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be the voice
Get recognized at your next conferenceby reporting on it
By David Spark, Founder of Spark Media Solutions, LLCFebruary 8th, 2009
I love attending live events because it’s aphysical collection of smart people conversing onlike-minded subjects. And while people talk aboutthe boon of social media, nothing beats face-to-face communications. That’s how we begin andforward our relationships and our education.Sponsoring an event is a great way to get yourbrand associated with an event. But after youpony up the money, it’s up to you to create thegreatest value out of that. How many times haveyou been at a conference and you’ve experiencedone if not all of the following:
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Frustrated that no one was coming to yourtable.
•
Got your time monopolized by people thatweren’t going to buy or write about yourproduct.
•
Didn’t get any press or bloggers to come toyour table or write about your company.
•
Few people came to your booth because theywere attending sessions and talking with eachother.
•
You’re exhausted because you can only talkto so many people in a given day.
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Your booth signage didn’t attract people tocome talk to you.
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Boredom.The reason for all of these negative experiencesis because just sponsoring an event has itslimitations. When you sponsor an event, you’re onlyconnecting with people who walk up to your table.And even if you have a really successful booth, youstill only reached all the people you could physicallytouch during the show.You can’t count on press, and if you do, thenyou probably had to hire and pay some PR reps
towandertheoortowranglesomejournalists
to your booth, hoping they write about you. Bigevents, like CES, are swarming with journalistsand they write about everything. But most eventsare not like CES. If you’re sponsoring a smalluser conference there won’t be any journalists.Smaller industry conferences may have a few trade journalists there and they’ll write one or maybetwo articles about the entire event. You’ll never geta feature story about you. At most, you’ll have tosettle for a line or two in that one article.You can avoid all of these limitations, connect with
keypeopleandinuencers,andbeseenasavoice
in your industry if you simply just report, from yourcompany voice, at the event.
© 2009, Spark Media Solutions, LLC.http://sparkmediasolutions.com/
I attend a lot of conferences, and one of thesaddest things to see is a sponsor standing in hisbooth alone, talking to no one. When I see thatall I can think is what a giant waste of time andmoney. With that passive attitude, they’ve setthemselves up for failure. The only way someoneis going to talk to them is if they happen towrite some good headline copy on their booth toattract attention. Otherwise, they’re doomed.More than a year and a half agoI began coveringlive events for my business, Spark MediaSolutions. I primarily report for event producers,but I realized there’s no reason why a sponsor of an event can’t also cover a conference or tradeshow. My belief is if you come to report on anevent, rather than just sponsor it, you’ll get a lotmore value, attention, and connections.
What are you getting out of that conference you’re attending?
 
© 2009, Spark Media Solutions, LLC.http://sparkmediasolutions.com/
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Don’t just sponsor. Report, and be seen as a voice
Once you establish that you’re going to takeoff your marketing hat and begin covering theevent from an editorial viewpoint, here are all the
benetsyourbusinesswillexperience.
Co-opt the editorial and publicity of theevent
- No need to do your own publicity orgather an audience. Take advantage of all thework the event producers have done to driveattention to their event.
High interest in your content
- Since you’rereporting will be in line with the editorial of the event, the audience has already been pre-
qualiedtobeinterestedinyourreporting.
Very easy to meet infuencers
- It’s a lot
easiertomeetindustryinuencersandholdtheirattentionifyourstaskfortheiropinion.Howdoyouthinkinuencersbecomeinuencers?
They say yes to interviews. This ego boostingexercise is a far more comfortable way to begina relationship than trying to get them to payattention to your product pitch.
Get access to bloggers’ audience
- Give awayyour content to anyone who wants it. And if youhappen to actually interview a blogger or writeabout them, let them know. In most cases they’llrepurpose the content on their own site. Also, if the event’s show page or blog is pulling in RSSfeeds of related content, your articles will alsoappear there.
Implied endorsement of your company
-By reporting at the event and interviewing key
bloggersandinuencers,you’realigningyour
brand and reputation with theirs. Even if nothingis actually said, by physically placing the storieson each other’s sites, the relationship is implied.
Crank up your search visibility
- By using thename of the event, the companies, and the peopleattending in your reporting, your blog entries willinevitably appear in search results as others lookfor content related to the event.
Lower cost to production
- A live event places allthe people you want to interview within an arm’sreach. That translates into enormous time and costsavings. No need to go through a series of phonecalls, emails, and barriers of media relations peopleto get an interview. Instead, just walk up to theperson at the conference and ask a question. Thereason they’re there is to meet people and talk.
Extend your reach beyond the room andthe event
- Many of the people interested in thecontent of the event won’t be there, or they maywant to look at the information after the event. Youcan’t connect with everyone during the event. But if you publish content about the event, you’ll be ableto connect with them afterwards.
The event producers will love you
- Anycoverage of the event brings more attention to theevent.
Focus group surveys and businessdevelopment
- Get some free consulting andadvice by interviewing event attendees about issuesyour company is wrestling with.
Greater bang for the buck
- It costs the sameor less than an event sponsorship and you get lotsmore value.
The value of reporting at a live event
Reporting at an event is not limited to just journalists and bloggers. Any organization canbe a media entity that tells the story of what’shappening at the conference. Using a simple blogformat, go to an event and report on the subjectof the event and the people who are attending.Your booth can only connect with a single message.By reporting, you can reach out to the interests of 
youraudience,andshowthatyou’reasignicant
member of the conversation that’s relevant to yourindustry.
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