The Audacious Meeting Industry Offer of a Lifetime: I Get to Pay for the Privilege of Sharing My Expertise!

Offer of a Lifetime: screenshot of an email sent to Adrian Segar asking him to pay for the privilege of shaing his expertise at a meeting industry conference. 9/29/23 Subject: Are you a [TOPIC] Expert? Hi Adrian Segar, How are you doing? I wanted to let you know about Meet the Experts, a new initiative for [MEETING INDUSTRY EVENT] in [DATES] at [VENUE, LOCATION] which I think you will find interesting as a way for you to participate in the show and generate valuable leads. Attendees to [MEETING INDUSTRY EVENT] genuinely need the help and expertise of companies and advisors just like yourself. That's why we have introduced a new format, "Meet the Experts" for our 2023 show. [MEETING INDUSTRY EVENT] will bring together the brightest minds in the events industry, and this [DESCRIPTION OF OPPORTUNITY] will feature experts such as yourself creating the ideal platform for you to showcase your knowledge and connect with a highly engaged audience…A [MARKETING PERSON] has invited me to share my expertise at a meeting industry event. Well, there’s nothing unusual about that; it happens frequently. BUT THIS TIME I GET TO PAY FOR THE PRIVILEGE!

Pay me? No, you pay us!

I’m regularly asked to speak, present, or run a workshop at meeting industry events. While I love to do this, the requests are often silent about something important.

Namely, any mention of compensation for my appearance.

Here’s what I wrote about this in 2021:

“Tip: If you…want to get someone like me to speak at your meeting, try including what you will offer for fee and expense reimbursement in your initial request. Initial offers of payment are so rare, your inquiry will immediately rise to the top of my pile.”
—Adrian Segar, January 2021, Why people continue to speak for free at meeting industry conferences

Someone I’ll call [MARKETING PERSON] clearly read this and decided to go the extra mile. A [LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY] was indeed featured in their email, after explaining why they were anxious for me to be there.

‘Attendees to [MEETING INDUSTRY EVENT] genuinely need the help and expertise of companies and advisors just like yourself. That’s why we have introduced a new format, “Meet the Experts” for our 2023 show.’

In a genuinely innovative twist, however, I would get to pay the [MEETING INDUSTRY EVENT] so people could meet me, the expert, to “share your insights and advice with attendees”.

Here’s the emailed pitch, anonymized to protect the guilty.

The Letter


9/29/23

Subject: Are you a [TOPIC] Expert?

Hi Adrian Segar,

How are you doing?

I wanted to let you know about Meet the Experts, a new initiative for [MEETING INDUSTRY EVENT] in [DATES] at [VENUE, LOCATION] which I think you will find interesting as a way for you to participate in the show and generate valuable leads.

Attendees to [MEETING INDUSTRY EVENT] genuinely need the help and expertise of companies and advisors just like yourself.

That’s why we have introduced a new format, “Meet the Experts” for our 2023 show.

[MEETING INDUSTRY EVENT] will bring together the brightest minds in the events industry, and this [DESCRIPTION OF OPPORTUNITY] will feature experts such as yourself creating the ideal platform for you to showcase your knowledge and connect with a highly engaged audience.

This is more than just a networking experience; it’s a golden opportunity for you to share your insights and advice with attendees seeking guidance in their businesses.

By joining “Meet the Experts,” you’ll gain access to registered attendees who are actively seeking solutions to their business challenges and [TOPIC].

As an expert, you will have a  dedicated meeting space within the [VENUE LOCATION] complete with a table and chairs, where you can have focused meetings with individuals who need your services.

Attendees will apply for a meeting with you in the leadup to the event and once you have pre-qualified them will be able to schedule a meeting on [DATES].

After the event, attendees will have the opportunity to provide feedback and rate their meetings with you. This feedback will help you focus on hot leads post-show.

Each company participating in the program benefits from the following:

  • Featured in a “meet the experts” email to registered attendees to drive meeting requests
  • A dedicated meeting space within the [VENUE LOCATION]
  • Branding, logo and messaging incorporated into the [VENUE LOCATION]
  • A table and chairs to conduct meetings
  • A link for attendees to apply for a meeting with you (ability to accept or decline)
  • Dedicated Meet The Experts profile on the event website, event platform and event app
  • Included in our pre-event marketing campaign for Meet The Experts
  • A lead scan licence for scanning attendee badges

Price [A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY].

