Know Your Audience, and The Event’s

Most startup and technology events will make their attendee list public.  Review this and make sure there are people you want to meet!  Events are an incredible place to make personal and powerful relationships with potential partners and clients, but only if you do your homework first.  Reach out to people ahead of time and plan meetings, to get the most out of an event.  Also, look at the event’s target audience.  If you want Music – check out the SF MusicTech Summit; for Geo-Location, you need to see Geo-Loco.  For Early Stage Startups & Business, FailCon is a great place to start:

FailCon attracts 500 mostly early-stage founders of online technology and services.  We also get a decent footprint of designers, investors, and press who want to work with those founders. If you want to make an impression with that crowd, sign up now and reach out to others.

Learning Vs. Networking

Also, be sure you know why you are going.  If you are just starting off, you probably need to be attending events to learn.  You’ll be able to network at things like FailCon, too (we have over 3 hours dedicated to networking, including themed lunches, workshops, and coffee breaks), but you’ll also get a chance to learn from those who have done this dozens of times, and make less mistakes yourself.

If you have an established business model and product, you need to be networking – meeting clients, investors, and partners.  You may look at demo opportunities at events like FailCon, TechCrunch Disrupt, or Pitch; but you really want to be attending more shorter and cheaper events.

Review The Reputation

Finally, always have a good understanding of the reputation of an event: who is producing and how often has it been running.  A first-time conference from a first-time producer may be worth just tuning into on twitter or their live-stream.  But for something like SMASH Summit (produced by industry-star Dave McClure) or FailCon (running for 3 years by veteran producer Cass Phillipps), there is a much higher chance of bumping into that investor you needed to meet, or that big-company rep you wanted to have acquire your startup.  Veterans know what you need to do business at an event, and are more likely to structure their conference appropriately.

Events are certainly not a waste of time; they can be a huge value add for your own reputation and the growth of your business.  But you need to focus your efforts and come prepared, and know how to skim my lists and pick out the best.  Hopefully this helps!

1)  Sponsor the Event
Yep, going to put that out there.  While my events do not have a “pay to play” aspect, many do.  And I DO have paid workshops, and look more closely at those companies that sponsor and then ask to speak.  You still need a strong speaker and relevant topic, but this a good way to show you are happy to be a supporter right from the start.

2)  Propose A Panel or Dialogue
If you write me and say “I can get Kara Swisher to interview my CEO,” I am more likely to look very seriously at your proposal.  I know a great interviewer will make a good session, and you just took care of a lot of my work for me.  Similarly, saying “I’ll get Pandora, Spotify, SoundCloud, and my CEO for a panel on music scalability” is almost a definite yes, if the other names are strong and relevant.  More speakers generally means more attendees, and you just demonstrated that you are well connected and willing to help.

3)  Do NOT propose yourself.  Get a mutual colleague to propose it.
If you can’t find even one respected colleague that we both have in common to support you, how can you expect me to?  You should be able to look on LinkedIn, see how we are connected, and get a friend or coworker to send a proposal for you.

4)  Keep It Short
I said this in the last post, but I say it again.  Sending an essay on your speaker and another essay on the topic is a guaranteed “DELETE” – I dont have time to read it.  Give me an interesting topic title in <7 words with one quick blurb.

5)  Support The Event
I may say “No” this time, but I do an event every few months.  Rather than just ignore me after that “No”, help me.  Buy a ticket to the events and tweet about it, invite press and your colleagues.  Help me get introductions to the speakers I am trying to get, or secure a sponsor.  For the next event, I’ll realize that you are pretty cool, and you’re next proposal will get a lot more attention.

I continue to be uncomfortable when friends ask me for free passes to FailCon.  Now don’t get me wrong; I appreciate your friendship, your emotional support, and your conversation.  But FailCon is my livelihood for 6 months of the year.  It costs about $36,000 to produce (increasing every year), before I see even a penny of profit.  If you had a restaurant, I wouldn’t assume my meals would be free.  If you had a boutique, I wouldn’t ask for free clothing.  How is this any different?

