Stephen Nold

Attending and Speaking at UFI Global CEO Forum

I have the privilege of speaking to the collection of global show leaders at the UFI Global CEO Forum in Geneva, Switzerland at the Geneva PalExpo.  As you might guess, this has been a very enjoyable trip even though I have not had the chance to really get out of the hotel room yet.

This event caters to global event leaders and focuses on  industry issues that are impacting exhibitions in the coming years.  The opening day sessions addressed the need for excellent leadership and the economic outlook - two very relevant topics.

I will be presenting some of the success stories around social media for the US marketplace.  My goal will be to suggest some tips and ideas that have worked in the US which can be applied to the Europe, Middle East and Asia markets in the adoption of these tools.  Rick Calvert will be joining me on the stage to share some of his experience from Blogworld.

My message is simple to this global community.  Based on the experience and results from US events early adoption of social media, there are five (5) critical objectives:

1) Start with the plan
Social media requires a solid strategy to execute these solutions.  Design, plan and execute it.

2) Participate
Still in the early days, social media offers little risk or costs and great results of you are able to tap into viral marketing excitement.  Every event owner should already be launching some type of experiment with a social media solution.

3) Focus on the content
Content is still king so determine what is important to your organization and sieze upon it.  Include video and podcasts as part of your distribution channel.

4) Measure
Analytics are important to understand and assess what works and what does not.  Make sure and prioritize your traditional and new media marketing efforts based on results, not guesswork.

Posted by Stephen Nold on February 4, 2010 | Comments (0)