The Meet the Experts Program is limited to just 6 experts, Do let me know if you would like me to secure one of those spaces for you.

Kind regards

[MARKETING PERSON]


The Offer of a Lifetime

Truly this is the offer of a lifetime! Though, surprisingly, not everyone agrees. A colleague of mine who received the same pitch sent it to me with the comment:

“All I can say is Ewww”

I’m not sure whether to admire or be disgusted by [MARKETING PERSON]’s chutzpah.

Regardless, apart from sharing it here, I am ignoring their remarkable offer.

Everybody likes me, nobody tweets me, guess I’ll post on LinkedIn

Everybody likes me, nobody tweets me, guess I’ll post on LinkedIn. guess I'll post on LinkedIn

The effectiveness of Twitter as a connective social media channel is declining
In July I wrote about why 2017 is a tipping point for Twitter, noting that the rate at which users follow established accounts has slowed dramatically. As the year draws to a close I’m seeing further evidence that conversations in the Twittersphere are drying up too.

The evidence for my observations comes from my own Twitter account. My experience may not be representative of other Twitter users. But, as in my tipping point post, there’s a wealth of corroborative evidence from other sources.

The evidence
Here’s what I’m seeing. First, here’s a graph of my cumulative retweets over the last seven years.

Notice the fall off over the last eighteen months?

Second, the same graph for mentions.

Here we see a gradual decline in Twitter mentions for the last three years, one that has become increasingly severe recently.

Unfortunately, what I don’t have is a corresponding graph for the number of Twitter likes over time. If I did, based on my regular observations it would show a significant increase in likes over time. I estimate that the increase in likes is approximately the same as or slightly greater than the decrease in mentions and RTs combined.

To summarize, my tweets are getting just as much or more engagement than before. But much more of the engagement is in likes (“I’m interested in this and approve/agree/will mark it for later study”) at the expense of mentions and RTs (“I want to share your tweet with others/respond to what you said“).

What are the implications for social media marketing and branding?
To me, these findings mean that people are still reading my tweets at the same or higher rates. But they are less likely to interact with or share them.

The effectiveness of Twitter as a social media channel that fosters connection and conversation is declining.

In addition, I doubt that the recent doubling of maximum tweet length from 140 to 280 characters will make any difference to the trends I’ve noted. In fact, it may exacerbate them. I find that I’m less inclined to fully read the longer tweets increasingly showing up on my Twitter feeds.

An alternative channel to consider
Although it is not an especially interactive social media channel, I’ve been finding that sharing my website posts on LinkedIn has led to an increasing number of views and comments recently.

I have three caveats, however:

  • I don’t recommend posting to LinkedIn Groups anymore, since policy changes have severely limited their effective reach.
  • Also, I don’t recommend publishing an article on LinkedIn. That’s because your content is now tied to their platform, rather than one you control. This is a mistake.
  • Finally, when you share a post, be aware that LinkedIn counts as a “view” when the post summary displays on the viewer’s screen. The “viewer” doesn’t have to click through to read the post in order to be counted! So be aware that the number of post “views” reported by LinkedIn exaggerates the number of people who actually see your entire post.

Are you noticing trends that are affecting social media engagement? Share your observations in the comments below!

Image from J House Vlogs

Another triumph of automated marketing!

automated marketing: A photograph of a damaged catalytic converter attached with a chain to a car's rear bumper. Image attribution: Flickr Hapless automated marketing abounds. Here’s an email I received this morning:

Subject:  Love Your Content (Collaboration Proposal)
“My name is RJ, I am the main editor at [a website about car care].

I just wanted to send you a quick email to let you know that we recently released a comprehensive blog post on “How Much!? Replacing A Catalytic Converter”.

While browsing your site, I noticed this page
https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/facilitating-change/2014/09/a-caveat-on-working-with-human-catalysts.

I believe our piece would be a great addition to your page.”

RJ “believes” his/her post would be “a great addition” to this post:

 

I am receiving more and more hapless automated marketing efforts like this: no careful thought, no subtlety, no serious attempt to check that the target might be relevant to the pitch.

Just spray and pray.

Perhaps some “marketer” thought that instead of just scraping page titles that mentioned the phrase “catalytic converter” (which might make more sense) they could increase the volume of useless mass emails (and extract more money from their client?) by expanding their target search to anyone who mentions the phrase anywhere on the page.

The only reason my post mentions “catalytic converter” is as an example of what the word “catalyst” means. Otherwise, it has as much in common with RJ’s content as a toothbrush has with a lunar eclipse.

