actually getting in front of the relevant buyer/key decision maker, as they are bombarded with requests all the time.
I believe I found a great, however this still has not produced the results.
I value your input.
Making what was a pretty forlorn plea into something a bit more positive.
Best regs
Steve
Good ideas.
It is some time now since I 'partnered' an agency as most do seem a little greedy to keep it all in house and only farm out the technical elements. In my opinion this does not really end up with the best result.
I have long held the belief myself and the team are an extention to the 'client' team whether agancy or end client. A job well done is one where the commissioning client is complimented at the end. We don't mind making them look good on the basis of what goeas around comes around :-)
The failing point often is actually getting in front of the relevant buyer/key decision maker, as they are bombarded with requests all the time.
I believe I found a great, however this still has not produced the results.
I value your input.
Making what was a pretty forlorn plea into something a bit more positive.
Best regs
Steve
steve lewis said:
Any suggestions welcome on how to:
- Reach the companies who understand the value of professional presentations.
www.b-chip.com
Hi Steve
One suggestion might be to get your website revamped slightly (particularly so that search engines (eg Google) are more likely to feature it. The first site that caught my eye on Google (I searched for "event management") was www.dbmt.co.uk
There are a whole load of PistonHeaders that know more than me about websites - anyone have any thoughts?
hMM INTERESTING/
Especially since I recently had this conversation with my supplier. I was under the impression that the sites were listed high on the search listing with a variety of tags.
The thing is not many people buy our services on-line.
It really is a best case of sitting down in front of the right person for 15 mins or so.
S
Especially since I recently had this conversation with my supplier. I was under the impression that the sites were listed high on the search listing with a variety of tags.
The thing is not many people buy our services on-line.
It really is a best case of sitting down in front of the right person for 15 mins or so.
S
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