Now, if I brought friends to eat with me at your restaurant, a discount would be nice.  And if I actually sent new buyers to your boutique, a gift card is a nice gesture. And guess what, I’m happy to do that, too.  So to put it out there for the world, here is my friend and freebie policy:

1)  Discounts. If you have been a friend of mine for awhile and feel like we have gotten pretty close, please do not hesitate to ask for a discount.  I love giving my friends discounts to my events; I truly appreciate your presence and support.

2)  Working. If you want to get in for free, working the event is a great way – especially for friends.  I’m on the hunt for 15 – 40 experienced and friendly volunteers for every event.  You work for 3 hours and can attend the rest of the event at no charge.

3)  Selling. Of course I appreciate your saying “I’ve told some friends” – thank you!  But I can’t hand a free ticket to everyone who says that.  If you are my friend and want a free ticket, then help me with measurable sales.  Buy a ticket now and email me asking for a code to share.  I’ll set up a discount code exclusively for you, and track every sale you generate with it.  The minute 3 people buy a ticket with it, I’ll reimburse your ticket.

—

So please, before you next write me asking for a complimentary ticket – or worse, walk up to the door just assuming my staff will let you in – stop and ask yourself if that is really the friendly thing to do to someone working hard to pay her bills.  I’d hope you wouldn’t hand me $300 in free merchandise from your boutique, just because I’m your friend.  I hope you would ask friends – your first level of support – to help you spread the word, generate sales, and get you into the profitable range before you rewarded them.

At this point, I internally role my eyes and note that this is a poor misguided soul.  If you are not hearing even a “No” back from speakers, sponsors, or partners, then you are not asking correctly.  A “No” tends to show someone cared enough about your movement and ideas to take a moment of their time to read your request and respond.  It shows that you were tenacious in asking and indicates that you might have a chance next time.

Here are 5 quick tips to get a response:

1)  Get an introduction; preferably from someone respected in the industry and close to them.  I review LinkedIn to see who knows someone I want to reach and reach out to them, first.  Make sure the person doing the introducing also knows your event and believes in it.

2)  Keep your first contact short(ish) but get them the info.  You should have the theme of the event, the date & location, and the topic of their talk or type of engagement.  Sometimes including some past speakers and press can help, and always the website.  Keep in mind, this usually will NOT get a reply.

3)  Send them a SHORT follow-up 10 days later. This should be one-two lines only: “I wanted to see if you had a chance to review the invitation below.  Thank you!”  They’ll read this and about 80% of the time, I get a reply within 48 hours.

4)  Follow-up again in the next few days. This should not sound desperate; it should list one or two other people you are considering for that spot, but let them know they are your top choice.  This is like dating – it shows you have options and are not desperate, but do truly respect them.

5)  Let them know you found someone. I rarely get to this step, but I find it sometimes at least gets those last few emails from people I hadn’t heard from.  I write a short email thanking them for their time and consideration, and letting them know I did secure NAME to fill that slot, but truly hope they can join next time.  Those last few stragglers will usually respond to this, since now there is no obligation or feelings of letting someone down.

Your event website is the backbone of your success: it’s the face most people see and what they share with all of their friends. Yet event planners – myself included – continue to forget important information and display shoddy designs with the hope attendees won’t care.

To find out what really matters, I partnered with user testing service TryMyUI and ran a half dozen user tests, covering 3 event websites I know well: BizTechDay, Unleashed Talent (above), and my own FailCon. The results, while not surprising, are a clear checklist every organizer should review when designing a site.

1) Put the Date & Location in the Header

Every one of us messed up on this one. You would be surprised how long it took users to tell me “When and Where is this event?” This should be big and bold right in the header, either to the right or below the logo.

2) Make the Target Audience Clear

People responded well to websites that could summarize ”What Is It?” and “Who Is It For?” in easy-to-read bullet points. My own site currently suffers from chunkoftext-itis, but I’ll be working on that now. Before the fold, make sure you clearly and succinctly say WHO should be attending and WHAT will be covered. The Unleashed Talent site does this well.

3) Make the Price Clear . . . maybe.