Compare this waste of time and resources with an example of marketing done right.

Experienced and respected marketers have told me that expanding your email list is crucial to getting your message across, and I believe them.

But finding and/or creating the right email list are clearly crucial too, and every misdirected pitch I get like this one gives good marketers a black eye.

Please stop it guys!

Image attribution: Flickr user pnglife

The Secrets Behind Conference Engagement

Secrets Behind Conference Engagement: Screenshot of Adrian Segar being interviewed by Brandt Krueger

So you’re holding a conference. How are you going to get your audience tuned in and engaged?

I shared my thoughts on this topic on a 2017 episode of the weekly #EventIcons interview with good friend and host Brandt Krueger. Our hour together was packed with useful information, so feel free to watch the whole thing (scroll down to view the video) or check out the timeline below for the main themes we discussed.

Enjoy!

3:00 Adrian tells the unlikely story of how he got into the events industry.

8:10 What would Adrian be doing if he wasn’t in the events industry?

9:10 The one driving passion shared by so many event professionals.

10:10 Why event planners and stakeholders should care about engagement.

11:20 Why traditional meetings don’t meet attendee needs very well.

12:10 How building participation into meetings creates engagement that significantly improves learning, connection, and outcomes.

14:20 Why lectures are so ineffective.

15:50 How to work with speakers and attendees who are introverts.

18:50 How to create a safe environment for attendees to share, learn, and connect.

20:15 An explanatory journey through the stages of participant-driven and participation-rich meetings that use the Conferences That Work model.

26:30 The positive aspects of supporting engagement at events, and the neglected need to evaluate events’ long-term impact.

29:10 The value of incorporating white space into events and several ways to do it.

34:50 How to work with speakers to make sessions more participatory.

37:20 How to market participant-driven conferences.

42:30 Three examples of simple participation techniques you can use to improve meetings: body voting, large facilitated fishbowl discussions, and The Solution Room.

50:30 The biggest mistake meeting planners make when attempting to improve participation and engagement.

54:30 Where to find all kinds of ideas about meeting design — and Adrian’s next book on crowdsourcing events.

The Secrets Behind Conference Engagement

The Next Best Thing

next best thing: photograph of a street with a ONE WAY sign. A man on the sidewalk is carrying a large arrow-shaped sign that says
"Best FURNITURE
We Sell For Less!"

“Best” is context-specifica matter of opinion, and transitory. So, there will always be a next best thing.

When we use “best” dishonestly, we ignore one or more of these realities. We appeal to status, implying that our “best” thing is absolutely best, transcending environment, viewpoint, and the passage of time.

Claiming the highest status for our “best” thing preys on our audience’s fears by offering a simplistic solution. “Believe us, buy this, and Bingo! You can stop worrying that you might have made a mistake!”

Sure, when aware of environmental and personal context, it’s fine to make an in-the-moment judgment that some course of action is the best of multiple alternatives (be sure there are at least three!) We do this all the time.

But when we simply slap on a “Best” label we are selling comforting feelings disguised as our product or service.

In addition, believing that we have or are the best does us a disservice. We will focus on “best” practices instead of next practices. Consequently, we may maintain the status quo, but with the danger that at any time a competitor could make our “best” second best.

Ultimately, what’s important is to continuously strive to be the best, not for the sake of being the best, but from a genuine desire to provide the best value/outcomes/opportunities for one’s organization or clients. Rather than feeling proud under the illusion that you are the “best”, work to be proud of your own efforts and achievements (including the learning that occurs when things don’t go according to plan or you take a risk that doesn’t pan out.)

Live with the knowledge that “best”, while well worth pursuing, is a moving fluid target. Remember, there will always be a next best thing.

Photo attribution Flickr user thomashawk

Stop drive-by following—you’re trashing your brand on social media!

trashing brand social media: a battered roadsign with a billboard that says "GET FOLLOWERS HERE CHEAP! FACE BOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM ALL SM!"

Are you attempting to build social media followers by drive-by following—i.e. following a batch of new accounts every day, waiting a day or two, and then unfollowing the accounts that don’t follow you back? STOP THAT! You are trashing your brand on social media.

Many people with social media bios designed to project a professional image destroy their credibility by using this “strategy”.

I suspect these are people who would never stoop to buying followers or likes. And yet ~30% of my daily new Twitter followers are drive-by followers.

Why drive-by following doesn’t work

Drive-by following backfires because it ensures that I’m extremely unlikely to want to have any kind of social media connection with you.

