I had the pleasure of being a guest lecturer at a class on the event industry at Johnson & Wales University in Providence.  [How this came about deserves its own blog entry entitled "why you should always attend IAEE (International Association of Exhibitions and Events) meetings and network!]

I love the fact that there are several universities with specific degree programs in event management; in this case the program is called SEE: Sports/Entertainment/Event Management.  These kids are taking classes about the field they knew they were seeking employment in: the kind of  involved and engaged group. that it is a joy to talk with.

The class was on trends affecting the industry, and, being top of mind, I chose the recession. The slides were full of clippings of events offering free hotel rooms, discounted airfare, switching to free admission…but my emphasis was on the fact that there are two sides of the value equation: cost reduction and adding benefit.  Because at the end of the day, it is harder for us to get people to give us their time than their money.  And there are only so many clothes you can take off…

At OpenSource World/NGDC/CloudWorld we are experimenting with a series of major changes focused on value. From the attendee side they include:

  • All three conferences for the price of one
  • More sessions per day
  • More opportunity to interface with the instructors online before and after the event
  • A focus within the conference content on training that will help their companies be more efficient
  • An emphasis in the promotion on the concrete benefits of attending
  • Access to the presentations you didn’t see after the event

Of course, we should have been doing these things all along, but in a good economy we all get sloppy.  I have a new theory: the economy slows at a significantly higher than average rate immediately following a recession because marketers implemented stronger, value-based strategies during the down times, and keep these more effective methods in place afterward.  Before we get lazy and high growth lets us slack off again…