People & Processes By Dave Lutz, CMP
Take Away
IsCo-LocationaViableStrategy For Your Conference?
The decision to co-locate with another conference is rife with challenges. My educated guess is that more than 50 percent of these attempts to partner fail and are not repeated. That’s because co-locations are high-risk, high- reward propositions that need to be viewed through a long-term strategic lens.
Co-locating with another organization to produce abigger industry conference sounds entic- ing. It appeases exhibitors andsponsorswhowant toattractnewattendee segments. It lures attendees whowant tomaximize their time away fromthe officewithtwoevents
inone.Organizationleaders mayviewitasafast-trackgrowthtactic,orasaway to reverse declines in attendance or revenue. So howdo you knowif co-locating is right for
your conference? While there are no right or wrong answers, this list of questionsmay help.
BusinessRationale 1. Is it the right thing for your industry? Larger events usually getmore PRand exposure, but if it’s not good for the industry, that exposure can damage a brand.
2.Are themissions of both organizations in align- ment? Are both parties fully committed to the partnership?
3.Are you considering a long-termrelationship or merger?Co-locationmay be a good initial step before getting hitched.
4.Howmuch do you trust each other? Are both parties transparent andopentosharing confiden- tial info?Will you develop a jointly competitive strategy soyoubothsucceed?Twoof thebiggest issues that organizations attempting co-location face is the flowof informationandconfidence in the other party.
5.Does the partnering organization’s attendee base represent a demographic segment that youwant to grow?
6.Will co-location bring greater innovation and nimbleness, or have the opposite effect?
7.Co-location often delivers expense savings.
Meticulously analyze the revenue side:Howwill the pie be sliced? Will sponsors/exhibitors upgrade?Who gets credit for delivering certain attendees? Will you be able to afford better keynote speakers or entertainment?
8.Howwill youbrandthe combinedevent? (Note: Leadershipwill caremore about this thanatten- dees and exhibitors.)
9.How will you account for indirect expenses, including staff time, or will you both absorb those? Is fairness baked into the deal for both organizations?
10.Will you leverage a branded web asset, or will you each promote the co-locatedmeetings independently?
11.Whoowns assets—data, relationships, content —created through the co-location?
Risks 1.Who signs agreements and accepts liability with facilities and vendors? It’smost expedient and efficient to have a blanket agreement that empowers one organization to sign on behalf of all partners.
2.Will a larger conferencehinder intimacy andthe quality of networking?
3.Will there be toomany options for attendees? Sometimes toomany education choices can be confusing.
4.Will the division of responsibilities result in weakened customer relationships?
5.What is the path for escalating problems or dis- putes that arise?Who arbitrates?
6.Will an initial partnership have the unintended consequence of better equipping the other organization to competewith you?
ON_THE_WEB: The late, great Michael Hough wrote an article for Convene (
http://bit.ly/oNbmfK) nearly 10 years ago that is a must-read before making the decision to co-locate or merge. And more recently, we tackled co-location in our CMP Series:
http://bit.ly/qzfGrS.
32 pcma convene September 2011 ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD YEO
Apply Logic to Logistics When co-locating your event with another organization, there are many logis- tical details to work out. For example, decisions around who gets which meeting space, headquarters- hotel rooms, and con- cessions are a bigger deal than you might anticipate. Here are two sug-
gestions that might help tie up some logistical loose ends: 1. Consider creat- ing cross-organiza- tional committees for each major func- tion (marketing, regis- tration, expo sales/ management, educa- tion), but have one organization responsi- ble for delivering each of these functions.
2.Standardize pric- ing between the conferences. This is critical. If customers are confused, they’ll lose trust.
Dave Lutz, CMP, is managing director of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting,www
.velvetchainsaw.com, a business-improvement consultantcy specializing in the meetings and events industry. His com- pany assists organizations in realizing top- and bottom-line growth by delivering customer- focused solutions in business development, best practice and process improvement, strategic planning, and training.
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