Michael Migliore’s Post

🚨 Did you know that over 50% of conference and trade show attendees are first-timers? 🚨 For event organisers, this statistic highlights an incredible opportunity—and a big responsibility. First impressions shape how these newcomers perceive your event, and ultimately, whether they’ll return. So how can you make that first experience impactful? By building meaningful connections. Using the right tools can transform that first encounter into something memorable. Instead of leaving attendees to wander, these tools connect them with relevant exhibitors, sessions, and other participants, ensuring they feel welcomed and engaged from the start. Real connections mean more than a business card exchange—they lead to meaningful conversations, networking opportunities, and lasting impressions. By helping attendees meet the right people, you create a more personalized, rewarding experience, making it much more likely they’ll return next year. For event success, the first impression isn’t just about logistics; it’s about connections. Prioritise relationship-building and leave a lasting positive impact on your first-time attendees. Do you agree? Rich Rodrigues Adam Parry Evan Babins Roland Kovács #EventMarketing #TradeShowSuccess #Networking #FirstImpressions #EventTech #MatchmakingSolutions #AttendeeEngagement

The events industry is constantly evolving. In fact, in a very short time, we’ve all seen countless shifts happening in the way we create events and the way we experience them. So at vFairs, we only had one question: how can #eventprofs use personalization and technology to create an unforgettable experience in the fast-paced event world? This led us to investigate attendee preferences at events and how event professionals can use this information to create experiences that will make their events memorable. Here are the top 5 things we discovered: 1) Conferences are leading the charge Everyone is loving getting back to in-person events, and 2023 showed us that's not slowing down in 2024. Our survey reveals that conferences are leading the charge. Industries such as B2B, education, nonprofits, government, retail, and healthcare are increasingly investing in these in-person events. 2) Small events are back It's all about cozy vibes over massive events these days. From chill hangouts to busy conferences, there's a little bit of everything. But guess what's making a comeback? Yep, you guessed it—those intimate gatherings are back and better than ever! 3) New Tech Keeps Events Fresh and Engaging Nearly half of our survey takers (47.5%) say that new tech is key to keeping event-goers hooked. Think mobile apps, AI, webinars, and fun games — these are the elements adding value to events.  4) Mobile Apps Steal the Spotlight This year, 63.4% of attendees are all about mobile event apps. It’s clear: when it comes to hosting top-notch events, tech is key. 5) Presentations & webinars are the MVPs Our survey found that presentations and webinars are total game-changers, making up 26.8% of the tech impact. To uncover more such insights, download the vFairs Attendee Preferences Report. Link is in the comments. #vFairs #EventProfs #EventTech 

It’s important for you to measure the value you get from organizing and hosting your events. It’s also important to know how your audience – attendees, sponsors, exhibitors – measure value from the events they attend. I wrote, earlier, about: ‘Measuring the Value of an Event’ and ‘How Do People Choose Events to Attend?’ Some factors may be easier to measure than others. In these earlier articles, mentioned above, we’ve listed some factors that might help. Depending on whether you’re an event organizer, attendee, sponsor, exhibitor, you’ll look at value differently. Your goals and objectives will obviously differ: - How do you decide which type of events to host, attend or sponsor? - What goals do you want to achieve? - How do you measure the value you get from events? - What metrics do you track? - Quantitative and qualitative aspects? - ROI? - Are you finding measuring value easier with AI? If you’re the event organizer, it’s important to know your audience. It can be useful to know what your attendees, sponsors, exhibitors want from your events. Knowing how they measure value of events can help you add value to your events. It would be great to hear your experiences. Link to full article in the comments. #eventmarketing #events #value #ShareYaarNow

