L'innovazione nelle sedi per eventi - Rob Davidson

INNOVATION IN MEETINGS

VENUES DESIGN AND

MARKETING

Rob Davidson, MICE Knowledge

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Advances in venue design

• A shortage of time and money

• Clients are demanding more productivity and efficiency from the

meetings they organise – Return on Investment

• Venues must demonstrate that they add real value to the

meetings they host

Advances in venue design

• How participants learn:

• 70% social learning – learning from their peers – colleagues,

collaborators and competitors

• 20% self-directed learning – learning by reading / internet research

• 10% formal learning – such as training

• So we are moving away from the traditional classroom setting

towards spaces that promote social learning.

If you’re going to read ONE book this year …

Advances in venue design

The new emphasis is on flexible spaces that help participants

connect and interact with each other at conferences.

• Spaces where participants can meet on an informal basis

• Lounge areas with time-slots for participants to have

conversations with each other – and with presenters

• Facilities for videoconferencing: face-to-face + face-to-screen

• All-day access to food and beverage

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Advances in venue technology

Time is money .... Connectivity is money

• Venues are finding that they need to provide greater levels of

connectivity in order to attract meetings

• Bandwidth capability must be sufficient for large numbers of

participants’ devices

• But starting the conversation about bandwidth can be a challenge

for event planners and venue staff, because of a lack of fluency in

bandwidth terminology

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Advances in venue technology

Not only connectivity is important ... Power too.

• Venues are offering laptop touchdown spots, with power outlets

• These are also natural gathering places, which help maximise

opportunities for networking

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Advances in venue supply

• Demand for meetings venues is becoming more fragmented and

diverse – and niche locations are becoming more popular, especially

non-traditional / unique / unusual venues.

• Many of these are based in tourist attractions / recreational

resources: museums, theme parks, zoos ...

• Many companies – particularly the media and fashion industries –

are looking for venues that reflect their own brand

• Unconventional, ‘quirky’, ‘funky’ venues can provide the wow factor

• But there are some challenges for planners using unusual venues

Not for Generation Y …

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Advances in venue marketing

• Venues can harness the power of the social media, to win new

business

• For example, the Advanced Search function of LinkedIn: key

words ... ‘events’ + ‘planner’ and the relevant geographic range.

• Or, going further, the LinkedIn Premium service ...

Advances in venue marketing

• Venues can use Foursquare, to spread the word about who is in

the building, for an event

Advances in venue marketing

• Survey of UK conference centres (Davidson, 2011)

• Linkedin and Twitter were found to be the most popular

applications: used by 6/10

• Facebook was used by 5/10

• YouTube was used by 3/10

Advances in venue marketing

• ICCA Venue Trends Survey 2012

• ‘Does your venue use the social media?’

• 80% of the 154 venues replied ‘yes’.

• But only 47% of those using the social media monitored the

actual success of these tools

Advances in venue marketing

• Venues’ websites ... Under-used potential.

• Client testimonials

• Publishing research reports

• Virtual tours

• Case-studies of successful events

• Online enquiry forms

Advances in venue marketing

• Venues’ websites ... Under-used potential.

• Blogs: see Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre

(http://blog.scec.com.au/)

• - ‘Attention ! How to excite and charm today’s easily bored events

delegates’

• - ‘Nine strange items brought into, or left behind at, the Centre’

• - Green meetings, chef’s recipes, how to organise events on a

budget ...

• BUT ... Comments made by the general public can be negative

as well as positive !

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If you’re going to read TWO books this year …

Grazie !

[email protected]

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