After the basic When, Where, Who, What were asked, users then said “Well, how much is it?” and were a bit frustrated they had to click through to the “Buy Tickets” page to find out. This suggests that putting the price on the homepage would reduce user frustration. However, perhaps displaying the price too easily turns some potential attendees away too quickly. I’d love to hear others’ feedback on this. . .

4) People Like Boxes

Unleashed Talent was definitely the most well-received website; people found the large text separated into clear boxes easy to navigate. People liked the look and feel of BizTechDay: the boxed design felt professional and high-quality (though there was some complaint that they were too small and hard to navigate). People seemed a bit lost navigating my own page (no boxes) but responded well to having a box in the corner with basic details on date, location, and contact. This is purely a hypothesis right now, but consider dividing your information into small boxes and laying that out cleanly.

5) Mind the Details

While not statistically significant, a few funny tidbits came up in testing, too:

• One user was trying to “buy tickets” and overlooked the large “Register” button for easily 5 minutes.
• Without being prompted at all, two users said “Oh! It’s really nice that I could share this so easily,” referring to the social connectivity buttons on FailCon and BizTechDay.
• When asked to “Contact the Organizer,” people generally seemed to respond better to a form on the website: less work to complete and easier to navigate. However, one noted that he wished he know the name and email of the person it went to, in case he wanted to follow up.

Through this testing, I saw how even the most experienced event producers can make the simplest mistakes. Before I try to make it snazzy and unique, I need to make sure that the basic information is easy to find and clear to users.

It’s not just the amount of people that make a show (in fact, I’d argue quantity has little to do with it); it’s who those participants are. Where would you rather be: a room of 500 otherwise-unrelated “entrepreneurs,” or a targeted group of 50 funded founders currently active in your target industry?

That’s exactly what producer Brian Zisk and I think about when putting together the hit conferences the Future of Money & Technology Summit (Feb 28, 2011) and the SF MusicTech Summit (May 9, 2011). Mind you, the shows have now grown to over 500 and 800 attendees, respectively. But what makes them a success is not the numbers, but the specific type of people who attend. It is a targeted, driven, and intelligent group, with incredible businesses and stories ready to share.

1) Find The Right Partners - It’s easy to just say yes to every little mailing list and meetup group that asks to promote in exchange for free passes.  Be sure to track sales through those groups (and notice just how little their contribution is.)  What you really need to do is target large, active meetup groups, engaged and relevant mailing list, and industry-specific publications and request that they join you as media partners.  By having their support and branding on the website, you further illustrate the legitimacy of your event to potential attendees, and through their networks you reach a targeted and relevant group of buyers.  (For example, we are partnering with Eventbrite to offer readers 10% off the Future of Money & Technology.  Take advantage of that here.

2) Create a Targeted VIP list – Plan to allow about 10-20% of your attendees (not counting speakers and sponsors) in at no cost, as VIP guests.  This list should be highly targeted – not every blogger or investor on the planet, but local thought-leaders who are especially active in your industry.  Those are the people other attendees want to meet, and as an act of thanks for the complimentary pass, they may let their network know they will be attending.  For the Future of Money, some of our featured attendees include writers from Dow Jones, eMoney, and Bloomberg News, leading authors, and founders focussing on financial innovation.

3) Publicize Your Attendee List (at the right time.) – Eventbrite lets you make your attendee list public, if and when you choose.  Now be careful before you do this; there are certainly events that attendees may not want to publicly say they are attending (invite-only, political rallies, etc.).  But even if you have a career-safe event, be sure to pick the right time.  Having a list of attendees will influence whether someone wants to sign-up: is the list noticeably short, or lacking influential names?  Be sure to get your speakers, sponsors, and VIPs registered before you make the list public.  You can find the list of Future of Money & Technology attendees at http://futureofmoney.eventbrite.com

4) Attend Relevant Events – By attending industry-related events, you show potential attendees that you stay aware of what’s going on, know the right places and people, and thus imply that you can bring the right crowd to your event as well.  For example, while planning the Future of Money, Brian attended the SF Beta: Financial Innovation meetup and will be speaking at the SWIFT Operations Forum, to name a few.