Three Things I Learned at SBJ Drive in Dallas this week: I used to go to conferences all the time. When we were building TicketManager, conferences were a vital part of our growth. We had to get the word out and we didn't have much marketing budget. So we hit the road. I made so many friends along the way. People who are now CEOs and titans of industry. At the time, we were all just kids trying to sell our wares. We've seen some hit it big, and some take big hits. But there's something reassuring about seeing those familiar faces from time to time. What I learned this week at the SBJ Drive conference in Frisco: 1. Ticketing Needs New Ideas When we started TicketManager, we'd go to all the conferences. Every SBJ conference, every NATB, Tickets.com, ALSD, Ticketmaster, NSF, and on and on. We really started to hit them in 2010. Back then, the big ideas were seat upgrades, group sales, and opaque ticket sales. The companies were Experience, Split Season Tickets, ScoreBig, and FanSnap. We'd see them on every panel, everywhere. We don't have any new ideas. The conference was overwhelmingly the same stuff. Opaque ticket sales have been renamed consolidation and have become a billion-dollar business. Seat upgrades are back, and there are a number of companies getting into that game (again), and group sales has gone from Groupmatics to Spinzo to Fevo. But where are the new ideas? Everyone was throwing around the term "AI" with very little understanding of what AI really is. Your superfast bot is not AI. It's a superfast bot. We need new ideas in the space. Especially now with the DOJ looking to mix things up (which I don’t agree with) 2. Sponsors have overwhelmed too many conferences This isn't an SBJ thing. It's an every-conference thing. Having a title sponsor who gets thirty minutes at a keynote makes sense. Or a panel here or there. I understand these shows need to turn a profit as they're not user conferences - they are for profit. However, too many of these conferences have given the sponsors too much control and too much content. The panels are becoming infomercials, which is fine, but it is also driving away guests, and the competition of the sponsors have no interest in attending. 3. Cosm is cool That's kinda obvious, but can they sustain as a real business? Beyond being cool, they're powering 700 planetariums and their tech is being licensed out. Will be interesting to watch them grow. 4. Ticketing companies are gearing up for a seismic shift Just about every ticketing company or PE I spoke with said the same thing this week: They think the DOJ may break up Live Nation or impose sanctions on them. And ticketing may shake up quite a bit. I heard it from primaries, secondaries, and consolidators. All are positioning themselves to pounce if something shakes loose.

Let's have an honest conversation about trade show economics. The numbers tell a concerning story: 😐 $50,000+ for a standard exhibition space 😒 34% attendee satisfaction rate 😬 38% follow-up website visits If you have spent years in this industry, you understand the immense value of face-to-face connections. But we need to ask ourselves: Are we building a sustainable model for the next generation of business relationships? The hard truth is that both exhibitors and attendees are investing significant resources - time, money, travel - for a remarkably low satisfaction rate. This isn't just about ROI (though that matters). It's about creating genuine value and meaningful connections in a world where every marketing dollar needs to work harder. Consider what $50k could mean to: 1)A startup trying to break into their market 2) A mid-size company expanding its reach 3) An enterprise testing new innovations We're essentially asking businesses to bet big on a model that's showing clear signs of inefficiency. But here's the exciting part: We don't need to throw out trade shows. We need to reimagine them. Imagine if we: 👍 Used technology to pre-qualify connections. 👍 Focused on quality of interactions over booth size. 👍 Created more targeted, industry-specific gatherings. 👍 Measured success by actual business outcomes The next generation of business leaders deserves better than "that's how it's always been done." They deserve events that reflect how modern business relationships are built - through targeted, meaningful connections that drive real value. This isn't about pointing fingers. It's about acknowledging that our industry needs to evolve. The future of trade shows should be about facilitating genuine connections, not just selling floor space. What do you think? How can we make trade shows more valuable for everyone involved? #EventIndustry #BusinessInnovation #FutureOfEvents #TradeShows

Thinking About Throwing an Event? Ask Yourself These 5 Questions First… Look, throwing a live event is one of the most powerful ways to scale your business. You sell tickets. You give your people an unforgettable experience. And then, at just the right moment, you introduce them to your mastermind or high-ticket offer that’s going to change their lives—and your bottom line. But here’s the thing… If you don’t get your event strategy dialed in from the start, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment (and a lot of wasted time and money). So, before you dive in, ask yourself these 5 questions: 1. What’s the ONE thing you want to achieve with this event? Is it to make money from ticket sales? Build your brand? Pack out your mastermind with high-quality members? Pick ONE primary objective and let every decision flow from there. 2. Who are you really doing this for? Who’s your ideal attendee? What keeps them up at night? What would make them whip out their credit card faster than you can say “I’m in”? If you don’t know them inside and out, your event will fall flat. 3. How will you make your offer IRRESISTIBLE? Most people bomb this part. You can’t just stand on stage, talk about your mastermind, and hope people will jump in. You’ve got to craft an offer so good, your audience would feel crazy to say no. 4. How will you keep people ENGAGED the entire time? From the moment they walk in to the moment they leave, your audience needs to feel like they’re a part of something bigger. Plan interactive moments, build anticipation, and show them they’re in the right room. 5. How will you measure SUCCESS? Is it ticket sales? Mastermind enrollments? Raving testimonials? Whatever it is, decide ahead of time so you can reverse-engineer your strategy to hit those numbers. Live events can be a game-changer for your business—but only if you get them right. So, take these 5 questions seriously. And when you’re ready to turn your event into a revenue-generating machine… Shoot me a message, and let’s talk about how to make it happen. Because if you’re going to do this… You might as well crush it. #LiveEvents #ScaleYourBusiness #Mastermind

