Author Archives: Kerry Rea President of GovEvents

About Kerry Rea President of GovEvents

Twitter: @Kerry_Rea | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kerryrea/ I am a business and marketing professional with an extensive background in company start-ups. I have 20+ years direct experience in the information technology, government, franchise, and construction industries. Having a passion for business, I love brainstorming, collaborating and strategizing on the best ways to achieve our clients' and partners' business objectives.

I Want My Streaming Video

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We've written before about how to create video for events, but today's post takes a deeper dive into a video medium that has quickly catapulted into everyday use - video streaming. Driven in great part by the wide release of Facebook Live, streaming video is becoming a key tool for marketing and citizen journalism. Recent use of Facebook Live to communicate not just marketing messages, but also news, has served to legitimize streaming video as a channel to reach the masses. According to a Cisco report, by 2019 video will account for 80 percent of global internet traffic.[Tweet "Streaming video is becoming a key tool for marketing. #GovEventsBlog"]

While there are many ways to capture and broadcast streaming video, Facebook, by essence of its popularity and reach, is driving the streaming revolution. With a reported 1.71 billion users on the Facebook social platform, you no longer have to entice people to watch your video on another site; you can meet them where they already are.

Facebook Live allows up to 90 minutes of broadcast content. Filming can be done directly from a smartphone with no additional equipment needed. After the broadcast ends, the video remains accessible in your page's feed and can be adjusted to allow different viewing permissions.  In general, Facebook's algorithms favor video as a way to keep people on the site longer. By creating a live stream and promoting the video, it can increase your Facebook page appearance and organic reach in your audience's feeds.[Tweet "Creating a live stream and promoting the video can increase your organic reach. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

Behind the Curtain: Rio Olympics

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While planning events (and sometimes even attending them) can feel like an Olympic accomplishment, our day-to-day events can't hold a torch to the history, pomp, and complexity of the actual Olympics. This year's summer games take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5-24 and will mark the first time a South American country has hosted the games.[Tweet "Behind the Curtain: Rio Olympics #GovEventsBlog"]

The bay that Rio sits on is one of the most recognizable features and in fact was the inspiration for naming the city. Legend says that Portuguese explorers, who landed in present day Rio in January 1502, mistook the bay for the mouth of a river. They named the area Rio de Janeiro ("River of January"). The iconic Christ the Redeemer statue that looks over the bay is the largest Art Deco statue in the world but only the fifth largest Jesus statue. Continue reading →

Using Events to Counter the Challenge of Long Procurement Cycles

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Market Connections recently released a study on the marketing practices of Federal Government Contractors. Here at GovEvents we were excited to see some great feedback on the use and effectiveness of events in the marketing mix.

The study took the pulse of the contracting community by surveying 200 government contractors occupying various roles within their respective companies. In terms of marketing, the study found that the long government procurement cycle was the top challenge for marketers and business developers to overcome in reaching government buyers. The study also identified some key marketing tools that have helped contractors use the cycle advantageously.[Tweet "The study identified some key marketing tools that helped #government contractors. #GovEventsBlog"]

The use of thought leadership programs was ranked as the most effective marketing tool by a majority of contractors surveyed (75%), and events are a big part of this mix. The second most effective method cited was specific to event strategy. A large percentage of respondents (71%) reported that speaking at industry-wide tradeshows and conferences was a highly effective strategy for their companies. But it's not just big events that get results. When the data was sliced to look at the responses of executives, "speaking at smaller events" proved to be high ranking in terms of effectiveness.  Hosting events also ranked high with 66% of total respondents saying that vendor-hosted events were an effective marketing strategy.[Tweet "Vendor-hosted events were an effective #govcon marketing strategy. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

Unconventional Facts About Conventions: Democratic Convention

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We continue our look at interesting facts about conventions past and present. The Democrats are the focus of today's post, with their convention slated for July 25-27 in Philadelphia, PA.

While the Democratic candidates' delegate counts heading into the conventions may not be as close as the Republicans', a nominee still needs to have at least 2,383 delegates out of 4,765 to secure the nomination. What gets a bit complicated is the Democratic Party's use of superdelgates, as they are not bound to align their votes with the outcome of a state's primary or caucus. While this seems counter intuitive to the democratic process, it actually falls in line with what the founding fathers envisioned. The Constitution originally allowed only state legislatures to elect U.S. senators until passage of the 17th Amendment. This was seen as part of our system of checks and balances to protect against votes of the "uneducated masses."  Continue reading →

Unconventional Facts About Conventions: Republican Convention

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The 2016 Democratic and Republican conventions look to be full of drama and historical significance. With the wild election cycle this year, we were inspired to look beyond the basics and find some interesting facts about how these conventions are organized and how they run.[Tweet "We were inspired to find some interesting facts about the GOP convention. #GovEventsBlog"]

Cleveland and Philadelphia will play host to the Republicans and Democrats respectively. For host cities, besides the revenue brought in by the influx of conventioneers, the convention provides an opportunity to highlight what their town has to offer to an international audience. Selection committees look at a number of factors when choosing host cities including available venues and infrastructure. In fact, Baltimore hosted many of the early conventions because it was an accessible port on the eastern seaboard. With the arrival of the transcontinental railroad system, the Midwest became a more viable location and has remained popular. In fact, Chicago has hosted Democratic and Republican conventions 25 times - more than any other city. Continue reading →