Tag Archives: event planning

Defining the Value of Face to Face Events

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As we emerge from government fiscal year-end and start planning for calendar year 2015, it is a good time to look at how to budget for (or use budget already allocated to) face-to-face events. Whether you are planning events or looking to attend, the ROI of these events is critical.

Amidst reports of travel budgets being cut and general tightening of overhead budgets, there is a lot of optimism for real-time events. Earlier this year, EXHIBITOR Magazine surveyed professionals in the event industry (across all sectors, not just government). Overall, the survey found that 77% said trade show budgets had increased or stayed the same over the past year. Continue reading →

Way Beyond the Beltway: Events in Alaska

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As was likely the response to our post on events in Hawaii, you're probably thinking there is no way Alaska makes sense for your event. While that may be the case for many, it is worth noting that in Alaska nearly 30% of the workforce are  government workers.  Relatively close by, Washington state also has an above average number of government employees.

Current federal job openings across the state show a wide variety of job types and departments. From Interior, to Justice, to Defense, to Commerce, there is a broad range of federal programs and work across the state. If you think travel cutbacks have been hard in your department, imagine how staff in Alaska feel when every training event requires a lengthy plane ride and hotel stay. It just may be worth taking your message and event to the "last frontier." It might even help you stand out from the competition.

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Back to Basics: 5 Tips on Selecting a Venue

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With back to school behind us, new routines are set and starting to feel comfortable. Most of us love a familiar routine and familiar places. That's why we may go out of our way to hit our favorite coffee shop. But this comfort in routine can make our events a bit stale.

Are you always planning events at the same locations? Are your events at the same venues that are also used by organizations in your industry? Maybe its time to step out of the comfort zone and pick a new spot to add some new life to your events.

In choosing a new venue think first about what you like best about your old standby venues. Is it the service? Décor? Food? Location? AV equipment? Then put that criteria at the top of your list for selecting a new venue. Can they meet or exceed your expectations?

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4 Tips to Take Your Event Plans Back to School

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With Back to School season upon us, it seems a good time to reflect on new starts for our regular routine. As students must adjust to new teachers, new workloads, and sometimes even new schools, meeting and marketing professionals can use this time of year as inspiration to take a moment to step back and really get to know our events in order to help them graduate to the next level.

Create a Report Card - take some time to look back at what has been working and what tactics seem to have run their course. Look at different metrics to track what outreach tactics yielded the most registrations, what the demographic trends of your attendees are, and what topics garnered the most interest. All of these findings can help you better tailor your events for today's audience.

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What’s Trending in Government Events?

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In a recent post, we aimed to break down some of the buzz around big data and take a look at what it really means for government entities. In digging around to find how many events were discussing the topic, we decided to look at what other topics seemed to be trending on GovEvents.com.

From an agency/department perspective, Defense has the largest number of events dedicated to it. While there is a lot of talk in the media about the Defense industry cutting back on meeting and training spending, that sector still accounts for the largest percentage of events listed on our site. These events run the gamut from technology, to personnel and training topics, to specific tactical discussions. From these numbers we can conclude that the Defense community still wants and needs training. Combine that need with the reality of tight budgets (in terms of time and money) and it is important to make events geared toward the Defense audience unique in content as well as accessible (online and in-person options) to stand out in a crowded field.

Digging down into specific technologies security and cybersecurity come out on top with the most upcoming events. Again, not a huge surprise given the amount of media attention given to security breeches. The training around cybersecurity is especially critical given the reported shortfall in qualified professionals in this area. Those planning cyber events should keep in mind that attendees may be more than cyber professionals. They may be IT generalists that are tasked with cyber work, for lack of anyone else to do it, and are looking to quickly get up to speed on trends, tactics, and technologies. The audience may also include attendees with little to no security experience looking to break into the seemingly lucrative field. Content, programming, and activities should assume that all three types of attendees will be present. Events could also be tailored to meet the needs of just one of these audiences.

While not earth shattering, this data does give us insight into the real demand for buzzed about topics. It shows that the demand is in fact where we expect it to be (security) and that the market for events in the Defense community is still high. If you are looking to organize an event, think about how to combine some of these high demand topics with ones that are not currently saturating the market.  Perhaps a discussion about softer topics like management aimed at the Defense audience. Or a security event that looks at training staff to meet the new cyber risks. Being able to tie your message or product to a trend but with a different twist will make you stand out in the crowded and competitive battle for people's time and attention.

What topical trends are you seeing in the market? Let us know in the comments!

 

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