The Future of Industry Meetings

As companies “reopen”, travel has resumed for many … and so have industry meetings. Some, like AHTD, maintained their conference schedule (they ran their fall one in Salt Lake City and had a spring meeting in Florida). Others are currently running meetings.

Manufacturers and distributors, in many instances, are meeting and/or are having counter days and golf events with customers.

There is a rush to “reconnect”.

Part of the story is that many are “tired” of virtual. Some want to reconnect to reinforce relationships. In some instances, it is about idea generation and the power of “togetherness.” Perhaps in some instances it is a sigh of relief that “no more virtual and it is easier to ‘justify my job’”?

Whatever the case, “meetings” are happening.

Last month there were two electrical industry conferences. Both were virtual with, based upon feedback from attendees, had different value propositions and, perhaps start to beg the question of “what is the future of industry conferences?” Or, perhaps the better question is “what do distributors and manufacturers want as their “benefit” from industry conferences?”

The two events were the IMARK Expo and the NAED Virtual National Meeting.

IMARK

The IMARK Expo was a unique, video-driven experience for members. Manufacturers and service providers uploaded videos for members to view. IMARK developed initiatives to motivate members to go to a website, view videos that were less than 5 minutes in length and view other digital content. Members could view the information from May 17^th to the 22^nd. Manufacturers received the contact information of the individuals who viewed their content. Members could also download the videos to use for internal training, share with customers or put on their website.

Over 230 short videos were uploaded to the site from over 100 companies.

According to Steve Ruane, VP Marketing for IMARK, 2,028 individuals from 207 member companies attended 156,822 video sessions. Steve commented “We were gratified by both the quality of the video messages and the level of enthusiasm and engagement from member distributor personnel during each day of the EXPO.  We were able to reach many more people than we could host at a traditional trade show and provide relevant, well-crafted content that will help people in their jobs.  The EXPO will be an important resource for member sales and marketing personnel, now and in the future.” And according to a member, “”The IMARK EXPO has been extremely beneficial to me and my team.  We have already seen some new products that we are excited about purchasing from our suppliers.”

While IMARK normally conducts its Showcase event in late March, the Expo was a new endeavor. IMARK adapted, created something different and experimented, delivering on a cost-effective (for all) experience that generated results.

NAED

The other industry event was the NAED Virtual National Meeting which was held the end of May.

The structure of the meeting adhered to NAED’s standard conference model with multiple days of attendee-driven one-on-one meetings combined with about a half-day of general sessions.

According to multiple attendees, registration was about 282 registered attendees from manufacturers, distributors, and service providers. 42 distributors registered 137 participants.

While the value of the one-on-one meetings can be beneficial depending upon the meeting, many booked sessions using Teams, outside the conference platform, for various reasons, and feedback regarding the keynote speakers was that none were noteworthy.

The attendance for this meeting was a significant decline from NAED’s first virtual conference in February.

A lost opportunity to experiment? To try to innovate?

The Future of Industry Meetings

Most are looking forward to future industry meetings and “getting together” to strengthen relationships and re-engage on a personal level. While business was done virtually, socialization is desired. Like a colleague once said “Sometimes the best meetings are when someone calls for a meeting, hosts a reception and then gets out of the way so that attendees can network.”

The questions then become …

• What do you see as the future of meetings for you?
• How could virtual meetings be made better?
• How should meeting formats / content be changed, to utilize the best of virtual?
• How should the “early” industry meetings, when individuals are coming together for the first time in potentially two years, be different?
• What do attendees “want”?
• What would make a “good” meeting?
• Should NAED structures remain the same? Should conferences be simulcast? Is there a need for conferences?
• What is the continuing role for virtual conferences or, perhaps, the role of virtual is “sessions” to use as for training and information sharing?

The “pause” created the opportunity to consider “reimagining” meetings. IMARK experimented. They came up with an idea that could educate members and also create a reservoir of information that could be used repeatedly for training and marketing purposes. For manufacturers it was an opportunity to reach many companies, and people, quickly.

And yes, product tradeshows / events like Rockwell’s Automation Fair, (Nov 10-11 in Houston) which is the day after the NAED Eastern (Nov 8-10 in Austin), is hard to replicate online … people like to “touch and feel” equipment … but simulcasting the educational and case study events multiplies the audience.

What other experimentation would you like to see with meetings, or is the pre-pandemic version of meetings the right model, perhaps combined with “short” virtual training sessions?” (share your choice below in the comments – “experiment” or “pre-pandemic / stay the same”)

The future doesn’t need to be a long-term, “set in stone”, model. What innovation do you want in meetings to increase their value to you?