Let's Talk Conferences

I'd be remiss not to give yet another massive shout in this moment to SOS Save Our Sites for hosting a ridiculously successful inaugural conference unlike any other last week. There were wigs, a robe, and a heavily bearded judge ~ in case you missed the fanfare ~ and despite all the fun, serious work was indeed accomplished. In reflecting on this experience, and the upswing of 'conference season' at the moment, I wondered if an article evaluating all the elements of a conference wouldn't be prudent to highlight the various attributes and drawbacks of deciding what and where to be involved in the hype :)

Any time I evaluate a new tech, vendor, the latest promise of AI, or any other way to spend my time and money, I'm going to use DATA. This evaluation should be no different than any other major decision maker, complete with a ration, scale, defined variables, and as all good AI is doing, allowing for a human component along the way. Much of your variable defining will be around the purpose you need the conference appearance to serve: are you establishing a network; do you need to be 'seen' or exhibit to build possible clientele; is speaking an avenue to creating credibility and building your brand; will the conference provide legitimate learning opportunities around your subject matter expertise. Plenty of questions, reasons, and variables to be defined here so scope accordingly to ensure true success. Perhaps it varies conference by conference, season by season, or rarely changes. Regardless, without forward definition in total transparency, your data simply can't be trusted to illicit the proper results.

While I can't account for every need nor list every variable, here I will hit the hallmarks of how I make these decisions and assist clients in doing the same.

TIME: Here's the thing, no matter the money you might secure in your latest series of funding, you simply can't add more hours to the day. Time for travel, time at the conference, time away from billables/clients/work, and time away from home/family alllll count here. Factor in the cross variables like cost for travel, registration, and how long you can reasonably be present in these sessions before the ROI on your time is wasted.

COST: Look, I've organized a conference on a dime budget before, and I know just how expensive it can be and fast. But the cost for some of the 'it' conferences out there are exorbitant at best, especially for those in slightly smaller agencies. I'm happy to pay for an experience of sorts and to have skin in the game, but four days at the Ritz on top of a steep multi thousand dollar registration fee, even if I'm speaking, is a deal breaker for most unless this is THE conference for your need. Experiencing meaningful conferences on a budget regularly continues to convince me to focus very narrowly my efforts whereby monies are readily spent without guaranteed ROI.

VENUE: Rather than what my loving husband believes, i.e., that I only attend conferences at beach resorts or warm locales in winter simply to rub in my good fortune haha, venue has so much more to do with accessibility, multi purpose, and the variables identified above like cost and time to reach. No one cringes when they determine a 'must attend' conference just so happens to be in Florida in January, but admittedly, if you host a conference in a venue that requires significantly more effort and cost to reach, it becomes a serious factor. Similarly, there's a good reason that thinking ahead about a one day conference in say, Chicago, in February does ring ripe of potential travel disasters for attendees. Lastly, for those of us who have been attending conferences for close to two decades, I'm also looking for functional venues around easy to access food, lodging, walkable options, great presentation possibilities, and open networking spaces. The flow of your conference depends on the venue being fit to size for your needs and your attendees will be vocal if that is indeed off.

PEOPLE: If there was ever a variable that has a bit more of a 'vibe' feel as opposed to outright metric measure, it's the people. Let's be real, you will attend a conference if it promises to bring you closer to the people you're attempting to be in the room with, even if they aren't YOUR people per se. Similarly, your satisfaction with a conference is deeply dependent on the people who will frequent the sessions, exhibition hall, and networking events. While I urge you to evaluate possible leads, and of course the opportunity to connect with clients and colleagues alike, I also urge you to look at the people who will be speaking and organizing the event. The latter two are the backbone of your conference experience at the core, the former categories are the icing on your conference cupcake.

Let's park these four variables here and see what others would add to this list in terms of evaluation criteria. I welcome contrary stances, and hope that by the next newsletter, we will have a robust set of criteria to make our conference hopping decisions!