Getting beyond the obvious challenges of the economy I am among the many who believe the Events and Live Marketing industries will emerge very much transformed from this recession.
- Cost cutting? Yes, for sure.
- Fewer events? Not so sure.
- More focused efforts? Absolutely.
The shape of and attendance at recent events points to more serious attendees with a mission - find a way to achieve their goals more effectively. This renewed focus on costs has often led management to make rash money based decisions, and the new job of the events professional is to guide the process to a sane and deliberate place.
We have started by recognizing that not every good idea is going to make it into an event. Rather than overdesigning and then doing a 'slash and burn' we have started designing the ability to refocus our solutions in real time while honing costs. By planning for this "selective reduction" we can avoid the worst of the "budget cutting" trauma and replace it with a sane discourse on the doing the best with what we have for the event at hand.
Still there are things that must be done in the near term to satisfy the demands of management and maintain some integrity in your events.
Linda Armstrong of Exhibitor Magazine recently put together a list of 54 new ways to look at costs in the trade show business, many of which have relevance accross the entire events space. While only a begining, Linda has put the best of the hundreds of ideas she recieved into a consise blue print for near term "selective reducion". We contributed several thougths which appear as items # 7 and # 35. Check it out here:
Drop us a note to hear more about our philosophy of pre-planning for 'selective reduction'. I can be found at Tony.Castrigno@DesignContact.com.
