eventprofs . discussion recap

I was absolutely blown away when Christopher De Armond of ShowTec offered to create a recap of our last eventprofs discussion. This is a perfect example of the true sense of community that has been developed amongst event professionals online. And his fantastic recap will not only provide a window into the fantastic ideas that come out of our discussions, but the actions that result!

The Recap by @ShowTecAE
We had a great Tweet Chat this last Monday and some fantastic ideas were flying through the Internet! Following are the highlights from Monday’s chat in regards to our main topic:

Topic: How can we champion the industry in a down economy?

Answers:
. Spread the grass roots petition and campaign to the line level workers at our local hotel and convention facilities.
. Start a Wiki outlining our industry’s position. E-blast the Wiki to the press and industry groups. (Greg Ruby suggests the CIC).
. Increase utilization of on-line meeting tools with live conferences and events.
. Follow major news and media outlets on Twitter. Once following notify them and ask them to follow us to get first hand accounts of impact on our industry. (Sort of a reverse HARO).
. Same as #4 above but with Congress: Tweet Congress or Members of Congress who Twitter
. Utilize Virtualis and create an event to promote the necessity of meeting and events.
. Create a more centralized resource for news articles, resources, facts, information, etc. to link to Wiki (see #2 above).
. Create custom iPhone or Facebook apps to champion the industry.
. @Ronnyes suggested moveon.org for pre-generated letters written to congress.
. Create “ethics” code to submit to CIC for consideration of how to operate in current economy. Lot’s of planners losing directly to their suppliers.

Topic: Biggest business challenge.

Answers:
. Finding budget can be a real challenge:
a) Clients may be using you to bid down another vendor
b) Clients are afraid that they will not receive best price if they reveal their budget
. Need to show value, build trust, show client you have best their interests in mind. . Don’t be afraid to ask for the budget.
. More and more intellectual property is being “re-utilized” after contract is canceled or awarded to someone else.
. Front end work (proposals, drawings, ideas) are not being charged for. Can we come together as an industry to create standards?

I would ask that all of you reach out to the heads of your associations such as MPI, ISES, HSMAI, CIC and all the rest and ask them to join us every Monday to hear, direct from the front line, what we are facing on a daily basis.

If I have missed anyone’s ideas feel free to contact me and I will send out updates as appropriate. Stay tuned for next week and be sure to join #eventprofs discussion on every Monday at 6PT/9ET.

Have a great week everyone!

Christopher De Armond
#evetprofs scribe
cdearmond@showtec.com

How to get involved in the next Eventprofs chat
See step-by-step instructions here

Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
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