Here’s how it works on Twitter, my most important social media platform. I do my best to read the profile of every new follower. Rarely will I follow back right away unless you’re someone I know. Birdbrain, the excellent app I use to track Twitter followers, also shows anyone who’s unfollowed me. That’s where I get to notice that you’ve drive-by unfollowed me, typically within 48 hours of your initial follow. [2023 update: Twitter’s API changes no longer allows services like Birdbrain to do this.] That’s when I make a mental note that you’re not a serious user of social media, just someone chasing a high follower count.

Instead, follow for a bit and post interesting stuff (I admit that mentions and RTs of me are nice too!) I may well follow you back.

What’s worse than drive-by following? Repeated drive-by following! I routinely see accounts commit multiple drive-bys, usually a week or so apart. My conclusion:  either you are using a second-rate automated drive-by service, or you have a memory even worse than mine (which is saying something). Either way, your attempt to get me to follow you back is even less likely to succeed.

So, stop trashing your brand on social media! If you want to use social media as an effective marketing platform, don’t broadcast stuff about yourself all the time. Don’t implement elaborate plans solely designed to maximize your followers. Instead, post interesting stuff (both yours and others) and interact with people. Keep doing this. Over time, if you’re doing a good job, your followers will grow and be genuinely interested in your social media presence, and your brand recognition and value will increase.

Don’t believe those who tell you personal change is easy

personal change is easy: a photograph of an outdoor sign that says "CHANGE MACHINE" with a directional arrowDo you think that personal change is easy?

We:

  • have moments when we wish our lives were easier.
  • sometimes struggle with change we would like to see in our lives but can’t seem to make happen.
  • are continually exposed to marketing that promises quick and easy solutions to the problems we are experiencing.

If we want to:

  • lose weight;
  • find the right person for that special relationship;
  • be at peace with ourselves;
  • become rich;
  • give up addictive behavior; or
  • make a hundred other common changes

there are tens of thousands of speakers, books, and programs that offer a revolutionary, simple method to cure what ails you.

Just have Jim speak at your event. Buy Sarah’s best-selling book. Or sign up for Esmeralda’s online course. And your problems will be over!

Over and over again we delude ourselves that:

  • the next miracle diet we try will be the one that “just works”.
  • a new management fad will whip our recalcitrant employees into shape.
  • the latest event technology will make our attendees happy, wealthy, and wise.

In reality

In reality, I’ve found that only a tiny fraction of speakers, books, and programs offer real value. I’ve mentioned a few on this blog over the years, including David Allen’s Getting Things Done, PomodoroEric de Groot & Mike van der Vijver’s Into The Heart of Meetings, and a high percentage of Seth Godin’s thoughts and books.

Another barrier to implementing change is that we overlook the months or years of preparatory work we usually need to do before those aha! change moments we remember for the rest of our lives. As Theosophists say: “When the student is ready the teacher will appear” — i.e. the best advice in the world is useless if we are not ready to receive it.

In addition, even when we successfully pan the valuable flecks of gold from mountains of hype, permanently integrating useful desired change invariably requires significant effort.

For example, even after many years of use, my Getting Things Done implementation is imperfect. I flip haphazardly between several trusted systems, depending on the messiness of my desk, my mood, and—for all I know—the phases of the moon. And though, 99% of the time, my email inbox contains well below 100 items, Inbox Zero remains a fantasy, permanently out of reach.

A trap

This leads us to a final trap: the belief that if we don’t implement a personal change perfectly, we haven’t really changed. This is dangerous if we conclude that minor slips mean that we’ve failed to change, and might as well go back to the old way of doing things. Instead, give yourself full credit for the change you’ve fundamentally made, notice when you revert to old patterns, and don’t beat yourself up when it happens (because it nearly always will once in a while.)

Given all these obstacles, it’s a miracle when personal change occurs. And yet, with hard work, it can happen!

Notice when it does. Acknowledge what you’ve done—it was hard!

And celebrate!

Photo attribution: Flickr user tracyshaun

Paperback versus ebook popularity over time

Paperback versus ebook popularity over timeMy book Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love has now been available for over five years in both paperback and ebook versions and is still selling well. I thought it might be of interest to share how the proportion of paperback versus ebook sales has changed over time. The following figures include both indirect (mainly Amazon) and direct (my web store) sales.

