10 Alternative Business Models for Events

A lot of discussion took place over the past week about free vs paid, reality is that there is much more out there than just charging a fee to attend.

It’s no new topic, we know. But lately Chris Anderson re-introduced it, Malcom Gladwell made a big deal out of it and Seth Godin gave the final word. On our end, Jeff Hurt asked us all a question and we are here to do our small bit.

Reality is event professionals are challenged by the current market conditions. The ‘I charge you 800$/€/£ entry ticket’ superb marketing technique apparently does not work anymore. Possibly because attendees are increasingly empowered to blog, tweet and share how crap an event was. That was not the case before social networks and media.

I was asked by Cece Lee about an alternative model for (virtual) events rather than charging a fee. Although I felt an urgency to keep it for myself, I subsequently thought that sharing results of a 3 hours brainstorming session could benefit our industry, even if 2 event planners will change their rotten practice and take action. Hopefully starting tomorrow.

One condition. And it is not about safeguarding my butt. What follows is the result of a small brainstorming session with few friends and event experts as well as weeks of reading. It’s not meant to be a guide. It’s not necessarily applicable to all sorts of events. It may not refer to what you do.

The idea is to think out of the box for once and stimulate your business practice to be innovative and disruptive. If you can think of more please do comment and add your perspective.

Borrowing the term from Trendwatching, have a look at how Bacardi goes to the source, pushes the boundaries of a close one-to-one relationship. In a user generated web 2.0, going personal is mandatory and could result in healthy business.

This is possibly the most used technique to reduce the cost impact on attendees yet not fully taken advantage of. Linkedin, Xing, twitter and tools like Make Your Mark Connect are just few of the available hundreds.

If you really need to sell and cannot make a revenue in any other way, consider layaway. The Coachella Festival implemented it successfully.
Read More

Tweetcamp ‘09 and Unconferences

This video was shot during Tweetcamp ‘09, an unconference style event held in London (UK)

Tweetcamp 09 from Julius Solaris on Vimeo.

You can check all the tweets from Tweetcamp here

You can find the Flickr pics here

Blog Posts:
TweetCamp London 2009
Internal Communications at TweetCamp
Tweetcamp 2009
Impressions of TweetCamp
Tweetcamp – My first Unconference
TweetCamp
Tweetcamp: Online network moves to offline community

And Audioboos:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/34228-impressions-of-tweetcamp
http://audioboo.fm/boos/34225-review-tweetcamp-london-09
http://audioboo.fm/boos/34039-tweetcampboo-tweetcamp

twitter Enters Presentations

Keynotetweet is a major step toward online/offline integration, with a touch of twitter coolness.

Photo by smannium via Flickr

The much discussed role of twitter during presentations, led us to believe that some piece of software was soon to be released.

And there we go, keynotetweet has appeared. It is an open source Applescript that syncs with Keynote and sends a tweet of the notes associated with a slide when that particular slide comes up on the screen.
Read More

10 Useful and Free Mac Applications to Run Events

No secret we love Macs and Apple when it comes to getting things done. If you are a member of the Apple tribe, here are few applications that will help in running your event.

We had a blast with iPhone earlier this year. Now the time to show you how your Mac could become an extreme productivity tool and get your events done.

10. Mindnote

Successful events are carefully planned. Mind Mapping initiates the process of planning. It helps in skimming ideas and identifying KPIs. Mindnote is a great tool to draw nice looking and effective mind maps. It comes with a free version which covers all the essentials. Go for it!

9. iGTD

If you are an event planner and never heard of Getting Things Done, now the time to catch up. The famous book started a series of dedicated applications. Most of them are extremely pricey and not worth the money. iGTD is a great Project Management tool and it comes for free, so give it a go.
Read More

The Difference Between Flavors and the Real Deal

This post investigates the reasons why you should be careful in playing with event concepts.

Photo by Funadium via Flickr

Picture a cheap, insipid detergent brand. Imagine the marketing team struggling to find a new flavor for their boring product.

Our studies say that Marseille Soap is perceived as natural and refreshing. We should flavor our detergent with that.

Some customers will be definitely attracted by it, they will give it a go and buy it.

Later on, with the same easiness of mind they will switch to some more appealing flavor.

Now picture using the real deal. Savon de Marseille. As inexpensive, organic and effective as it is. Picture the fact it has been there for 600 years, not because it was ‘a flavor of something’.

If you attach new forms of events such as Pecha Kucha or Unconference to your boring event, you may win some interest in the short term but it is gonna be a hell of a nightmare to retain that interest.

Build a Marseille Soap factory, sell the real deal!