Part 1: Want to hear Greg Topalian’s 10 year/10 predictions for our industry? A week or so ago, I shared a review and learnings from my recent visit to The Exhibitions and Conventions Executive Forum in DC. After an honest review of his previous predictions for the exhibitions industry, Greg shared a new set with the audience. They resonated so much with me - I sat through the whole session nodding my head like Miley Cyrus! I think these are gold. What about you? The first 5 predictions: 1️⃣ B2B events will become a consumer-like experience.  - Participants want memorable experiences and real connections.  - Your competition is not other exhibition organisers, it’s brands who will design what they need because you’re not delivering it. 2️⃣ Costs are out of control - something’s gotta give.  - Organisers will start considering 2nd and 3rd-tier cities to lower costs. If their brand is strong enough, they can be confident that their participants will follow them anywhere.  - There’ll be a new era of vendor relationships. They’ll stop being buyer/seller-centric and instead become full-on collaborations. 3️⃣ Taking responsibility for delivering meaningful connections is NOT optional - organisers HAVE to deliver meetings. - They’ll stop trying to monitise meetings with exhibitors. - It’s far too easy to try and make a quick buck by charging exhibitors, but instead they'll focus on solving the meeting issues FOR attendees and deliver what THEY want. 4️⃣ Deep fake content. There is so much mistrust around content that in-person events will become a key source of TRUST and clarity. - E-learning will become a major revenue source, possibly bigger than the current trade show model. - Learning will be taken online, and organisers will become a trusted source of learning for their industries. 5️⃣ Fans. A shift to focus on the attendees. Attendees are part of an organiser’s financial equation or SHOULD be.  - Attendees want meetings, they want experiences, they want VIP options - they WILL pay. I’ll share the final 5 predictions next week. #ecef2024 #eventprofs #exhibitions PS. These aren’t from a transcript but my own notes; it was hard to read back my enthusiastic scribbles! So, apologies, Greg, if I have misrepresented anything here!

When we talk about industry events for #EventProfs in the business sector, we talk about the usual suspects. These events are typically centered around event marketing, tech, planning, trade shows, etc. They all have their niches. But where do we send our strategic creative team members? Where do they go to grow their skills? There is no industry event today dedicated to this sector despite it being a driving force behind what we do every day. We find the best events that exist today for these teams to attend to sharpen their craft are aligned with B2C events like SXSW, Coachella, ENGAGE! Summit, etc. These conferences have unique + untraditional approaches to designing experiences that are unmatched in the business events realm world today. The reason: B2C strategies are so keyed into attendee-centered strategic creative. They aren't scared to push the envelope of what a "standard" conference may look like. They are design-forward. They take risks. If we want to improve as an industry, we need to stop taking inspiration from what’s already been done. We need to think differently. We need to invest in our creative strategic teams. What is your favorite non-business event you attend to learn from? #CreativeLeadership #DesignThinkingProcess #IndustryEvents

The FAST path to more cash in your business is by speaking on stages. The FASTEST path to more cash, more authority, more influence, and more success… Is speaking on stages that you built by hosting your own events. I can’t stress this enough, and it’s been proving over and over and over again. If you’re an expert at what you do, but you still feel invisible, like your industry’s best-kept-secret… The #1 thing you can do now to skyrocket your personal brand, build authority, and be seen as the go-to-expert and celebrity speaker in your niche… Is to host your own branded virtual and in-person events. It’s SO much simpler than you realize. Schedule a LIVE 2-hour workshop once a month. Make content daily and start conversations that get people to sign up for your event. You can even invite “guest speakers” so you can ethically steal their audience to help fill your events. Use your virtual event to enroll attendees into your core offer. You can take this a step further by hosting high-ticket in-person events/bootcamps/masterminds/retreats/etc. Essentially you’re just “building your own economy” that positions you as the authority in your niche. The more you do this… the more attention you get and the more money you make. At which point people start coming to you and inviting you to speak at their events. Want a free playbook that shows you how to do this step by step? Comment “SECRETS” and I’ll send it over! #TopPaidSpeaker

In this insightful clip, Event Advisors explains why event success isn't just about the number of attendees but about the impact each moment creates. Discover how to use "Return on the Moment" to evaluate the true value of your client events. 🎯 Find out how focusing on meaningful interactions can make your events more successful in the long run. Watch the full clip: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eccucGph #ReturnOnTheMoment #EventSuccess #KalliCollective #ClientEngagement #AUMAskUsMarketing