5) Create a Safe and Proactive Environment –
While this won’t mean much for your first show, it will affect your future shows.  For the SF MusicTech Summit and Future of Money & Technology Summit, we not only provide a lounge-like networking area for round table talks and coffee discussions, but we also work a venue that has a number of small side rooms and quiet nooks where private conversations or work can take place.  We also draw a crowd that comes ready to cut through the bull-s**t and make deals happen.  This sort of environment can arise when a show happens at predictable times throughout the year and can start to create a community of “regulars.”  When designing your show, try to host it at regular intervals and personally invite back those attendees whom you feel added the most value.

So as you can see, the type of attendees you attract IS in your hands, a lot more than it may sometimes seem.  And it is an important aspect of event planning often overlooked in favor of “get butts in seats.”  Even if your event is smaller than expected, if you get high-quality attendees and business actually gets done, it will be an event to remember.

Well first off, I am very much a wallflower.  My stomach does somersaults when I walk into a crowded room.  I have to sit and prep myself all day before I can even consider going to a large meet-up or networking event.  And after just a few hours of socializing, I am burned out and need to call it quits.  That’s a wallflower.

But I learned to hide it, for those few hours I’m at the show.  I learned a few tricks to help myself get better at meeting people at events and feel more comfortable while I’m there.  Now these are not fool-proof.  I definitely still walk into events and turn around and walk right out, not feeling the vibe or the energy to do it.  But they definitely help me.  Maybe they will you, too.

5 Tips To Help You Network

1)  Bring a friend who is out going, and follow them around.  They’ll handle the tough part – entering conversations – and then loop you in.  Just talk with them about this before and make sure they know you would like help.  I see people at events follow friends in, but then still hang out on sofas or in corners along the walls, since their friend just didn’t know they wanted help.

2)  Don’t be afraid to just jump in.  If you see a pretty loose and open circle (two people talking close together is clearly a private talk, DON’T enter it), just hop into the side, listen a bit, and speak up with an opinion or question.  Do NOT start talks with your name and a leading question that gets you to talk more about yourself: “I’m Bob; I work in CRM. Do you need more customers?”  People smell this and will disengage.  Try something like “How do you know about this event?” ” What do you want to get out of it?” ” What are you working on right now?”

3)  Listen more than you talk at the first few events you go to; people will respect that and make an effort get to know you, too.  Offer polite but informed opinions on what others say, and they’ll be more likely to invite you back.  That said, do not just drift on the side of the conversation only listening – this is creepy.

4)  Seek out people you know. As you get to know more people, find them in crowded rooms at future events.  Say hi and ask how they are, remind them where you met them, they’ll usually then introduce you to whoever they are talking with and now you know even MORE people.

5)  Do NOT go to events with the goal being “To Network” or something pitch-y  like that.  Go to meet neat people and have a good time.  I go to events to see people I know in the industry and reconnect; if I leave with a few new business cards from others, its just a nice bonus.  Leave a friendly impression and people will think about you as a nice business connection in the future.  Leave a business-like impression and they won’t even consider you friendly in the future.

I recently worked on an event that brought together C-level executives and founders to learn about and discuss company culture and how to preserve a productive and innovative environment as the company grows.  It featured 6 speakers and 2 panels, and most of the participants were not the same faces you see at every show.  Attendees came up to me saying they had some of the most intelligent discussions with attendees they’d ever had a conference.  Overall, a wonderful success!

But this does not mean there were not still mistakes made and lessons learned.  Here are 5 I walked away with:

1)  The Sun Moves…
Yes, the sun moves across the sky, for those who didn’t know.  We rented a beautiful room with floor to ceiling windows, and set it for the warm lighting we had in the morning.  Everything flowed along peachy-keen.  Some of the presentations were a little dim, due to lighting, but nothing too bad.  Then along came 12:30p.  The sun, by this point, had shifted from being behind our presentations to shining directly on the screen.  Ouch.  We had NO fall back plan when this happened, and the presentation was completely washed out.  By 2:00p, the sun had dropped low enough to be fine again, thankfully.  But in the future, if you rent a room with a lot of windows, think about where the sun will be throughout the day, and how you will block it for each presentation.

