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Two paths for successful group events

Guest post by: Seth Godin

Article Overview: I'm talking about trade shows, SXSW, street marketing... There are two ways to be glad you went:

Two paths for successful group events

I'm talking about trade shows, SXSW, street marketing...

There are two ways to be glad you went:

1. An overwhelming show of force. When you have the biggest booth, when you are the buzz of the event, when you are everywhere people look, you reinforce your position as the leader.

2. Powerful personal interactions. Not with everyone. Just with people who want to talk with you, who will benefit from a powerful exchange. Not mass, but high in value. Even better, designing these interactions (and your product) so that this small number of people set out to evangelize their peers on your behalf.

The mistake almost everyone makes is to do both. Or to believe that they know a cheap shortcut on their way to #1. Or to get too busy chasing (and failing) at mass that they don't have time to do the personal.

Years ago, the company I worked for spent millions at various venues of the Consumer Electronics Show. We were there, we were sort of big and we sort of won. But not really. Too much noise, too much competition, we were neither. By trying to reach as many as we could, we were never intimate enough to generate conversations that mattered or ideas that spread...

Once again, it comes down to scale. If you staff and invest appropriately, you don't have to 'win' the show to make it worth the trip. On the other hand, if you're setting out to win and investing at the appropriate level, you better win.

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Article Tags: group events, sxsw, two paths, two ways



Related Forum Posts
Re: Does it help to join business groups? - Different groups can have a very different feel to them, so it's good to try out several. I was in a lunch group for a while that was very formal, and a bit expensive as you had to purchase the event ticket and the lunch. It was a small group, and they knew each other well. They were nice people, but there was really no opportunity for us to help each other -- more of a social thing really. I've also done chamber of commerce, or women's entrepreneur events. I always have a good time, but I haven't found many business leads that way -- most of the newer entrepreneurs often don't have the financial resources to hire others (at first anyway). I did get one big job back when I was a freelance writer from one of these events, however. I've met more clients through regular socializing surprisingly! Knowing a person through friends can make others feel more comfortable it seems.
Toronto Angel Group - Does anybody know how this group works? Has anyone been successful pitching to them?
Toronto Business Events - Thanks JP - I used to put on events 2-3 times per month in partnership with Indigo to help Toronto entrepreneurs. They were great events and we had over 70 people attending but they were a lot of work to organize and put together. More recently I've been doing seminars on either Modeling Masters, raising financing, or internet marketing that are put together through other organizations. All I have to do is show up, deliver a great presentation and help local entrepreneurs - they take care of the logistics. I might be doing some more JCI events depending on how my discussions go with them in the next few weeks. I appreciate the support!
Facebook for Dummies - [quote:23szt871]I'd like to understand exactly what I need to do to bring value to my business in a 'dummies' version - any ideas anyone? [/quote:23szt871] What we really need is for someone to create a seminar explaining how to use Facebook for business. Some people do it well, but I can't figure it out either. [quote:23szt871]Anyway, I've posted a few ads in the marketplace section...and it's only been a couple of hours, I'll see what happens in the next week or so...[/quote:23szt871] I've done the same and even paid the $1 for a sponsored listing and another $1 for a flyer - let's see if it works. A friend of mine, Daniel at BizLaunch, uses Facebook well. He has created a group for Entrepreneurs. Then as people join the group he invited them to be friends. Now whenever they have free seminars or events he invites all of his 'friends'. Using this method has helped them increase the seminar attendance dramatically.
Re: 4 Home Based Opportunities For 2011 - Event planning can be a very good home based business. I have a friend who is considering becoming an event planner as she does very well with planning events, parties and other social events. She's very well organized, which is a must-have trait for someone thinking about getting into this opportunity.


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