As you can see from the above graph, paperbacks were, on average, 82%, of sales when the book was published in 2009. Although there’s significant variation from month to month, due mainly to bulk sales of one format or the other, the five-year trendline shows that by March 2015, the most recent month for which I have full indirect sales figures, paperback book sales dropped to just over 60% of all sales.

The paperback costs $27.95 (Amazon) or $26.00 (from me directly), and the ebook format costs $11.00 (only from me). I haven’t changed any prices over the years, though Amazon plays tricks with the paperback pricing from time to time. These pricing levels provide me with approximately the same income per copy for direct sales, regardless of the format.

One factor that affects the quantity of new paperback sales is that, these days, there are usually a few used copies of the paperback available on Amazon for a few dollars under the new price. Sales of used copies reduce new copy sales. On the other hand, I expect some copies of the ebook get shared too.

An additional trend I am noting for my website sales is that combination sales (both ebook and paperback versions of the same book) have been increasing over the last year. I offer a discount when people buy both formats simultaneously. Consider this if you are selling your books yourself.

Conclusions

  • People still like paperbacks! Even though the ebook is 40% of the price of the paperback, I’m still selling more paperbacks than ebooks.
  • The ebook format is becoming more popular over time. If, and that’s a big if, the trend continues, both formats will become equally popular sometime in 2017. Interestingly, my new book The Power of Participation: Creating Conferences That Deliver Learning, Connection, Engagement, and Action which has only been available for three months has sold about equal numbers of each format to date.
  • Don’t read too much into my experience. Conferences That Work is non-fiction, priced higher than most ebooks, and is only available as an ebook directly from me, so there’s no comparable Amazon sales channel. Your mileage may vary.

Are you an author with book format sales history of your own? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below!

5 tips on how to market event apps to me

how to market event apps: A screenshot of a Facebook comment by Traci Browne that says:"OH MY GOD! You've developed an event app so attendees can get information aboiut your event right on their own devices?! You can even tweet and instagram and facebook from it??? You are so innovative!!! Why has no one thought of this before???"

"And that is exactly how I want to respond to the 1000th person who has sent me that press release this month."
—Traci Browne, Facebook post

If you’re an event app developer, how should you market event apps to someone like me?

Like my friend Traci, I receive a constant stream of messages from developers about their new event apps. Naturally, as a frequent commentator on the event industry, I am anxious to throw myself into the tiniest details of these innovative products that are sure to revolutionize every event professional’s life. Clearly, they are tools that will:

  • Drive sponsors to frantically push bundles of thousand dollar bills under planners’ door-stoops before dawn.
  • Guarantee events where gleaming unicorns gambol playfully and attendees glide above the hotel carpet transfixed with delight and wonder.
  • Effortlessly create timeless experiences where the A/V works flawlessly, participants’ only complaint is that the Wi-Fi is too fast, and no one ever requests a gluten-free meal.

How can you be certain to bring your app jewels effectively to my rapt attention? Here are 5 simple tips that will ensure your app’s beauty, uniqueness, and—let’s just say it—sheer virility will make my heart go pit-a-pat.

5 tips on how to market event apps to me

  1. Please make sure to couch your request in anonymous terms. I do not want to believe for a moment that you are interested in my opinions because you know something about me. Mail merge my name from a list of people who write about the event industry. This shows a unique understanding of the personal touch that is so important when doing business these days.
  2. Demand I set aside 30 – 60 minutes of my worthless time so you can demo your app’s staggering genius. You’ll make my empty day so much brighter!
  3. Forcefully suggest that I review your app in loving detail on my blog. Yes, you noticed that I’m starved of ideas for posts; help me out here and I’ll be so grateful!
  4. Point out how splendid it will be for me to spend hours testing every nook and cranny of your masterpiece. I can then enjoy the privilege of reporting back on how to improve it. (Though surely I’m unlikely to find anything to suggest.) I will be so happy knowing there’s a small chance I might make your app slightly better!
  5. Do not think for a moment of suggesting any recompense for my minor labors on your behalf, like a free trial of a non-free service or <shudder> payment. It is an honor that you even asked me to contribute; recognition is all I need!

How to market event apps to me? That’s it! Piece of cake!

I’m so committed to your apps that, to assist you to the best of my ability, I’ve discovered how to increase the hours in every day to 48 and entirely forego sleep. So keep those phone calls, emails, and social directives rolling in so I can joyously and promptly respond to your oh-so-reasonable requests! All I’m asking is for you to enrich my life a smidgen.

Is that too much to ask?