2)  Bulldog Clips Need a Place to Clip.
I have still not decided what my favorite type of badge holder is.  I know I will NEVER use pins.  A lot of people wear nice clothing – myself included – and do NOT want to pin something through it.  This ruins a lot of materials and is just unprofessional.  However, I am not a huge fan of lanyards because they are big and clunky and inevitably the name tag flips over to be blank.  “Print it double sided” people tell me – easier said than done, and twice as costly.  But I would like to go to Kinkos and test this, to see how close and nice I can get it.  That said, for this show I tried bulldog clips – my current favorite alternative.  The problem with these is that many people just don’t have a place to clip them – they end up on the hems of shirts or sleeves and are just not readable.  So, back to the drawing board on badges.

3)  Madonna Mics are Divas.
Madonna Mics – or those over the ear, in front of the mouth mics – are beautiful on stage.  The speakers can use both hands and get a lot more freedom with their presentation.  We started using one midway through the show and every speaker loved it.  But like any diva – their beauty on stage if matched by their difficulty backstage.  They take a minute or three to set up for each speaker, so leave buffer time when you use them, or rent two so one person can be set while another is onstage.  And they can get finicky – turning off if caught on clothing, losing reception if covered by too much clothing, etc.  I recommend having 1-2 on hand for speakers that prefer them, but be sure the speaker knows about these issues ahead of time, and that having a Madonna Mic, while giving them more mobility, does not mean they can jump around the stage.

4)  Size Doesn’t Matter.
Okay, it does, a little, but don’t think about it like that.  This was meant to be a smaller show, between 50 and 100 people.  As the show approached, I felt myself getting lackadaisical due to the smaller size; dropping the ball on marketing outreach and pre-planning.  This would be easy, I figured, I’m an old pro.  What really happened was that I almost made a number of amateur mistakes (thankfully, I got my butt in gear about 48 hours beforehand and recovered):  I almost forgot to set up at-the-door registration and sign-in signs, I almost forgot extra name badges, I almost didn’t get signs done in time, and my bag of supplies needed a last minute filling.  This mean that the day before the show was MUCH more stressful than it should have been for a show of this size.  140c tip: Don’t ever consider one show easier than another, even if everything suggests it will be.

5)  Roundtables Rock
They take up more space and limit your numbers, but if you can do it – set up round tables at your shows.  These facilitate discussion, give people a place to sit when they get coffee or snacks, and immediately form bonds between groups of attendees.  If possible, set up specific times in the day with guided round table discussions.  Depending on the final count for FailCon, I may try to do this myself.  It immediately makes a conference feel more intimate.

Social Media Is Making Us Lazy

Yes, that’s right.  On the one hand, there is even more to do now, especially with events.  I have to make sure we have a Facebook Event, an Upcoming Page, a Plancast Listing, a Going spotlight, a Twitter handle…the list feels endless, and certainly not for those lacking work ethic.

But I feel like many people see what I do (or Brian Zisk, or Myles Weissleder) and assume just my social media outreach sends me attendees.  So they set up these pages…and are surprised when their show isn’t selling out.  People assume that if they create a Facebook Fan Page and invite 500 friends, they’ll get 300+ people at the show.  Or if they tweet a few raffles, they’ll sell dozens of tickets.  Few people realize the personal outreach and relationships, the follow-up and engagement, essentially everything else that is behind every event I do.  Events – as with most products – are not a case of “If You Build It, They Will Come.”  Far from it.  You need to convince people that this content will be valuable, that these speakers will be experts, and that it will be worth their money.

5 NON-Social Media Things To Increase Ticket Sales

1)  Email every SF NewTech and TechCrunch demo company. These pre-funded through Series A funded companies are my primary audience, so I send a personal email inviting each and every one of these people to attend, and include a discounted rate just for them.  I mention something important about their company and they could apply the show to their business.  This results in a few hundred emails.

2)  Attend Similar Industry Events. The people buying tickets to those shows are the people who might come to mind.  I don’t obnoxiously pitch them, but I do try to mention what I do in the conversation, I find a way to ask about their mistakes, I discuss the state of failure in the industry.  Then I get a card so I can personally follow up.

3)  Contact Past Attendees Who Haven’t Registered. I don’t hound them, but I want to know why.  I want to know if they just forgot, or if there is something I could do to change the show so they come back.  I want them to know I truly do care about seeing them, and making the show a better experience than the last one.

4)  Form Media & Event Partnerships.  I find people with similar groups or lists and ask they if are interested in co-branding or promotions.  I’ll share their logo and event info on my list and website, and ask that they do the same.  This is an incredible way to make new connections.

5)   Invite VIPs. I create a list of about 50 VIP guests who I think, with their help, can secure more additional registrants.  I ask that they sign up so their name is on the Eventbrite page.  I ask that they promote to their colleagues and networks in exchange for the pass [okay, thats KINDA social media related].  These are people who are not only well-connected in the industry, but are also well-informed who I know will be a valuable addition to the show itself.

1) They Aren’t Expected
Unless a product is truly expected at an event by my attendees, I won’t pay the extra for it.  Expected things include: some food, wireless connectivity, places to sit, and possibly transportation if it is off the beaten path.  Unless you can convince my attendees that this is a necessary value add at an event and make them start demanding it, I won’t buy it (and if you have a good adviser, you’ll know that you canNOT spend resources convincing someone that you are solving a problem that doesn’t exist).

2) They Don’t Make Me Money
I am willing to pay for services that sell tickets for me.  For example (listen up entrepreneurs), I would pay you a referral fee for the first show, if you had an app I could stick on my website that told visitors who from their facebook friends was attending and directed them to buy a ticket (through a referral link.)  I would gladly pay a % of those ticket prices for the first event, and a flat fee close to that for future events – since you will have proven you work.  However, using FBconnect to do this leads to my third point…

3) They add complexity, rather than simplify.
My attendees have a network; it’s called the Facebook group, Twitter hashtag, and Flickr tag.  Alright, this isn’t ideal.  Sure, it would be nice to have one place where people see which of their friends are there, what talk they will be at, the photos they – and other guests – have uploaded, and the live twitter stream all in one place.  But so far every event network pitched to me requires attendees to register and create a new profile at the event, and monitor that throughout the show.  Too much work; people won’t do it.  When I use CrowdVine at a show, I find less than 10% of attendees actually start engaging on it.  And seeing the lack of use, those of course drop off quickly.  Conversations happen on Twitter, photos are posted on Flickr, moved to Facebook, and tagged there.  Your service just adds a complex extra layer, when it could be aggregating the existing data at no work for us.

So, entrepreneurs, fix this.  Partner with all the ticketing sites out there (I use primarily Eventbrite, but EventBee and Mogotix are some other options…).  Let “Sign-up for the event social network” be an opt-in feature at registration.  If they opt-in, pull what info you can from their ticket registration, then ask them to finalize with FBconnect, and BAM – they are part of the network.  Send them ONE email about it – letting them know they can connect with attendees, view the twitter stream, upload photos to Facebook & Flickr, and plan their agenda all in one place.  Let them opt-IN to getting alerts of who your algorithm thinks they should meet there, based on Facebook interests or friend connections, etc.  Then create this as an app on the ticketing site that I place on my page, showing anyone who lands there who from their Facebook friends is attending and take a referral fee for any tickets you sell through that.  THEN, and only then, I MIGHT pay you for the service.

***********************

EVENT PLANNERS:
So now you know, when someone comes to you pitching an event social network, Just Say No.  Until these are perfected, I find I get about 10% engagement and little value add.  Attendees are perfectly comfortable communicating on twitter with a hashtag, and posting photos to Flickr and Facebook, where they alert other attendees to tag them.  I would LOVE to see more post-show engagement, but these social networks that pitch that they’ll do it are bogus for now.  It is not a “If you build it, they will come” scenario.  As event planners, it is our job to facilitate community growth outside of our events, not just hand attendees a walled garden and assume they’ll play.